Warrior's Song (33 page)
Authors: Catherine Coulter
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AUTHOR'S NOTE
Eleanor was the first English queen to be crowned with her husband shortly after she and Prince Edward returned from the Holy Land. The legend of Eleanor sucking the poison from Edward's wound was first told by Ptolemy of Lucca a century later and has been debated since.
    The treaty Edward achieved in 1272 at Caesarea with the Sultan Baibars guaranteed peace to the Kingdom of Jerusalem and its possessions for a period of ten years, ten months, ten days, and ten minutes.
    The Saracens took Acre in 1291, and the remaining Frankish cities soon shared its fate.
    I have taken the liberty of shortening the time the English spent in the Holy Land and ordering the events of the Eighth Crusade, including the death of King Louis, for dramatic effect, for which I beg pardon.
What a blind and noble venture,
Catherine Coulter
