About this ebook
This is the forgotten Matter of Europe - a Song of Courtly Love and Betrayal, Adventure and Misfortune, sung by two Emperors, a Pope, a King, a Duke and two Counts. It is 1100 AD. In the east of Europe, battles are underway between Christians and Muslims, between Latin and Greek speakers, and between the Church and Crown. King Baldwin of Jerusalem, valiant knight and lusty bachelor, has wrested a sacred talisman from the Eastern Empire - the Palladium. With it, his kingdom and the civilisation it represents is in the ascendancy, and all fall before his sword. Yet he has a weakness - love - both for one woman, his mother, as well as his fellow man. Will it be his undoing? If it were up to Caesar Nicephoros Bryennius, Panhypersebastos, First Minister of the Roman Empire, Baldwin would not be the only one to fall. He schemes for the ancient crown of the Romans, and nothing can stand in his way. Nothing, perhaps, except his wife ... or himself. Four of Baldwin's knights, too, are struggling with their place in the world. Though they have risen high in Baldwin's service, their real love is questing after pilgrims. Thus they seek to lighten Baldwin's load, by offering him a service, while embarking on a great quest of their own. One that will lead them places that even they scarcely realise. Lowest on the ranks of society, below the common gaze, is Nicephoros' escaped slave, Jacob. He vies simply for freedom - the purest desire. Yet, in seeking to use the Palladium to achieve his goals, he stands to change the fate of all...
About the author
Marc Yves Lane (1978 - ) was born in Sydney, Australia, and lives in London with his partner. He has degrees in law, architecture and urban design, and has practiced in all three fields.
Marc has been writing since an early age. He began a sci-fi epic at age 9, which he may yet return to in some form in the fullness of time. In the meantime, he enjoys earthbound forgotten histories.
In school, perplexed by the pinhole-camera approach to history, he set himself the task of learning how we came from 'there' to 'here'. In 2005 (thanks to three books - David Keys' "Catastrophe" and Jared Diamond's "Guns Germs and Steel" and "Collapse"), he finished the outline of this understanding, and is now fleshing out the details.
Palladium: Eastern Empires is his first published book.
Marc has been writing since an early age. He began a sci-fi epic at age 9, which he may yet return to in some form in the fullness of time. In the meantime, he enjoys earthbound forgotten histories.
In school, perplexed by the pinhole-camera approach to history, he set himself the task of learning how we came from 'there' to 'here'. In 2005 (thanks to three books - David Keys' "Catastrophe" and Jared Diamond's "Guns Germs and Steel" and "Collapse"), he finished the outline of this understanding, and is now fleshing out the details.
Palladium: Eastern Empires is his first published book.
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