The
Templar Tales
My current project, Tales of Chivalry, is composed for three
series: Tales from the Languedoc, Tales from the Kingdom of Cyprus (AKA: The
Lion of Karpas) and The Templar Tales. The latter are three independent novels
in which Knights Templar play an important role. The novels are interrelated
and share some characters, notably Sir Geoffrey de Preuthune, but each novel
stands on its own. Two of the books, The
Templar of St. John the Baptist, and The
English Templar, focus on key events in the history of the Knights Templar,
namely the fall of Christian Palestine to the armies of Islam at the end of the
13th century and the destruction of the Knights Templar by King Philip IV of
France in the early 14th century respectively. The first novel in the series,
St. Louis’ Knight, in contrast, is more a scene setter, introducing Sir
Geoffrey; it is set in the Seventh Crusade.
The Templar trilogy was inspired by a trip to Cyprus. Sitting
in the window seat of the Hospitaller fortress at Kolossi, wandering through
the ruins of a medieval sugar mill, and strolling through the cloisters of
Bellapais, images of knights crowded my brain, clamoring for a voice. As I
learned more about the Knights Templar and visited southern France, the source
of Templar wealth, I could not sleep at night for the stories that demanded
telling. There, in the mighty castle of Najac, where Templars were held
prisoner, and in the Templar commanderies of Collioure and Cahors, the voices
became so insistent that I felt compelled to write the stories down – even
though they were still only shadowy and half-formed. I published three novels
at my own expense.
It was a foolish thing to do. Novels need to ripen and
mature. Even the most insistent voices can be misunderstood, misinterpreted,
falsely translated. The Cypriot Knight
and Sir Jean of Acre were embryonic
stories, not novels. Seventeen years later, I cringed when I reread The Cypriot Knight and winced when I
took Sir Jean of Acre in my hands
again. I realized what a rough draft these early publications were.
Fortunately, both books were also out of print. I saw this as an opportunity to
rework good raw material into better books.
The Templar Tales now consist of the following books:
King Louis IX and his crusading army
are trapped in Egypt. To prevent his sword, with a sacred relic in the hilt,
from falling into the hands of the Saracen, the dying Grand Master of the
Knights Templar entrusts it to his newly-knighted former squire, Sir Geoffrey
de Preuthune. Shaken by the loss of all his Templar brothers, Sir Geoffrey has
denied the divinity of Christ, and the Grand Master makes him pledge that he
will not rejoin the Knights Templar until he understands God’s will. Geoffrey’s
search for understanding leads him to Cyprus and a fateful encounter with the
daughter of a Cathar heretic.
Sir Jean de Preuthune believes his father committed a
grave sin by failing to return Grand Master de Sonnac’s sword, containing a
finger bone of John the Baptist in the hilt, to the Knights Templar. He is
determined to right his father’s wrong by taking vows as a Knight Templar. He sets
out to free the Holy Land, but even so powerful a relic in the hand of a devout
crusader cannot alone defeat the powerful armies of Islam under the able
leadership of the Sultan Kala’un. As one Christian stronghold after another
falls to the Saracens, Sir Jean must re-evaluate his mission and faith.
·
The
English Templar
Passing through France from England
to Cyprus with dispatches, the Templar knight Sir Percy de Lacy is caught up in
the surprise arrest of the Knights Templar on Friday, October 13, 1307. He is tortured
until he confesses to sins he did not commit. When he manages to crawl off the prisoner transport taking him to Paris, Sir Percy wants only to die, . But Sir
Percy’s rescuer, Felice de Preuthune, and her grandfather Sir Geoffrey have no
intention of letting Sir Percy die. While Sir Geoffrey and Sir Percy fight back
against the French King and the Pope, Felice fights her own battle for their
souls.
No comments:
Post a Comment