|
|
Synopsis
Book 1 - Knights of the Black and White
It is 1088. While many French nobles
continue their occupation of a violently
hostile England, one young knight, Hugh de
Payens, is inducted into a powerful secret
society in his father’s castle in Anjou. The
Order of Rebirth in Sion draws its
membership from the ranks of some of
France’s most powerful families, with only
one son from each generation eligible to be
selected, and its members’ loyalty to the
ancient brotherhood transcends loyalty to
both Church and state. When the new Pope
calls for knights to join his Crusade to
redeem the Holy Land, Hugh is commanded by
the Order to go along and finds himself in
hellish battle in Jerusalem.
Sickened by the slaughter of innocents and
civilians and appalled by the savagery of
his fellow Christians, Hugh appeals to the
Order to allow him and a few of the
brotherhood to follow a different path.
Determined to remain true to their own
beliefs, they become the Poor Fellow
Soldiers of Christ, a unique order of
fighting monks, and use the skills honed in
battle to defend and protect pilgrims on the
road to Jerusalem. But the Order has a
different plan, and soon the brethren are
charged with an outlandish and dangerous
task—a seemingly impossible mission to
uncover a treasure hidden in the very center
of Jerusalem, a treasure that might not only
destroy the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem
but also threaten the fabric of the Church
itself. |
|
|
