The Templar's Penance: (Knights Templar 15)
Read The Templar's Penance: (Knights Templar 15) Online
Authors: Michael Jecks
Tags: #Fiction, #Historical, #blt, #_rt_yes, #_MARKED
Michael Jecks
Copyright © 2003 Michael Jecks
The right of Michael Jecks to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.
First published as an Ebook by
Headline Publishing Group in 2014
All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library
eISBN: 978 1 4722 1976 3
HEADLINE PUBLISHING GROUP
An Hachette UK Company
338 Euston Road
London NW1 3BH
Michael Jecks gave up a career in the computer industry to concentrate on his writing. He is the founder of Medieval Murderers, has been Chairman of the Crime Writers’ Association, and helped create the Historical Writers’ Association. Keen to help new writers, for some years he organised the Debut Dagger competition, and is now organising the AsparaWriting festival for new writers at Evesham. He has judged many prizes, including the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. Michael is an international speaker on writing and for business. He lives with his wife, children and dogs in northern Dartmoor.
Michael can be contacted through his website:
www.michaeljecks.co.uk
.
He can be followed on twitter (@MichaelJecks) or on
Facebook.com/Michael.Jecks.author
.
His photos of Devon and locations for his books can be found at:
Flickr.com/photos/Michael_Jecks
.
The Last Templar
The Merchant’s Partner
A Moorland Hanging
The Crediton Killings
The Abbot’s Gibbet
The Leper’s Return
Squire Throwleigh’s Heir
Belladonna at Belstone
The Traitor of St Giles
The Boy-Bishop’s Glovemaker
The Tournament of Blood
The Sticklepath Strangler
The Devil’s Acolyte
The Mad Monk of Gidleigh
The Templar’s Penance
The Outlaws of Ennor
The Tolls of Death
The Chapel of Bones
The Butcher of St Peter’s
A Friar’s Bloodfeud
The Death Ship of Dartmouth
Malice of Unnatural Death
Dispensation of Death
The Templar, the Queen and Her Lover
The Prophecy of Death
The King of Thieves
No Law in the Land
The Bishop Must Die
The Oath
King’s Gold
City of Fiends
Templar’s Acre
‘Michael Jecks is the master of the medieval whodunnit’ Robert Low
‘Captivating … If you care for a well-researched visit to medieval England, don’t pass this series’
Historical Novels Review
‘Michael Jecks has a way of dipping into the past and giving it that immediacy of a present-day newspaper article … He writes … with such convincing charm that you expect to walk round a corner in Tavistock and meet some of the characters’
Oxford Times
‘Great characterisation, a detailed sense of place, and a finely honed plot make this a superb medieval historical’
Library Journal
‘Stirring intrigue and a compelling cast of characters will continue to draw accolades’
Publishers Weekly
‘A tortuous and exciting plot … The construction of the story and the sense of period are excellent’
Shots
‘This fascinating portrayal of medieval life and the corruption of the Church will not disappoint. With convincing characters whose treacherous acts perfectly combine with a devilishly masterful plot, Jecks transports readers back to this wicked world with ease’
Good Book Guide
The fifteenth novel in Michael Jecks’s medieval Knights Templar series.
It is the summer of 1323, and Sir Baldwin de Furnshill and Bailiff Simon Puttock have been granted leave to go on pilgrimage. Together they travel across Europe to Santiago de Compostela. But danger is never far away, and when a beautiful girl is found murdered on a hillside, the friends are among the first on the scene.
Baldwin and Simon lend their investigative skills to the enquiry, headed by the local
pesquisidore
. But the unexpected appearance of a face from Baldwin’s past could threaten the investigation, as well as the future of Baldwin himself …
To paraphrase P.G. Wodehouse …
This book is for the builder and his wife, without whose wine, food and conversation this book would have been finished in a third of the time.
