When one of her company falls ill on a return journey to Tyndal, Prioress Eleanor accepts lodging at a nearby manor. Master Stevyns” wife is having an affair with the groom while a local widow acts more the lady of the manor than the lady herself. His eldest son and spouse are obsessed with sin and heaven while his youngest son, bound for the Church, unexpectedly returns with more interest in lute playing than the priesthood. It is no surprise when someone’’s throat is cut, but the sheriff does all he can to avoid offending the family rather than seeking the real killer. When he arrests a servant, she herself is stabbed before she can either prove innocence or be taken off for hanging. Will Eleanor discover the dark secrets that have led to this string of killings before the murderer strikes again?
How did Robin of Loxley become Robin Hood? Why did he choose to fight injustice instead of robbing for his own gain? Expressive and gritty, this graphic novel whisks readers back to Crusades-era England, where the Sheriff of Nottingham rules with an iron fist, and in the haunted heart of Sherwood Forest, a defiant rogue – with the help of his men and the lovely Maid Marian – disguises himself to become an outlaw. Lively language and illustrations follow the legendary hero as he champions the poor and provokes a high-stakes vendetta in a gripping adventure sure to draw a new generation of readers.
Tony Lee, a prolific comic books writer, has worked on the titles X-MEN, DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE, and STARSHIP TROOPERS. He has also written for radio, television, and national newspapers. He lives in England.
King Edward II is furious when he learns that his wife Queen Isabella has defied him and remains in France with their son. As the unfortunate messengers of this unhappy news, Sir Baldwin de Furnshill, Keeper of the King’s Peace, and his friend, bailiff Simon Puttock, are instantly dismissed from court. Returning to their homes in Devon, the pair are shocked to find that outlaws now hold sway in the land. As the chaos escalates, the bodies of two clerics are found among a party of travelers, all of them–men, women, and children–savagely murdered. Baldwin and Simon are called to investigate, but when they discover the culprit is a friend of the king, they become wary about accusations of treason. Until, that is, Simon’s own daughter suddenly disappears.
A story of persecution and poetry, love and war set in 13th century Southern France. As crusaders sweep through the country, destroying all those who do not follow their religion, Bertrand risks his life to warn others of the invasion. As a troubadour, Bertrand can travel without suspicion from castle to castle, passing word about the coming danger. In the meantime Elinor, a young noblewoman, in love with Bertrand, leaves her comfortable home and family and becomes a troubadour herself. Danger encircles them both, as the rising tide of bloodshed threatens the fabric of the society in which they live.
The Templar Knight: Book Two Of The Crusades Trilogy
By Jan Guillou
Publisher: Harper Collins, May 4, 2010
ISBN:9780061688577
The Knight Templar (Swedish: Tempelriddaren) is the second book in Jan Guillou’s The Knight Templar (Crusades trilogy) book series. This book follows the fictional character of Arn Magnusson as a Knight Templar in the kingdom of Jerusalem. The book starts in Arn’s 27th year and ends as he departs the holy lands.
At the age of 27, Arn is already a veteran in the Crusader army, when he faces the strangest experience a Knight Templar can have. While pursuing a band of saracen thieves, he comes across Saladin, the leader of the Muslim forces, and saves his life. They become close friends, but great enemies at the same time. During the conversation with Saladin, Arn learns and deduces that Saladin is preparing an attack on the Kingdom of Jerusalem from the south and brings this information back to Jerusalem. As Arn is the commander of the Templar fort at Gaza, he prepares to take the first blow of Saladins force, hoping to at least delay Saladin, so that Jerusalem maybe saved as the Kings army at the time is busied with a campaign in the far north. After a short siege Saladin spares the city, in part due to Saladins life being saved by Arn earlier, as he is going for a bigger prize, the city of Jerusalem…..
The Traitor’s Wife: A Novel of the Reign of Edward II
By Susan Higginbotham
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc, 2009
ISBN:978-1402217876
In fourteenth-century England, young Eleanor de Clare, favorite niece of King Edward II, is delighted with her marriage to Hugh le Despenser and her appointment to Queen Isabella’’s household as a lady-in-waiting. It soon becomes apparent, however, that Eleanor’’s beloved uncle is not the king the nobles of the land-or his queen-expected. Hugh’’s unbridled ambition and his intimate relationship with Edward arouse widespread resentment, even as Eleanor remains fiercely loyal to her husband and to her king. But loyalty has its price. Moving from royal palaces to prison cells, from the battlefield to the bedroom, between hope and despair, treachery and fidelity, hatred and abiding love, “The Traitor’’s Wife” is a tale of an extraordinary woman living in extraordinary times.
