The Last Crusade
Page 32
And so I had my plot, my characters, and my locations for the fall of Rourell. In my original plan for the story, the plot went no further than the end of Rourell, but this is also a work of fiction, and the culmination of a series with characters to whom I have become attached, and so I could not end the story with the fall of Rourell and the downfall of the heroes, although that seemed inevitable. My story ended in 1212.
I began then to look at my antagonists. I had a possible Templar lord who perished in 1225, thirteen years after my story ended. I had the paborda, who died in 1217, only five years after the end. I had an archbishop who died in 1215, three years from the end. And I had King Pedro, who died in the very next year. I was surprised to discover that Pedro died on the field of battle in what is now France, and that led me to studying the Albigensian Crusade, one of the most brutal conflicts of the medieval era. Pedro perished in a battle that should have been a walkover for him, and which marked the beginning of the end for the Cathars every bit as much as Las Navas de Tolosa had done for the Moors.
De Comminges was, as I’ve said, an important figure and was most certainly at Muret, along with the king. William of Puylaurens, in his chronicle, says of Muret, ‘The King died there and many magnates from Aragon with him’; while we know that Catalan lords were already being fielded in the region, for the ‘Song of the Cathar Wars’ tells us that at Pujol, a few months earlier ‘the valiant Count of Foix […] and the Count of Comminges, they can join you, and the Catalans too, who have come here to help you.’ With La Selva being a relatively important lord, it seemed highly likely that he was at Muret. The only one of my four that definitely was not was the archbishop, who actually spoke against Aragon’s involvement.
So I had my villains in one place, where King Pedro foolishly placed himself in the thick of the action and paid the ultimate price. Given that the other three die off in the following years, I needed to produce a ‘slow-burn’ approach to the revenge, for which Arnau needed to be out of action for some time.
The battle of Muret is related as closely as possible to historical record, though clearly seen only from one angle, and only to the point where the enemy had begun to rout. Muret is an astounding fight, given the insane decision of de Montfort to lead a charge against a vastly outnumbering force. It is also unusual in that his force was entirely cavalry, while the enemy were a mixed force. De Montfort won a very solid victory, and at that point the decline of Cathar power began to increase over time.
I am guilty, to some extent, of painting the crusaders as the good guys and the Cathars as the bad. Clearly the truth is much greyer than this, but then this book is written from the point of view of a very pious Catholic, and so the bias should be expected. Both sides committed the most appalling atrocities in the Albigensian Crusade, and records of them are clear, in all three contemporary chronicles, which relate the campaigns from both points of view. De Montfort was clearly a harsh and vicious man, despite his vaunted piety, and his brother Guy was almost certainly similar. The priest Father Dominic of Osma was probably as bad, being one of the main instigators of the crusade. This man, who only makes a cameo here, would go on to become Saint Dominic, father of the Dominican Order and as such, posthumously at least partially responsible for the Inquisition that arose in 1231.
My portrayal of the siege of Pujol is based on the accounts from three contemporary sources. The garrison was massacred, though one source places the massacre at Pujol in the aftermath of its fall, while another places it in Toulouse days later, in the sequence of events that I have used. The men who led the defence and died in such horrible ways were real. We are told that des Essarts dies of an arrow to the head, and that Simon the Saxon was ‘at once slain by the crowd’. We are not privy specifically to de Cissy’s fate, though since we know that the entire garrison died, he must have perished, and the Song tells us that ‘a few they hanged,’ so I put the two events together. The tale of the one prisoner taking refuge in the church and being dragged out is related by William of Puylaurens, though he is not named. In the end, I was sorry to see d’Orbessan go like that, but the aftermath of Pujol, horrible though it was, remains the chapter I enjoyed writing most of all.
I went into this book, knowing it would be the last in the series, knowing that it had to end on a sour note, with Rourell going and the preceptrix ousted, and so I have done what is possible within the bounds of history to give my protagonists the best possible ending. Arnau grew and matured through the books, and now he can go on and live in happy dotage. I hope you’ve enjoyed travelling along with him and his friends, and now I hang up my broadsword and go off in search of new stories to tell. I hope to see you there.
Simon Turney,
September 2020
The Knights Templar
Daughter of War
The Last Emir
City of God
The Winter Knight
The Crescent and the Cross
The Last Crusade
Find out more
About the Author
S.J.A. Turney is an author of Roman and medieval historical fiction, gritty historical fantasy and rollicking Roman children’s books. He lives with his family and extended menagerie of pets in rural North Yorkshire.
Also by S.J.A. Turney
Tales of the Empire
Interregnum
Ironroot
Dark Empress
Insurgency
Invasion
Jade Empire
Emperor’s Bane
The Ottoman Cycle
The Thief’s Tale
The Priest’s Tale
The Assassin’s Tale
The Pasha’s Tale
The Knights Templar
Daughter of War
The Last Emir
City of God
The Winter Knight
The Crescent and the Cross
The Last Crusade
First published in the United Kingdom in 2021 by Canelo
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Copyright © S.J.A. Turney, 2021
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
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ISBN 9781788639033
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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