characters:

bombonica hopartean, a medievalist with a Ph.D.
hippo van tcheluk, a local man named after St. Augustine of Hippo; twin brother of Lionel Richard Coeur de Lion; a member of APRAU (the Association for the Protection of the Renaissance Among Us)
johannes marignolli (a.k.a. johannes de san lorenzo), author of the Relatio or Itinerarum fratris Johannis de Marignolli, at one time papal legate of Benedict xii to the Tartars, appointed Bishop of Bisinia 1354; the Bishop was an avid bike rider, an admirer of French fashion, and had a fondness for wearing oiled leather leggings and poulaines; a member of APMAAU (the Association for the Protection of the Middle Ages Among Us)
mrs. rogeria bacon, a descendant of Friar Roger Bacon, and owner of a nasty chimaera named Ludovica that was good friends with Mrs. Roberta Grosseteste's billy goat; Mrs. Bacon also owned a very sensitive but very cultured laurel tree (called Lancelot) to which she regularly read passages from Pseudo-Aristotle's Secreta secretorum
sister chiara, a descendant of Chiara de Montefalco (d. 1308); present-day sister Chiara was a Minoress 
and apothecary who knew a lot about herbs and prepared marvellous concoctions at Chez les Poor Claires herb shop in Old Town

Mrs. Thomasina Bonaventure, whose deceased husband had been locally revered as a descendant of St. Bonaventure; Mrs. Bonaventure owned a bushy moustache and a griffin named Galahad—a shy animal that could not spit fire through its nostrils except in cases of emergency

Ms. Butler (A.K.A. Lola), Mrs. Bonaventure's chambermaid, who was a man, and the real point of origin and source of inspiration for the song Lola by the famous twentieth-century British group The Kinks

Mrs. Roberta Grosseteste, owner of a billy-goat called Billy that was great friends with Mrs. Bacon’s chimaera

Mr. ambrose MacRobius, believed to be a descendant of Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius (the man who’d authored the celebrated Commentarii ex Cicerone in somnium Scipionis); present-day Mr. MacRobius owned a small house and a large orchard, and had a son called Theodore living in Texas (the United States of America); Old Mr. MacRobius died a mysterious death and Mrs. Rogeria Bacon, who’d had an affair with him, became the main suspect in the case

Padre José Maria Lerchundi, OFM, accomplished Arabist, author of Rudiments of the Arabic-Vulgar of Morocco, and a connoisseur in matters of wine and fine food (especially sauces)

Father Philippe, a descendant of Philippe de Vitry (Bishop of Meaux, a poet and musician, apparently the composer of five of the polyphonic motets copied in the satiric poem Le Roman de Fauvel 1316-1318)

Fra Dolcino, owner of the Roman de Fauvel wine shop in Old Town (over by the Fountain of Youth)

Friar William of Ockham, owner of the barber shop in Old Town, where he perfected a sharp cutting tool known as Ockham's razor

Constable Johannes des Muris, no relation to fourteenth-century music theorist Johannes des Muris

Lionel Richard Coeur de Lion, Mr. van Tcheluk’s twin brother, and a member in good standing of the local chapter of APRAU (the Association for the Protection of the Renaissance Amongst Us)

The Sunday Lady, a woman most annoying, and an amateur botanist and chemist who at some point had also been romantically involved with Mr. MacRobius

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OTHER NOTABLE PARTICIPANTS:

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Manuscripts DIgby 90 and Bodley 515 in the Bodleian Library, Oxford; trees of various species: of consanguinity, of virtues and vices, of love (spiritual), and, most notably, of note shapes (also known as trees of division)