Alaïs, the spirited and indomitable princess of France, returns for another thrilling adventure in this historically rich, mesmerizing sequel to The Canterbury Papers
When I settled back among the velvet cushions, the scenes from the cathedral replayed themselves before my unwilling eyes: the odd chalice, the way Constance looked at it, the interruption of Mass by the armed knights, the strange response of Chastellain to the king’s inquiry.A whisper within me matched the clap-clap of the horses’ hooves on the stones of the Paris road: There is more here; there is more here.
Paris, October 1207. There is nothing that Princess Alaïs of France wants more than to settle down with her lover, William of Caen, and to reveal to his ward, Francis, that she is his mother.
But intrigue is afoot in the palace: two monks have arrived from Rome on a mission to compel her brother, Philippe, the king, to help them battle a dangerous breakaway Christian sect in the south known as the Cathars. At the same time, Alaïs’s aunt, the dowager countess Constance of Toulouse, is causing trouble in court, and Etienne Chastellain, the king’s chief official, appears to be up to something more sinister than usual.
Tensions are pushed to the brink when the St. John Cup, a relic much prized by the Cathars, is stolen, and then young Francis goes missing. Frantic for his safety, Alaïs will risk life and limb to find the boy. Donning a disguise, the royal princess must outwit cunning enemies and make her way into unfamiliar territory to save her son, and perhaps even prevent her beloved France from a bloody holy war.
From the opulent halls of Paris to austere monasteries in the south of France, The Rebel Princess combines history and suspense in an unforgettabletale involving one of the most enigmatic and intriguing female figures in medieval history.
The Road To Jerusalem: Book One Of The Crusades Trilogy
By Jan Guillou
Publisher: Harper Collins, April 14, 2009
ISBN: 9780061688539
For power. For passion. For glory. The epic story of the knights Templar.
Born in 1150 to a noble family in the Kingdom of Western Götaland, young Arn Magnusson is marked early on by a miraculous and fateful event. When the boy inexplicably recovers after falling from the parapet of his ancestral home, his mother finds herself beholden to a promise made in a moment of prayer. Arn, second-born son of Magnus Folkesson, will live his life in the service of God-sent from his family to do holy work and to prepare for a position in the priory.
At Varnhem monastery, Arn comes of age under the tutelage of Father Henri, a Cistercian monk devoted to his aristocratic pupil’s education. However, grammar, math, and logic are not the only lessons: Brother Guilbert, the monastery blacksmith and former Knight Templar, finds Arn adept at training of a very different kind. Observing the boy’s extraordinary talent with horse, sword, and bow, Father Henri, trusting in God’s will, sends his charge into the world to fulfill a destiny that lies beyond the cloister walls.
Returning home, Arn finds his monastic habits at odds with his clan’s old and tested ways. Yet his family soon discovers that Arn has learned more than poetry and farm work, and he proves himself useful at a time when he is needed most. The murder of a king has brought Western Götaland into a whirlwind of intrigue, and cunning lords from East and West are vying for power. And, when Arn meets the lovely Cecilia, he discovers this new and dangerous world holds other surprises too. Before he can claim her hand, however, the headstrong and naïve noble makes a fateful mistake that will wrench him from his love and send him to a foreign war-to the Holy Land to battle infidels for twenty years.
From the frozen landscapes of Northern Europe to the bloody battlefields of the Middle East, Arn will face brave knights, powerful queens, and treacherous kings. The first book in the international bestselling Crusades Trilogy, this thrilling epic of betrayal, faith, blood, and love sets “a Shakespearian quest for power” (Corriere della Sera, Italy) against the backdrop of the Holy Wars, witnessed through a vibrant, unorthodox lens.
The source of evil and the conflict between faith and knowledge are among the themes examined in this complex intellectual puzzle set in a medieval monastery. An Irish monk dies in a Benedictine abbey in northern Italy on the eve of the second millennium. When Brother Thomas of Worms attempts to investigate the murder, his abbot accuses him of inventing trouble to avoid his duty to God and assigns Thomas the chore of copying a Biblical text as penance. Neither copying nor humility comes easily to an intelligent man like Thomas, who struggles with his commitment to obey his abbot. While in the library, Thomas is drawn to a gnostic book that leads him to a discovery that threatens the very fabric of the Church. When more monks perish, Thomas’’s loyalty to the monastery and its rites is tested, and he risks expulsion as he seeks to uncover the link between the murders and the hidden codex that has shaken his faith.
Beautiful and courageous, the Lady Elgiva is as great a prize as the land the Viking conqueror now controls. Earl Wulfrum has taken her home, and now he will take her – as his unwilling bride. Wulfrum is a legendary warrior, but the strong-willed Elgiva proves the greatest challenge he has ever faced. Yet her response to his touch tells him she feels the all-consuming heat as much as he. Their passionate battle can end only one way – in the marriage bed!
