Crusades Trilogy
3 primary works • 5 total works Complete
Book 1
The hero of this phenomenally successful historical trilogy is Arn Magnusson, born in 1150 to an aristocratic Swedish family. THE ROAD TO JERUSALEM covers his childhood and education at the Cistercian monastry of Varnhem. There he is taught the best of spiritual and worldly learning, as well as being trained to become a master archer and swordsman by the giant Brother Guilbert, a former knight. At seventeen, equipped to become a monk or a warrior, Arn returns home, a young man and yet an innocent in the ways of the world. Two sisters cross his path: one seduces him, while with the other sister, Cecilia, he falls deeply in love. In loving two sisters he has committed a crime punishable by both civil and clerical authorities, and he is sentenced to serve 20 years as a Knight Templar in the Holy Land. THE KNIGHT TEMPLAR (Volume 2 to be published 2002) recounts Arn's experiences as an occupation officer in Palestine and in volume 3, THE KINGDOM AT THE END OF THE ROAD, (to be published 2003) Arn leaves Jerusalem a changed man.
He returns to Sweden, torn apart by feudal infighting in which his family is deeply embroiled; and to Cecilia, the love of his youth, who was banished to a nunnery for the period he was in the Holy Land.
He returns to Sweden, torn apart by feudal infighting in which his family is deeply embroiled; and to Cecilia, the love of his youth, who was banished to a nunnery for the period he was in the Holy Land.
Book 2
He was Master of the great Gaza stronghold and lands. He was the champion of the Knights Templar. But Arn de Gothia has also become the friend of the Crusaders' most feared enemy, the great Saladin. Through his friendships, study and observations of the Muslims around him, he finds himself increasingly at odds with the unruly behaviour of his fellow Crusaders. As the pace of the war between the Crusaders and Saracens quickens, Arn's prowess as a fighter and leader becomes paramount. The battle for Jerusalem begins.
Book 3
One of the most feared warriors of the Knights Templar, Arn de Gotha, after being exiled for twenty years, returns home to Sweden only to find his beloved homeland torn apart by warring clans and embarks on a new quest--to create a new society and establish lasting peace.
v.2
Born in 1150 to an aristocratic Swedish family, handsome Arn Magnusson is educated at a Cistercian monastery. As well as training to be a monk, he is to be a warrior, and becomes a master archer and swordsman under the tutelage of the giant Brother Guilbert, a former knight. But Arn is innocent in the ways of the world, and when two beautiful sisters cross his path, despite falling desperately in love with one of them, Cecilia, he is seduced by the other. Such a crime is punishable by both civil and clerical authorities, and, while Cecilia is banished to spend twenty years as a nun, Arn is sentenced to serve the same period as a Knight Templar in the Holy Land. As an occupation officer in Palestine, he discovers that the infidel Saracens don't appear to be a brutish and uncivilised as they are portrayed in Christian propaganda. On the contrary, in love and war he learns from the example of his noble adversary Saladin that there's another side to the teachings of the Cistercians...
v. 3
In THE ROAD TO JERUSALEM, Arn Magnusson was sentenced to 20 years as a Knight Templar, for the crime of falling in love with two sisters - one of whom was sentenced to the same period in a convent. THE KNIGHT TEMPLAR followed Arn's adventures in the Holy Land, where he discovered that the infidel Saracens weren't as brutish and uncivilised as he had been led to believe, and that in fact there was another, darker side to the teaching of the Cistercians. Now, in THE KINGDOM AT THE END OF THE ROAD, Arn leaves Jerusalem a changed man. He returns to Sweden, torn apart by feudal infighting in which his family is deeply embroiled, and to Cecilia, the love of his youth, now at the end of her own 20-year sentence.