The Tale of the English Templar

The young knight had been tortured and hoped only to die. His rescuers had other ideas. But can an escaped Templar, an intrepid, old crusader and a discarded bride defy a tyrant — and win?

An English Templar travelling to Cyprus is one of thousands arrested on Friday 13 October 1307. Victims of Philip IV’s greed for the Order’s legendary riches, they are cruelly tortured. The English knight becomes the first non-French Templar to confess to the trumped-up charges. Then he disappears. Soon, other imprisoned Templars also go missing from the French King’s dungeons. Rumours begin to circulate of a band of free Templars. Based on historical events, not fantasy, The Tale of the English Templar tells the story of the struggle between good and evil in human hearts — and of the power of love even in our darkest hour.

Helena P. Schrader is an award-winning and best-selling author and historian. She holds a PhD in history from the University of Hamburg and served as an American diplomat in Europe and Africa. Her novels set in the Middle Ages are based both on historical and archaeological sources. Six of her novels focus on the crusader states rather than the crusades, adding a fresh perspective to the literature on this era. When researching for The Tale of the English Templar, she travelled extensively in the Languedoc, becoming warmly familiar with this enchanting region and its complex culture, architecture, and history.