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Authors: Michael Jecks

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The Prophecy of Death: (Knights Templar 25)

BOOK: The Prophecy of Death: (Knights Templar 25)
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THE PROPHECY OF DEATH
Michael Jecks

Copyright © 2008 Michael Jecks

The right of Michael Jecks to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.

First published as an Ebook by

Headline Publishing Group in 2014

All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library

eISBN: 978 14 7221 9862

HEADLINE PUBLISHING GROUP

An Hachette UK Company

338 Euston Road

London NW1 3BH

www.headline.co.uk

www.hachette.co.uk

About the Author

Michael Jecks gave up a career in the computer industry to concentrate on his writing. He is the founder of Medieval Murderers,
has been Chairman of the Crime Writers’ Association, and helped create the Historical Writers’ Association. Keen to help new
writers, for some years he organised the Debut Dagger competition, and is now organising the AsparaWriting festival for new
writers at Evesham. He has judged many prizes, including the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. Michael is an international speaker
on writing and for business. He lives with his wife, children and dogs in northern Dartmoor.

Michael can be contacted through his website:
www.michaeljecks.co.uk.

He can be followed on twitter (@MichaelJecks) or on
Facebook.com/Michael.Jecks.author
.

His photos of Devon and locations for his books can be found at:
Flickr.com/photos/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

Malice of Unnatural Death

Dispensation of Death

The Templar, the Queen and Her Lover

The Prophecy of Death

The King of Thieves

No Law in the Land

The Bishop Must Die

The Oath

King’s Gold

City of Fiends

Templar’s Acre

Praise

‘Michael Jecks is the master of the medieval whodunnit’ Robert Low

‘Captivating… If you care for a well-researched visit to medieval England, don’t pass this series’
Historical Novels Review

‘Michael Jecks has a way of dipping into the past and giving it that immediacy of a present-day newspaper article… He writes…with
such convincing charm that you expect to walk round a corner in Tavistock and meet some of the characters’
Oxford Times

‘Great characterisation, a detailed sense of place, and a finely honed plot make this a superb medieval historical’
Library Journal

‘Stirring intrigue and a compelling cast of characters will continue to draw accolades’
Publishers Weekly

‘A tortuous and exciting plot… The construction of the story and the sense of period are excellent’
Shots

‘This fascinating portrayal of medieval life and the corruption of the Church will not disappoint. With convincing characters
whose treacherous acts perfectly combine with a devilishly masterful plot, Jecks transports readers back to this wicked world
with ease’
Good Book Guide

About the book

The twenty-fifth novel in Michael Jecks’s medieval Knights Templar series.

It’s 1325, and turmoil in England is rife. But could the Prophecy of St Thomas’s Holy Oil be the key to saving the ill-fated reign of King Edward II? It is believed the one anointed with it will be a lion among men: he will conquer France, unite Christendom and throw the heathens from the Holy Land.

Meanwhile, Sir Baldwin de Furnshill, Keeper of the King’s Peace, and his friend Bailiff Simon Puttock return from France with an urgent instruction for the King himself. Soon they find themselves at the centre of a deadly court intrigue involving the most powerful and ruthless men in the country, who will stop at nothing, not least murder, to achieve their ambitions …

This book is for Barbara Peters of the Poisoned Pen Press, with huge admiration for the marvellous work she does in support
of crime writing and writers.

However, it is also for Ian Mortimer, one of the very best experts on medieval history and a wonderful drinking companion.
There are few men with whom I can go to the pub and discuss Edward II into the early hours! (There are even fewer with whom
I would
want
to do so!)

 

Glossary

Assart

A clearing in a forest, in which a farmer had created arable land by cutting down trees and grubbing up the roots.

Bellatores

Medieval society thought itself composed of three groups: religious, who prayed for men’s souls, peasants, who gave their
labour to provide food and clothing, and the warrior class, the
bellatores
, who maintained order.

Buttery

King’s office which was responsible for ales, wines and other stores.

Castellan

The man in charge of a castle.

Cokinus

Literally, ‘Cook’, but was used as the term for messengers who went about on foot rather than on horseback – and older term,
used before ‘Cursor’ came into vogue.

Cursores

Late in King Edward I’s time, this term began to replace the older ‘Cokinus’.

Fewterer

The officer who had responsibility for the packs of hunting dogs.

Frater

This was the room in which the monks would eat.

Host

The King’s army. Army was a new term to the later fourteenth century.

League

An ancient measure of distance, roughly equivalent to three miles (although no medieval measures were standardised across
the country!).

Lords Marcher

Also known as Marcher Lords, were the knights and barons who owned estates on, or near to, the ‘marches’.

March

The lands along the Welsh and Scottish borders. They had their own customs and laws which gave great independence to the Lords
who owned them, mainly because they were almost permanently in a state of war – especially on the Scottish March.

Marshal

The man in charge of the ‘Marshalsea’.

Marshalsea

The stables, and those who worked in them.

Murdrum Fine

‘Murder’ was so termed because of this fine. In short, after the Norman invasion, the rebellions against the invaders were
so regular, that unless a corpse could be proved to be that of an Englishman, by men coming forward to assert the dead man’s
‘Englishry’, the body was assumed to be that of a Norman. The death of such a man meant heavy fines to be imposed on the vill
where he was found – the ‘murdrum’ fines.

Nuncius

A messenger on horseback.

Palfrey

These were better quality horses for riding.

Porters

The men who were responsible for the gates to cities, or to castles or halls.

Rache

A specific form of hunting dog which was used to hunt by scent rather than others, like greyhounds, which depended upon sight.

Reredorter

A toilet that was at the back of the dormitory in a monastery.

Rounsey

A general, average quality horse used for riding, carrying goods etc, but not for pulling carts.

Sewer

The attendant on a lord who would serve his master, and who would see to the setting of the table, as well as tasting the
King’s food in a royal household.

Sumpter

Packhorse.

Tranter

A wandering salesman of various essentials.

BOOK: The Prophecy of Death: (Knights Templar 25)
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