Cluny Cross A Mad Medieval Tale Author:Mark Blackham In 1089, Ramiro of Léon, a Benedictine monk from the Abbey of Cluny in France, finds himself unwittingly swept into the political intrigues of the Pope. Acclaimed as a mission to save Christendom from a Muslim conquest, Ramiro is sent on a clandestine assignment to Jerusalem where he is ordered to deliver a curious wooden cross to the Church of ... more »the Holy Sepulcher. But despite his best attempts, his mission is thwarted again and again by emperors and sultans, assassins and mystics, slave-traders and savages ? and by a carpenter?s daughter who haunts his dreams. Adele, a feisty Norman girl, catches Ramiro?s eye early on, leaving him struggling in spirit with his vows of obedience and chastity. He tries desperately to put her out of his mind, but he really has no idea how much she will change his life in the years to come. Ramiro begins his journey seven years before the First Crusade. It is a dangerous time and unpredictable events pull him deep into the Byzantine and Turk Empires, where he ducks and weaves his way through the sophisticated civilizations and turbulent episodes of the time. Hunted down by a Turk warrior, Ramiro rushes into Jerusalem just before the the city?s bloody fall to French invaders in 1099 and, after the conquest, he is shocked to discover that his cross has an entirely unexpected meaning to the knights of Europe ? one that could cost him his life. A vivid and startling view of historical events as seen from the other side.« less