Thanks, Bob and Heather.
| Claveiro | Key-holder or castellan of a castle (in Portugal). |
| | |
| Espada | The symbol of the Knights of Santiago. The upper part was a cross, but the lower part was shaped like a sword’s blade. |
| | |
| Frey, Freiles | ‘Brother’, ‘Brothers’: the term given to knight warriors. |
| | |
| Furtum sacrum | The theft of a set of relics by a rival church was a recognised crime, but it was condoned as being a pious act. Our forefathers took the view that if the Saint in question objected, he or she had it in their power to prevent it. |
| | |
| Hidalgo | A low class of noble, a hidalgo was on a par with a reeve, probably, but was born to his position rather than elected. Hidalgos would often work in the fields with other townsfolk, which meant that they were looked down upon by other, higher nobles. |
| | |
| Malfechor | During the troubled early years of the 1300s, a raider or thief who preyed on travellers, villagers and anyone else they could rob or kill. |
| | |
| Maestre | Master – in Castile. |
| | |
| Mestre | Master – in Portugal. |
| | |
| Mudéjar | A Moslem living under Christian rule after the reconquest. |
| | |
| Pesquisidores | The title given to certain ‘enquirers’ in Castile from the early thirteenth century. Its literal meaning is: well-informed men who fear God. |
| Sir Baldwin de Furnshill | A former Knight Templar who is well-known as a resolute investigator of crimes in Devon. It is a new experience for him to be investigating a murder in a different land, Galicia, without the support of his wife, Lady Jeanne, and his servant, Edgar. |
| Bailiff Simon Puttock | Baldwin’s friend for many years, the Stannary Bailiff from Dartmoor is less used to travelling and finds Galicia more intimidating than Baldwin does. |
| IN COMPOSTELA | |
| Dom Afonso | The son of a religious man, Afonso is burning with the determination to avenge his father’s death. |
| Caterina | The widowed sister of Domingo, and cousin of Joana, Caterina was rejected by her Christian father when she married her Moorish husband against his will. Now she is forced to beg in the streets. |
| Sir Charles | Once a proud supporter of Earl Thomas of Lancaster, Sir Charles now has no protector and must find a living as best he can. |
| Domingo | Leader of a small group of thieves, Domingo is distraught to witness the death of his son Sancho at the hand of Sir Charles; he is determined to exact revenge. |
| Gregory of Coventry | The ex-husband of Doña Stefanía, he has become a sad, disillusioned man. Now a cleric, he is appalled to see his ex-wife in Compostela. |
| Guillem | The clerk to Munio, who keeps notes and records all the Pesquisidor ’s enquiries. |
| Joana | A lowly-born woman, she has been maid and confidante to Doña Stefanía for some years. |
| Margarita | Although she has the dark beauty of a Castilian lady, Margarita is in fact an Englishwoman from Oxford, who married Munio while he studied there. |
| María de Venialbo | A beggarwoman seen in the streets of Compostela. Like other mendicants, she is unpopular, for even pilgrims object to paying out good money to beggars! |
| Matthew | Baldwin made many friends when he was a Knight Templar, but most have faded from his memory over the last fifteen years. Matthew’s is one face he recognises. When the Order was destroyed, Matthew was left with nothing, and now he must beg his daily allowance from pilgrims. |
| Munio | In the city of Compostela, there are elected official investigators, the pesquisidores , of whom Munio is one. He studied in his youth at Oxford, and speaks fluent English. |
| Parceval Annesen | Forced to go on pilgrimage to atone for the murder of a fellow merchant in Ypres, Parceval is anxious lest he be seen to be wealthy, and thereby robbed or captured and held hostage. To avoid this, he conceals his wealth. |
| Paul | Squire and general man-at-arms to Sir Charles, he also sees to Dom Afonso’s needs. |
| Frey Ramón | One of the famous Knights of Santiago, Frey – or Brother – Ramón is apparently a devoted Soldier of Christ. |
| Don Ruy de Benavente | A knight forced to go into exile, unjustly accused of crimes against a young woman. |
| Doña Stefanía de Villamor | The Lady Prioress of the convent at Vigo is fearful that her money might be stolen, but still more worried about the contents of her purse. They are not hers, and she shouldn’t have kept them. |