Some contend that it was this dynamic, unchecked growth of power and influence that brought the Templars down, their close relation to the Pope threatening to kings like Philip IV (the Fair)—especially when the Templars held the keys to Philip's royal treasury. Others contend that the Templars were in fact a mystic brotherhood, ordained in the secret societies still lingering in the East in those days, and had to be silenced. Certainly their hasty extermination under the inexplicably odd charge of heresy would lead one to suspect a cover-up of some kind.
            Ironically they were never charged with usury, the one sin of which they were undoubtedly guilty.

The contrast between perception and reality is particularly interesting in the case of the Templars and I must confess to playing a bit of a joke on my hero Armand in Romance of the Rose. As a younger son without hope of inheritance, he is in the same position as many others who joined the Order in search of adventure and three meals a day. His idealistic dream of riding valiantly into battle and emerging victorious for the greater glory of God is a far cry indeed from what greets Armand in the Holy Land. And that chastity vow doesn't sit too well either. Especially when Alexandria insists on stepping back into his life again and he remembers...


         Claire Delacroix has written numerous medieval romances and novellas, and has a persistent interest in medieval vernacular literature. She has an honors degree in history, focused on medieval studies, and will be the writer in residence at the Toronto Public Library in October and November 2009. For more information about Claire and her books, please visit her website at http://www.delacroix.net
          

 

Feast of St. Michael the Archangel

Michaelmas, the feast of St. Michael the Archangel, is a Christian holiday marking the end of the harvest.  In England, Wales and Ireland it was a day when accounts were settled, manor books were closed, storehouses were stocked for the winter ahead and a new reeve (the chief officer of the village) was elected. Not a job one would want as the reeve was responsible for making up any shortfall from the collected rents and goods.
            Once the harvest was completed a feast was celebrated with a goose fatten from post-harvest stubble. In Ireland Michaelmas was symbolized with "glofe, gees, and gyngeuer." The generosity of the lord of the village was represented by the glove, good luck in the coming year was given by eating the goose and ginger—it was believed—provided protection against infection. 
              But be forewarned... don't eat blackberries on or after Michaelmas because—as folk lore has it—Satan was banished from Heaven on this day, fell into a blackberry bush and cursed the brambles.  So I ask you, when could they eat blackberries?

 

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