This Italian manuscript, along with alleged author "Onuphrio Muralto", were Walpole's fictional creations, and "William Marshal" his pseudonym. The Italian manuscript's story, it was claimed, derived from a story still older, dating back perhaps as far as the Crusades. He employed an archaic style of writing to further reinforce this. This "ancient Catholic family" is possibly the Percy family, as Walpole would have known the Duke of Northumberland and his wife Elizabeth Percy, though this is not proven. This first edition purported to be a translation based on a manuscript printed at Naples in 1529 and recently rediscovered in the library of "an ancient Catholic family in the north of England". From the Original Italian of Onuphrio Muralto, Canon of the Church of St. The initial edition was titled in full The Castle of Otranto, A Story. Walpole was fascinated with medieval history, building in 1749 a fake gothic castle, Strawberry Hill House. The Castle of Otranto was written in 1764 during Horace Walpole's tenure as MP for King's Lynn.
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