THE TEMPLAR by Doherty, Paul

London 2007, Headline, 2nd printing, hard bound in dust jacket, 6 12/2 x 9 1/2, FINE/FINE CONDITION, 304 pages, 2 maps. AUTOGRAPHED EDITION - signed by the author on an attractive book plate on front free end paper, signature only. -----------------------------------------------The Templars exploded onto the public conciousness with Dan Brown's THE DA VINCI CODE, now journey with Paul Doherty to 1095 and experience the founding of the Templar Order in all its epic and brutal detail. 1095 and crusading fervour has swept Europe. Christ's fief of Jerusalem has been seized by the Infidels. The Frankish Knights of the West are to march east to liberate the Holy City. Hugh de Payens and Godefroi of St Omer, the soon-to-be founders of the Templar Order,and Hugh's younger sister, Eleanor, leave the security of their homes in Burgundy, France, with a plan to join Count Raymond of Toulouse's army, and march across the known world to Jerusalem. Follow the crusaders as they march through Europe into the glories of Byzantium and onto Syria. Witness the hardships,bloodshed and trickery on their treacherous travels to the Holy Land and know that though the crusaders' journey, and this novel,will end with their entry into the Holy City,the Crusades have yet to begin in earnest.