Minor characters in the Baroque Cycle

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The following fictional characters appear in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle.

[edit] Jeronimo

Jeronimo (also known as El Desamparado, "Forsaken by God") appears in the pirate novel "Bonanza" (part of The Confusion, volume 2 of the cycle). His full name is "Excellentissimo Domino Jeronimo Alejandro Peñasco de Halcones Quinto, Marchioni de Azuaga et de Hornachos, Comiti de Llerena, Barcarrota, et de Jerez de los Caballeros, Vicecomiti de Llera, Entrín Alto y Bajo, et de Cabeza del Buey, Baroni de Barrax, Baza, Nerva, Jadraque, Brazatortas, Gargantiel, et de Val de las Muertas, Domino Domus de Atalaya, Ordinis Equestris Calatravae Beneficiario de la Fresneda", perhaps a satirical comment on nobility in general. Despite his upper-class Spanish upbringing, he has an incredibly foul mouth. Fortunately, he is as quick, as creative and as uninhibited with his sword as with his tongue.

Events from his life are loosely based on the story of Antony Machado de Brito, related by Gemelli Careri in "A barbarous murder". Partly because this historical figure was known for his skill at fighting and his inappropriate comments [1], the fictional character is presented as having a Tourette syndrome. Some amplifications of the syndrome are used for dramatic effect, particularly an extreme depiction of coprolalia ("offensive babbling", a symptom fewer than 10% of Tourette's patients suffer), in a way that could be classified as clinomorphism. Alternative medicine sometimes attributes Tourette's to exposure to mercury, which is a major theme of the Baroque Cycle.

[edit] Moseh de la Cruz

Moseh de la Cruz appears in The Confusion, and is in many ways the mastermind of the Bonanza adventure that makes up almost half of that book. Jack Shaftoe comments on his name: "Moses of the cross?" Moseh answers that it is perfectly apropos for a crypto-Jew.

His Jewish ancestors were expelled from Portugal, where they settled for a time in Manhattan. His Native American ancestors left him one of the actual beads with which that island was bought from them, which he keeps around his neck. Taking some aspects from each side of his family, he is lethal when throwing tomahawks, and has formidable business acumen.

After surviving the Spanish Inquisition in Mexico City, Moseh settles in New Mexico and eventually becomes the ancestor of Avi, who masterminds the data haven project in the late 20th-century portion of Cryptonomicon.^{[citation needed]}