The Grail Quest
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Grail Quest novels are a series of books written by the historical novelist Bernard Cornwell dealing with a 14th Century search for the Holy Grail, around the time of the Hundred Years' War. They follow the adventures of Thomas of Hookton as he leaves Dorset after the murder of his father and joins the English Army under Edward III as an archer. In Harlequin he is involved in battle in Brittany and subsequently at the Battle of Crécy.
It is after this battle that Thomas's family links to the Grail come to the attention of the King and in Vagabond he is sent back to England to discover it's whereabouts and becomes involved in the Scottish invasion of 1347. He soon discovers that his cousin, Guy Vexille, is working with powerful figures within the Catholic church in France to discover the Grail for their own ends. The Novel ends with fierce fighting at La Roche-Derrien back in Brittany.
Heretic finds Thomas still in France, this time during a time of supposed peace with the French following the fall of Calais. Thomas leads a small band of men into southern France to find the Grail. He becomes the centre of a bitter local war with those also seeking the Grail as well as by the Black Death.
- Harlequin (Published in the USA under the title "The Archer's Tale")
- Vagabond
- Heretic
Contents |
[edit] Harlequin
[edit] Setting the Scene
The first novel begins in the village of Hookton, where Thomas is growing up under his once mad father, who is also the village priest. Thomas has been training secretly with a bow, despite the fact that his father forbids it. On Easter Morning, 1342, a French party of raiders arrive under the command of Sir Guillame d'Evecque, a French Knight whose crest is a blue field with three golden hawks on it. Also with Sir Guillame is a warrior dressed all in black, known simply as the Harlequin, who has paid Sir Guillame to carry out the raid to steal Hookton's treasure, the lance of St. George. The Harlequin kills Thomas' father, and the lance is stolen. Thomas manages to reach his bow and kill four of the raiders, but the Harlequin and Sir Guillame both escape.
[edit] The War in Brittany
The book then moves forward by four years. Thomas has gone to France to serve in the English army and take vengeance on his father's killers. He is serving under a compotent commander, Will Skeat, and the army is besieging La Roche-Derrien, a French city. The army assaults the city and is beaten back with many losses. Among the city defenders is the Blackbird, a woman who fights with a crossbow. Her real name is Jeanette, and she is the countess of Amorica. She wounds an English knight, Sir Simon Jekyll, in the arm after the assault, and Jekyll vows revenge.
Skeat and Thomas later visit the army commander, the Earl of Northampton. Thomas has discovered a way to assault the city from the rear- a weak wooden palisade is all that prevents the army's entry, and they are weakly placed. The Earl gives Thomas permission to lead an assault, with Jekyll in nominal command (though everyone in the army hates him). Thomas and his men successfully penetrate the city, open the gates and the town is sacked. During the onslaught Jekyll encounters Jeanette and attempts to rape her, but is prevented by the Earl, who walks in on him with his pants down.
Jekyll is chastised for his actions, but the war calls the Earl away to another campaign. Skeat and his men, including Thomas, are left to garrison the captured city. Thomas and his men guard Jeanette from Sir Simon, but Jeanette will not let them in her house. As the days go by, Skeat and his men conduct a series of raids on French villages. A small French force from Lannion under the command of Sir Geoffrey de Pont Blanque attempts to destroy Skeat's army, but Skeat refuses to fight him. Jekyll, however, is eager for plunder, so he and his men battle Sir Geoffrey's force. Jekyll loses the battle despite putting up a powerful defense, and Geoffrey then attempts to charge Skeat's archers. His force is mowed down and destroyed by the English longbows, and Thomas captures him, but lets him go, to Jekyll's fury. Thomas' response is to tell Jekyll to "go and boil your arse".
Later that night, Thomas is ambushed by Jekyll's men and brutally beaten, but he is saved by Father Hobbe, a friend who constantly reminds him of his vow of revenge. Thomas then befriends Jeanette and the two make a plan to take revenge on Jekyll. Skeat and his men then move to attack Lannion, weakened by the loss of Geoffrey's force. During the attack Geoffrey is killed by Thomas. A french relef force attampts to destroy the English, but they are destroyed by Skeat's archers. That night, Thomas and Jeanette lure Jekyll out of the town. He attempts to rape Jeanette again, and Thomas tries to kill him, but although he shoots Jekyll's squire, Jekyll escapes.
