Author Description

The 12th day of September. The city is in a turmoil. At mass this morning the priests were in a tizzy because King Philip of France has sailed into our harbour with a fleet of ships on a crusade to liberate the Holy City of Jerusalem from the Saracens... There is talk of naught but the crusade... It is to be a grand and holy war. How wonderful it would be to be a part of it! As unbelievable as it seems to Matthew, lowly apprentice scribe, crippled by a club foot, and destined for a life of brutal servitude, the quick-witted 15-year-old is quickly plunged into the midst of a grand and glorious crusade to reclaim the Holy Land of Jerusalem.