Knights of the Black and White

Susan Merskey is freelance writer in London, Ontario.

In 1088, 22 years after the Norman conquest of Britain, a young French
knight named Hugh de Payens is inducted into a powerful secret society
in his father’s castle in Anjou. The Order of Rebirth in Sion draws
its membership from the ranks of some of France’s most powerful
families. Only one son from each generation is eligible for selection,
and the members’ loyalty to this brotherhood transcends their loyalty
to both Church and state.

When Hugh is commanded to join the first Crusade to the Holy Land, he
soon finds himself embroiled in—and sickened by—the bloody battles
in Jerusalem. With his superiors’ approval, he and a few other
brotherhood members form a unique order of fighting monks, known as the
Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and charged with the task of defending
and protecting pilgrims en route to Jerusalem. But this activity soon
becomes a front for an infinitely more dangerous task: to uncover a
treasure—hidden at the centre of the city—that might not only
destroy the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem, but also threaten the fabric
of the Church itself. This will take more than eight years of patient
work, enshrouded in deepest secrecy, but the treasure they eventually
find is worth all the struggle.

This historical novel, the first in a planned trilogy about the Knights
Templar, weaves together fact and fiction, myth and religious belief,
and danger and intrigue into a fascinating tapestry that moves
relentlessly toward that treasure at the heart of the story. The author
vividly describes the ideals, dangers, bloodshed, and lust that were
typical of the period. He also provides readers with food for deeper
thought about Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.