Unholy Relics
4 total works
1242. An immense pyre is being kindled in Europe.
A great Christian army is gathering. The King of France, Saint Louis, has decided once and for all to stamp out the heretic Cathar sect. He wants their rich land in the Languedoc, and now they have challenged his authority - both secular and spiritual - for the last time.
For the Cathars have something King Saint Louis desires more than anything else in the world; a powerful weapon of their own. An ancient Shroud that bears the ghostly image of Christ crucified, once the holiest relic of Byzantium, now the so-called 'Cathar Crucifix,' which is the rallying point of the heretic rebellion.
Petroc of Auneford knows the power of this relic, the Mandylion of Edessa, better than any man. For it was Petroc who, along with the mysterious Captain de Montalhac, stole it from the Pharos Chapel in the ruined city of Constantinople and gave it to the Cathars. Little did he know that all too soon it would be the focus of total war.
Now he and the Captain - a Cathar himself - find themselves snared in this horrific struggle and a plot that involves the greatest rulers in Christendom. And as the Captain retreats to the desolate peak of Montsegur to make his final stand, only Petroc can save his friend and the mysterious, sinister Shroud, holiest of relics, precious beyond reckoning, but possessed of a deadly, maddening power?
'Pip Vaughan-Hughes has given us a monk, a corpse, a sinister Templar and a terrific adventure that romps across mediaeval Christendom' Bernard Cornwell
1248 AD. King Louis of France is about to invade Egypt on his vainglorious Seventh Crusade. Pope and Emperor are fighting for mastery over Christendom. And where greed and ambition cross, blood soon follows.
When his oldest friend is killed in broad daylight, Petroc of Auneford - former relic-hunter turned respectable Venetian banker and married man - knows someone's trying to send him a deadly message. Called upon from all sides to do their bidding, and surviving in a viper's nest of greed and treachery, Petroc must guard his secrets closely if he wants to stay alive.
He becomes a reluctant Crusader as he tries to save the woman he loves, find a way to real freedom, and all the while, cling on to a precious dream of home ...
'Pip Vaughan-Hughes has given us a monk, a corpse, a sinister Templar and a terrific adventure that romps across mediaeval Christendom' Bernard Cornwell
The stunning sequel to RELICS - and on a truly monumental scale...
In the darkness of 13th Century Europe, the most precious treasures of the Christian world lie in a small church in the great ruined city of Constantinople: the crown of thorns, the spear that pierced Jesus' side, the shroud bearing the imprint of Christ.
On the other side of the globe, Petroc of Auneford sails into the sprawling Pool of London for the first time. He has left his old monastic world behind for that of the enigmatic Captain de Montalhac - purveyor of fine relics and other exotic trinkets to anyone with sufficient money and desire.
For Petroc, the trip is soon blighted by tragedy, but grief is no guard against greed or rumour. The great powers of Christendom are gathering ... all covet the power of the most precious relics - and Petroc finds himself right in the eye of the storm.
'Pip Vaughan-Hughes has given us a monk, a corpse, a sinister Templar and a terrific adventure that romps across mediaeval Christendom. A great read!' Bernard Cornwell
England, 1235, and Brother Petroc is living a simple life as a novice monk. Struggling to keep his soul fairly clean and worrying most about resisting the local girls, he inadvertently stumbles headlong into vicious trap. Framed by a sinister Templar Knight for a brutal murder of a church official and accused of the theft of a priceless relic, he is forced to run for his life. But when his best friend Will is killed by the chasing knight, Petroc's flight becomes a quest for restitution.
Trusting his fate to an enigmatic relic-hunter and scoundrel, he must dodge the long arm of the church and somehow get to the bottom of everything that has happened to him. He must find out how his fate is entwined with that of the sacred object and get revenge on the man who wrecked his life - all the while avoiding the pitfalls and perils of love for a beautiful Greek princess...