[edit] The Assault on Caen
Thomas and Jeanette can no longer stay at La Roche Derrien, as Jekyll will kill them both, so they decide to take refuge with the Duke of Brittany who Jeanette is related to through her husband. The Duke, however, is inhospitable; He rapes Jeanette and kidnaps her son, but Jeanette escapes with Thomas. She is traumatized by the event, but Thomas nurses her back to health. The two then rejoin the main English army under Edward III that has invaded the channel. Jeanette becomes attached to the Black Prince as a Lady of Honour. Thomas takes part in the assault on the French city of Caen. During the battle he recognizes the coat of arms of Sir Guillame d'Evecque, and shoots him in the thigh. He also rescues a young woman named Eleanor from being raped by an English man-at-arms. As he leaves the house, Jekyll sees him and knocks him unconscious, afterwards leaving him to hang.
Thomas is rescued by Eleanor, who is revealed to be Sir Guillame's illegitimate child. Sir Guillame appears to Thomas with a missing eye, along with the wound Thomas gave him. Guillame tells Thomas that it was the Harlequin who gave him the wound. Guillame, like Thomas, wants to kill the Harlequin, and the two become friends. Thomas is nursed back to health by a Jewish doctor named Mordecai. Menawhile Jeanette confronts Jekyll in front of the Prince, who has Jekyll banished from the army. Thomas learns a great deal about his family from Sir Guillame and a churchman in Caen. His father was a member of the infamous Vexille family- the former counts of Astarac and descendants of the Cathar heretics. Thomas also learns that the Vexille family may be in possession of the Holy Grail, and the Harlequin had gone to Hookton to find it as well as the Lance of St. George. Despite this new information Thomas decides to return to the English army with Eleanor who becomes his lover and simply be an archer for the time being.
Meanwhile Sir Simon Jekyll decides to join the French army for a chance to take revenge on both Jeanette and the Black Prince. He impresses several knights through his battle skills, and even manages to defeat a black knight- the Harlequin, who reveals himself to be Guy Vexille, the Count of Astarac, and Thomas' cousin.
[edit] The Battle of Crecy
Thomas manages to rejoin Will Skeat's band and helps the English defeat a French force guarding a river fordin the battle of Blanchetaque. The two armies then line up for battle at Crecy. Sir Guillame, Sir Simon, and Guy Vexille are all on the French side. During the epic battle the French are massacred by the English arrows, but the fighting soon becomes hand to hand. Jekyll encounters Thomas on the battlefield and attempts to kill him, but Sir Guillame stabs Jekyll in the side and kills him. Guillame then encounters Vexille and tries to kill him, as do Thomas and Skeat. Vexille severely wounds Skeat in the head, and Guillame is nearly killed by the English, though Thomas rescues him. Guy manages to escape, though not before he recognizes Thomas.
Skeat is sent to Mordecai to recover and Guillame is set free to help him. Thomas discovers the Lance of St. George on the battlefield, and the first book draws to a close.
[edit] Vagabond
The second novel starts almost as soon as the earlier book ends, carrying on Thomas of Hookton's story. He has been sent back to England to pursue his father's mysterious legacy which hints that the Holy Grail might exist and gets tangled with the Scottish invasion of 1347. He survives that only to discover that various powerful folk in France are pursuing the same quest, a complication that takes Thomas back to Brittany and the brutal fighting about La Roche-Derrien.
[edit] Heretic
This is the third in the 'Grail Quest' series, and it takes Thomas of Hookton south into Gascony and to a final confrontation with his cousin, Guy Vexille. The novel begins with the fall of Calais, and most of the events occur in the subsequent truce, but for Thomas and his companions there can be no truce, only a vicious small war which ends with them being besieged, not just by enemies intent on finding the grail, but by the Black Death. (ISBN 0-00-714988-3)
