Knight of the Temple

About the Book

Medieval Spain: battleground between Christianity and Islam; home too of Santiago, the holy city that lies at the end of the long and dangerous pilgrim's road, the Camino de Santiago.

When a Papal commissioner is killed on the Camino, close by the Knight Templar's castle at Ponferrada, its Master, Robert Montagnac orders one of his knights, William Stanley, to investigate. Stanley takes the pilgrim's road to Sahagun where he discovers the killer's identity and sets off into the wastelands after him. The killer is already dead when Stanley finds him, in circumstances that confirm the commissioner was assassinated.

Returning to Ponferrada, Stanley finds that Montagnac has been seriously injured. Nevertheless his orders are to continue the investigation. Stanley has found the commissioner's journal and he enlists the help of Diego Delmirez, a scholar accused of blasphemy for criticising the War against Islam, to translate it. Delmirez agrees if Stanley will escort his niece, Cristina, to Leon. Bandits waylay Cristina on the journey. She is devastated by the attack, as is Stanley who, in failing to protect her, has forfeited his knight's honour. His investigation has reached a dead end and he is about to return to Ponferrada when chance points him towards the city of Palencia.

He returns to Ponferrada from Palencia, having solved the murder and reports to Montagnac. Montagnac (now recovered) takes the case to the Provincial Commander, leaving Stanley in command. But Stanley is betrayed. Confirmed as Master of Ponferrada and commanded to lead an unconscionable military action, he has to choose between his allegiance to the Templars and his first oath as a knight, to follow the code of chivalry.

About the Author

Stuart Dimmock's first degree is in history and education. He worked initially as a university teacher and then as a senior executive in the public service. His previous work has been generally non-fiction. His first novel, Tracer, was published in 1990. He and his wife sailed around their boat from England to the Mediterranean in 2000. They live now in Southern Spain.