Read Online Archers and Crusaders: Historical fiction: Novel of Medieval Warfare by Marines, Navy sailors, and Templar knights in the Middle Ages during England's ... (The English Archers Saga Book 6) by Martin Archer - Free Book Online
Authors: Martin Archer
Tags: Historical fiction
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canny, yes he is. It’s no wonder they made the investment. I wonder who loaned them all that gold and what they had to promise to get it?
“ Bishop Thomas. Welcome again and God’s blessing on you. I hope my prayers for our pilgrims and refugees have been helpful?”
“Oh, they have, Holy Father, they have indeed. I’m sure of it.”
“They tell me you have just been in Corsica. What do you know of the attacks the orthodox priests and their followers made on the Templars and our own Christian people?”
“There were problems in Corsica while we were there taking on food and water but I know of no such attacks on our people, Your Holiness. If anything it was the other way around - although, of course, attacks on our people might have occurred afterwards without me knowing about them.” Damn. What does he want to hear and what should I tell him?
“I was told you stopped in Corsica on your way here carrying the tithes from the pilgrims that help support the church and were attacked by orthodox priests as were the Templars traveling with you. Is that not true?”
“Not exactly, Your Holiness. In fact, not at all - although it is true that while I was in Corsica there was an incident involving the Templars and an orthodox priest. One of my men happened to be in the market buying supplies and saw the whole thing.”
I tell the Holy Father the entire story including how it came to be that I was sailing with the Templars, not by choice but as a result of our obtaining the weapons abandoned in Acre by the Saracens King Richard murdered. It takes a while because the Holy Father asks many questions about what happened in Corsica after the Templar killed the priest and what different people did and why. He seems to be increasingly distressed at what he is hearing.
Then the Holy Father asks me to tell him what I know about the fighting that occurred last year at Constantinople between our Marines and the Byzantine troops. He seems particularly surprised when I explain why the Emperor’s troops attacking our Marines occurred as a result of our response to a ransom demand by some of the emperor’s people – and that it had absolutely nothing to do with Emperor Alexios and the Orthodox Patriarch trying to prevent the ‘Poor Landless Sailors’ from helping to carry another Latin-led crusade to the Holy Land to free Jerusalem. Where could he have gotten such an idea?
“Do you think,” His Holiness asks looking at me intently, “that the Byzantines are in league with the Saracens such that our crusaders must capture Constantinople before they can recapture Jerusalem?”
@@@@@
I have much to think about as I follow a young priest back to the entrance gate to rejoin Randolph and my waiting guards who are waiting patiently in the shade. There is no doubt in my mind, and apparently not in the Pope’s mind either, that the Templars and the crusaders now on their way to the Holy Land are playing some sort of dangerous game. But what is it and why?
Actually I think I know what is driving the crusaders and so does the Pope, although perhaps he doesn’t want to admit it – most crusaders don’t answer a Pope’s call and go on a crusade for religious purposes. They go to find greener pastures in which to enrich themselves - and now they seem to be looking around for other cities to conquer because the early crusades proved there isn’t much gold in Jerusalem or viable land around it. But what will the Pope do and the crusaders do and how should William and I respond?
Chapter Six
Within an hour of my returning to our depot a rotund little Cardinal with a big smile arrives with a parchment letter closed by with a papal seal. He hands it to me without a word.
“ Bishop Thomas. Welcome again and God’s blessing on you. I hope my prayers for our pilgrims and refugees have been helpful?”
“Oh, they have, Holy Father, they have indeed. I’m sure of it.”
“They tell me you have just been in Corsica. What do you know of the attacks the orthodox priests and their followers made on the Templars and our own Christian people?”
“There were problems in Corsica while we were there taking on food and water but I know of no such attacks on our people, Your Holiness. If anything it was the other way around - although, of course, attacks on our people might have occurred afterwards without me knowing about them.” Damn. What does he want to hear and what should I tell him?
“I was told you stopped in Corsica on your way here carrying the tithes from the pilgrims that help support the church and were attacked by orthodox priests as were the Templars traveling with you. Is that not true?”
“Not exactly, Your Holiness. In fact, not at all - although it is true that while I was in Corsica there was an incident involving the Templars and an orthodox priest. One of my men happened to be in the market buying supplies and saw the whole thing.”
I tell the Holy Father the entire story including how it came to be that I was sailing with the Templars, not by choice but as a result of our obtaining the weapons abandoned in Acre by the Saracens King Richard murdered. It takes a while because the Holy Father asks many questions about what happened in Corsica after the Templar killed the priest and what different people did and why. He seems to be increasingly distressed at what he is hearing.
Then the Holy Father asks me to tell him what I know about the fighting that occurred last year at Constantinople between our Marines and the Byzantine troops. He seems particularly surprised when I explain why the Emperor’s troops attacking our Marines occurred as a result of our response to a ransom demand by some of the emperor’s people – and that it had absolutely nothing to do with Emperor Alexios and the Orthodox Patriarch trying to prevent the ‘Poor Landless Sailors’ from helping to carry another Latin-led crusade to the Holy Land to free Jerusalem. Where could he have gotten such an idea?
“Do you think,” His Holiness asks looking at me intently, “that the Byzantines are in league with the Saracens such that our crusaders must capture Constantinople before they can recapture Jerusalem?”
@@@@@
I have much to think about as I follow a young priest back to the entrance gate to rejoin Randolph and my waiting guards who are waiting patiently in the shade. There is no doubt in my mind, and apparently not in the Pope’s mind either, that the Templars and the crusaders now on their way to the Holy Land are playing some sort of dangerous game. But what is it and why?
Actually I think I know what is driving the crusaders and so does the Pope, although perhaps he doesn’t want to admit it – most crusaders don’t answer a Pope’s call and go on a crusade for religious purposes. They go to find greener pastures in which to enrich themselves - and now they seem to be looking around for other cities to conquer because the early crusades proved there isn’t much gold in Jerusalem or viable land around it. But what will the Pope do and the crusaders do and how should William and I respond?
Chapter Six
Within an hour of my returning to our depot a rotund little Cardinal with a big smile arrives with a parchment letter closed by with a papal seal. He hands it to me without a word.
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