00 - Templar's Acre
Read 00 - Templar's Acre Online
Authors: Michael Jecks
Also by 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
The Malice of Unnatural Death
Dispensation of Death
The Templar, the Queen and Her Lover
The Prophecy of Death
The King of Thieves
The Bishop Must Die
The Oath
King’s Gold
City of Fiends
First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2013
A CBS COMPANY
Copyright © Michael Jecks 2013
This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.
No reproduction without permission.
® and © 1997 Simon & Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.
The right of Michael Jecks to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
Simon & Schuster UK Ltd
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London WC1X 8HB
Simon & Schuster Australia, Sydney
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
HB ISBN: 978-0-85720-517-9
TPB ISBN: 978-0-85720-518-6
EBOOK ISBN: 978-0-85720-520-9
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Typeset by Hewer Text UK Ltd, Edinburgh
Printed and bound by CPI (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY
Neil, Lois, Emily and Izzy
(the wonderful Rowlipops)
With thanks for supporting their medievally-challenged local writer with wine and beer.
Beaucéant | the famous banner of the Templars: white below to show the Order’s kindness to friends and pilgrims, black above to symbolise their ferocity |
Bolt | short stout arrow fired from a crossbow. Also called a |
Bullet | small, round stone fired from a sling. |
Buss | cargo vessel. |
Catapult | large weapon used to hurl missiles at walls and buildings. |
Deofol | devil, fool, term of opprobrium. |
Falchion | heavy-bladed, single-edged sword. |
Foumart | literally ‘polecat’, an expression of contempt. |
Greek Fire | the original flame-thrower used a mixture of chemicals to create a devastating effect, like napalm. |
Hoardings | wooden structures built at the top of walls, with trapdoors so defenders could attack the enemy from above. |
Mameluk | the slave warriors of Egypt. |
Mangonel | a form of catapult. |
Mantelet | defensive shields on wheels, used to protect attacking forces. |
Moors | a term for those who lived in Mauretania i.e. Morocco and Algeria. |
Outremer | the whole of the original Crusader kingdom; included the Kingdom of Jerusalem and all the city states. Literally, ‘Over the Sea’. |
Quarrel | another term for |
Saracen | ancient term for the nomadic peoples of Syria; it later came to mean Muslims. |
Sequin | a gold coin minted by the Venetian Republic that remained currency for 500 years. |
Trebuchet | a more massive form of catapult for larger missiles. |
Turcopoles | light cavalry used for reconnaissance and scouting by the Templars. |
Turcopolier | head of the Turcopoles, who led the Templar sergeants into battle. |
Wale | the top-most strake in a ship, the top of the hull. |
Vintenary | in the military, the captain of a troop of twenty – a vintaine. |
Abu al-Fida | a Muslim merchant in Acre. |
Amalric | Brother to the King of Jerusalem. |
Baldwin de Furnshill | a noble-born pilgrim to the Holy Land. |
Bernat | Roger de Flor’s second-in-command. |
Buscarel | master of a Genoese ship. |
Edgar Bakere | a pilgrim seeking riches in the Holy Land. |
Geoffrey de Vendac | Marshal of the Templars. |
Guillaume de Beaujeu | Grand Master of the Templars. |
Henry II of Jerusalem | the King of Jerusalem. |
Ivo de Pynho | horse-dealer and supplier to the Templars. |
Jacques d’Ivry | a Knight of the Order of St Lazarus. |
Lucia | slave to Maria of Lydda. |
Maria of Lydda | widow of the Count of Lydda. |
Sir Otto de Grandison | commander of the English forces at Acre. |
Philip Mainboeuf | a noted merchant in Acre. |
Pietro | Ivo de Pynho’s servant. |
Roger de Flor | shipmaster of a Templar galley. |
Sultan Qalawun | Mameluk ruler of Egypt. |
Usmar | son to Abu al-Fida. |
Writing
Templar’s Acre
has been a wonderful adventure for me – but I’ve mixed feelings now that it’s done because sadly, it is going to be the
last of the Templar series for a while.
There are many good reasons for this. The most important is that I need a change. I am absolutely convinced that for an author to interest the reading public,
he
must first be
interested in, and intrigued and fascinated by his subject. As a result, I think I have become one of the worst fourteenth-century anoraks in existence.
Since embarking on the Templar series with Baldwin and Simon, I’ve grown exceptionally comfortable in their company. I know how they will respond to any number of influences, and I like
their families and friends. More, I know their period. I am happier with their politics and politicians than I really should be. And while I do not look at those days through rose-tinted
spectacles, I am equally sure that their time was better than has often been depicted.
But every author comes to a realisation that he needs to change direction once in a while, to focus on new challenges. For me, with two books written every year, and concentrating so heavily on
my specific period, it has been very difficult to come up for air into the twenty-first century.
Just moving, with
Templar’s Acre,
into the late thirteenth century, made writing feel more like a holiday again. Finding new, different characters to write about, a different
location, and looking more to the clash of cultures than a straight crime novel, was wonderful.
I have wanted to write about Acre and this final battle for the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Crusader States ever since my very first fan letter.
In it, so I am told (I wasn’t allowed to see it), the writer listed over twenty factual inaccuracies in my book. The first was that I had mentioned that Baldwin had been at the Siege of
Acre in 1291. This, the writer stated, was wrong. The siege took place in 1191, and rather than the Christians being attacked in the city, it was Saracens inside the city who were attacked by
Richard the Lionheart’s men.
My editor, who had only recently commissioned a complete unknown (me), was a little concerned by this list. She called me to ask if I would like to comment on a few of the points raised. The
subtext, I think, was: ‘Are you a complete moron who got all this detail wrong?’ It wouldn’t be surprising. No editor likes to think that they could have commissioned a complete
turkey.
Fortunately I was able to reassure her. I vaguely recall making a throw-away comment along the lines of, ‘If this fool can’t even be bothered to check to see that Acre was attacked a
hundred years
after
Richard took it, I don’t see why I should waste more time on his questions.’
It did niggle.
So for the last seventeen years or so, I’ve wanted to get heavily involved in a good battle book. And this is the result.
Templar’s Acre
is a fictional prequel, but the main action and most of the characters were real.
Roger Flor was as I depicted him in the book. The only possible difference between the real man and the one I have invented, is that I have been far kinder to him than he really deserves. In
later life he became a noted mercenary, until his death at the hand of an unappreciative employer in 1305.
The scenes of the end of Acre are as accurately portrayed as I can manage.
It was one of the first protracted sieges to be documented extensively. I suppose the fact that so many educated men were able to flee the city helped. Usually, when the Mameluks attacked a
stronghold, it was in a place like Safed or Krak des Chevaliers, from which there could be no safe escape. Hemmed in upon all sides, the miserable victims must surrender, in which case death or
slavery would inevitably result. Many, of course, chose to fight to the last, refusing to submit even when all hope was gone.