Plot summary
Thomas, Eleanor and Father Hobbe journey to the city of Durham in northern England to speak with an old monk, Brother Collimore, who took care of Father Ralph (Thomas's father) while he was mad; Father Ralph may have talked about the location of the Holy Grail then. Unknown to them, the ambitious French Cardinal Bessières has dispatched Bernard de Taillebourg there also to find the Holy Grail. He is accompanied by Guy Vexille, the murderer of Father Ralph as well as Thomas's cousin. Nearing Durham, Thomas is caught up in a Scottish raid taking advantage of the main English forces being away fighting in France. Thomas participates in the Battle of Neville's Cross, despite Eleanor's disapproval in which Cornwall mistakes the Scottish banners and incorrectly says that Robert Stewart, later King Robert II of Scotland, took part in the battle. Eleanor is pregnant with Thomas's baby. Thomas sends Eleanor and Father Hobbe to supposed safety in Durham to question Brother Collimore. However, Tailleborg and Vexille are already there interrogating the monk. Vexille kills Father Hobbe, while Eleanor is tortured for information before being murdered along with Brother Collimore. Meanwhile, the Scots lose the battle and David II, their king, is captured. Thomas is devastated when he finds out about Eleanor's death. He returns to Hookton with Robbie Douglas, a captured Scottish noble who also bears a grudge against Guy Vexille.
In Hookton, Sir Giles Marriott, Father Ralph's old friend, gives Thomas a book that his father wrote which may contain encrypted information about the Grail. A French priest brings word from Sir Guillaume asking for Thomas's help; he has been outlawed (because of his actions in the Battle of Crécy) and his castle is under siege.
Thomas and Robbie go to Sir Guillaume's aid. Thomas uses his cunning to ambush small French parties and blow up the stock of gunpowder for the French cannon. Sir Guillaume sends them a message, asking them to arrange for a ship to take him and some of his men to Calais, which is being besieged by the English. Sir Guillaume and his people escape at night and sail to Calais. Later, Thomas travel back to La Roche-Derrien, where he finds his old flame, Jeanette. Jeanette fled the Battle of Crécy, mistakenly thinking (as did everyone else) that the French would prevail, and thus no longer has the Prince of Wales' favour.
Thomas sets out with a small raiding party to retrieve her son, fostered out to be raised by the Lord of Roncelets. However, he is betrayed by some of his own recently recruited men and ends up the Dominican's prisoner. He is tortured for information and eventually breaks, telling most of what he knows. Eventually Thomas is ransomed for his father's book and returned to his friends; Mordecai starts his rehabilitation.
Meanwhile, Charles of Blois, Duke of Brittany, amasses a large army and lays siege to La Roche-Derrien. He hopes to lure the sole, much smaller English army in the region, commanded by Sir Thomas Dagworth, out. With Dagworth's men eliminated, the only English forces remaining would be isolated garrisons. Charles has four fortified camps built, one before each of the city's gates, and gives his subordinates strict orders to remain inside their particular fortification until he gives the signal. The deadly English archers will have to attack a well-protected enemy. It works at first; Dagworth is drawn into a deadly ambush when he launches a night attack on the largest of the fortifications, the one under the command of Charles, and his men suffer heavy casualties. However, just when all seems lost, the garrison sorties and takes the French by surprise, routing them and eventually winning the Battle of La Roche-Derrien. De Taillebourg is slain by Thomas and Robbie. They also capture the Lord of Roncelets; not only will Thomas and his friends become rich from the ransom, but Jeanette will have the leverage to get her son back. Sir Guillaume is even more delighted with his captive, his former liege lord, the Count of Coutances, who turned on him. The victory comes at a terrible cost to Thomas, though; his former commander and good friend, the crippled Sir William Skeat, is murdered by Sir Geoffrey Carr, an enemy Thomas made during his time in Durham. Carr is killed by Jeanette, Thomas and Robbie.
Thomas decides to continue searching for the Grail.
Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury KG PC was an English nobleman and magnate based in northern England who became a key supporter of the House of York during the early years of the Wars of the Roses. He was the father of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, the "Kingmaker".
Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of WestmorlandEarl Marshal, was an English nobleman of the House of Neville.
The Battle of Neville's Cross took place during the Second War of Scottish Independence on 17 October 1346, half a mile to the west of Durham, England. An invading Scottish army of 12,000 led by King David II was defeated with heavy loss by an English army of approximately 6,000–7,000 men led by Ralph Neville, Lord Neville. The battle was named after an Anglo-Saxon stone cross that stood on the hill where the Scots made their stand. After the victory, Neville paid to have a new cross erected to commemorate the day.
Richard Fitzalan, 3rd Earl of Arundel, 8th Earl of Surrey was an English nobleman and medieval military leader and distinguished admiral. Arundel was one of the wealthiest nobles, and most loyal noble retainer of the chivalric code that governed the reign of Edward III of England.
Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, was an English magnate.
Sir Ralph Percy was an English nobleman of the House of Percy, a knight, a Governor of Bamburgh Castle and a supporter of the Lancastrian faction in the Wars of the Roses. Percy was the son of Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland and Lady Eleanor Neville, and the grandson of Sir Henry "Hotspur" Percy.
The Battle of Saint-Pol-de-Léon was a minor action during the Breton War of Succession and thus part of the larger Hundred Years War. The battle was fought in June 1346 and marked a minor turning point in the fortunes of the Montfortists and their English allies in Brittany following several setbacks including the imprisonment and subsequent death of their leader, John of Montfort.
The Battle of La Roche-Derrien was one of the battles of the Breton War of Succession; it was fought on 20 June 1347 during the night between Anglo-Breton and Franco-Breton forces. Approximately 4,000–5,000 French, Breton and Genoese mercenaries laid siege to the town of La Roche-Derrien in the hope of luring Sir Thomas Dagworth, the commander of the only standing English field army in Brittany at the time, into an open pitched battle.
The Grail Quest is a historical fiction novel series written by Bernard Cornwell dealing with a 14th-century search for the Holy Grail, set during the opening stage of the Hundred Years' War.
Sir Thomas Dagworth was an English knight and soldier, who led the joint English-Breton armies in Brittany during the Hundred Years' War.
Events from the 1340s in England
Harlequin is the first novel in The Grail Quest series by English author Bernard Cornwell, first published in 2000. The story takes place in the mid-14th century, during the Hundred Years' War.
Ralph Lumley, 1st Baron Lumley was an English nobleman, soldier and administrator under King Richard II, who was stripped of his lands, goods and title and executed for rebelling against King Henry IV.
The Neville or Nevill family is a noble house of early medieval origin, which was a leading force in English politics in the Late Middle Ages. The family became one of the two major powers in northern England and played a central role in the Wars of the Roses along with their rival, the House of Percy.
Ralph Neville, 2nd Earl of Westmorland was an English nobleman in northern England.
Thomas de Ashton, was an English warrior.
Jean de Foix was the Captal de Buch, first Earl of Kendal, Vicomte de Castillon, Meilles and Comte de Benauges.
Heretic is the third novel in The Grail Quest series by English author Bernard Cornwell, first published in 2003. Set during the first stage of the Hundred Years' War, the novel follows Thomas of Hookton's quest to find the Holy Grail, a relic which may grant decisive victory to the possessor.
1356 is the fourth novel in The Grail Quest series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 2012. It is set in 1356, nearly a decade after the original trilogy, and culminates with the Battle of Poitiers. Intertwined in the plot is the quest to find la Malice, a fabled sword of Saint Peter and Christian relic which may turn the tide of the long war for France.
Sir Humphrey Neville of Brancepeth was an English knight and insurgent during the Wars of the Roses. A scion of the noble House of Neville, he was a son of Thomas Neville of Brancepeth and a nephew of Ralph Neville, 2nd Earl of Westmorland, and belonged to a senior but disinherited branch of the family. Humphrey and his family supported the House of Lancaster during the Wars of the Roses, while his junior but richer Neville cousins, chiefly represented by the famous Earl of Warwick, supported the House of York. Humphrey almost single-handedly led the Lancastrian resistance during the early years of the reign of Edward IV, until he was executed in 1469, in the king's presence.
