The Brotherhood of the Holy Grail

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The Brotherhood of the Holy Grail is a trilogy by Rainer M. Schröder , the plot of which takes place at the time of the Crusades . The trilogy is characterized by the particular correctness of the historical framework around the fictional story.

Volumes

Books

Audio books

The Brotherhood of the Holy Grail - The Fall of Acre

The thoughtful German Gerolt von Weißenfels, the cheeky French Maurice von Montfontaine, the squat Scotsman McIvor von Conneleagh and the eloquent Tarik el-Kharim, a descendant of Christian Bedouins, are the last defenders of Christianity in the Orient along with a few other crusaders . The Templars , to which they belong, as well as the Johanniter and Teutonic Knights have to assert themselves in the Christian bastion of Akkon against the overwhelming Muslim army . It is only a matter of time before this last point of defense of Christianity is overrun.

But the four knights, who fight as four friends under their oath "for each other in firm loyalty", expect something different than the glorious downfall in the Orient.

They are brought by two blind Turkopolans to a white-haired old man who reveals himself to be the guardian of the Holy Grail and leader of the brotherhood of the Arimatheans. From him they learn that the chalice in which Joseph of Arimathea is said to have caught his blood on the cross of Christ is said to be right here, in besieged Acre, and that they are the chosen ones who are given the task of bringing the Holy Grail to everyone Price to protect from the Muslims and the Iskaris (named after Judas Iscariot ).

In addition, they are consecrated twice by the previous keeper of the Grail in an underground vault, with the second consecration, which takes place after Akon's walls have already fallen, receiving miraculous abilities that are supposed to help them protect the Grail. This also includes Tarik el-Kharim's ability to breathe underwater, which he can use soon after when the four friends who, instead of fighting for their lives like the other knights in the Templar Castle, were carried away with a galley and by a Muslim one Sultan to be captured. Tarik can flee into the water and escape and now has the honorable task of saving his friends and the grail or even the grail that he swore to protect in part 2 of the trilogy ("The Amulet of the Desert Warriors").

The Brotherhood of the Holy Grail - The amulet of the desert warriors

Tarik manages to free not only the two sisters, but also his three friends from the Cairo prison and with them Dshamal Salehi, who is also held there. The friends want to flee with a boat down the Nile into the Nile Delta in the hope of finding a ship there that will take them and the Grail across the Mediterranean to France. Jamal, who identifies himself as the sheikh of a Bedouin tribe, advises against it and suggests that they flee with him through the desert (the Maghreb ) and in this way escape their persecutors. During their arduous camel ride through the desert, a seemingly worthless amulet that Tarik had acquired in Cairo because of its strange appearance is of great help to the keepers of the Grail. Sheikh Salehi recognizes in him the heirloom that had been taken from him in prison and which he had never believed he would ever see again. This amulet is the key to the gateway to a secret oasis known only to the sheikh's family, where the camels can be watered and the water hoses refilled. At the destination of the desert ride, a port city on the Mediterranean, far from the mouth of the Nile, the sheik separates from his protégés and retreats into the desert with his camels.
The keepers of the Grail find a ship that will bring them safely across the Mediterranean to France. Although they do not escape the persecution of the Iskaris, they can bring the Holy Grail intact to its new destination, the Templars' castle in Paris, and entrust it to the care of Antoine von Saint-Armand.
Sjadu has to admit to his master that he has failed again, but is instructed to try again.

The Brotherhood of the Holy Grail - The Labyrinth of the Black Abbey

Historical background

Paris, 1307.
The Knights Templar, which has achieved prestige, power and wealth, is a thorn in the side of King Philip IV . He therefore uses rumors according to which the order is accused of heresy and idolatry, and orders on October 13, 1307 in France to arrest all persons belonging to the order of the Knights Templar and to charge them with heresy at the Inquisition . He informed the other rulers of the Christian West and asked them to do the same.
The interrogations, during which the use of torture is permitted, extend over several years. In 1312 the order is dissolved by the Pope.
Already 100 years earlier there had been a crusade in southern France against the Christian sect of the Cathars , whose followers were almost completely exterminated in these battles; in the Ariège department , however, a part of the population secretly professed this belief until 1320. The author also draws on these historical events in his framework story.

action

Sjadú succeeded in gaining access to the court of King Philip undetected. In an audience with the king, he accuses the Knights Templar of heresy. These suspicions fall on fertile ground with Philip, he arrested all Templars on October 13, 1307. On this day, however, of the four friends, only Tarik is in the Templar Castle in Paris; McIvor, Gerolt and Maurice escape arrest.
McIvor, shortly before Paris, enters the city undetected and meets Raoul, his former captain, who also escaped the hunters. With his help, McIvor finds his friends Gerolt and Maurice, together with Raoul they free Tarik and Antoine von Saint-Armand, the guardian of the Grail, who was almost tortured to death. With the last of his strength, Antoine passes on his knowledge of the Grail to the four friends.
With the Holy Grail and a sealed document from Antoine, which they should only open and read if they cannot find a new hiding place for the chalice in the Christian West, they want to go to a Grail Brother in Spain for further advice. On the way there, at the foot of the Pyrenees, they meet Beatrice and Heloise in a village. Most of the residents of the village secretly profess the Cathar faith , three of them (including Beatrice) are supposed to answer for this reason before the Inquisition. The four keepers of the Grail are able to prevent this, but an Iskaris spy succeeds in stealing the Grail the following night and bringing it to the "Black Abbey", the castle of the Prince of Darkness.
The four friends, whom Heloise also joined, find this devil's castle high up in the mountains. Access is secured by a cave-like labyrinth in which deadly dangers lurk. The disciples of Judas have gathered in the great hall of the castle. Sjadu, their leader, lies at his master's feet, in front of him the ebony cube with the grail, which is to be destroyed in a diabolical ceremony so that the black prince can finally take over the world.
The attack of the four keepers of the Grail with holy water, fire and sword comes as a complete surprise and brings ruin and death to the Iskaris. The Prince of Darkness begins to retreat, the castle is shaken to its foundations and threatens to collapse. Sjadu realizes that the end has come for him and his devil servants and wants to plunge into the depths with the grail, but Gerolt can snatch the cube from him at the last second.
In the months that followed, the four friends looked in vain for a suitable hiding place for the Grail, and Spain no longer seemed safe enough to them either. You therefore open the sealed document, the legacy of Antoine de Saint-Armand.
The aged keeper of the Grail foresees that there will be no more order of the Templars in the future and that is why the keepers of the Holy Grail will no longer be able to appoint new, young knights of the Grail from the ranks of the Knights Templar. Therefore, Gerolt, Tarik, McIvor and Maurice should pass on their sacred office by giving up their life as warrior monks, looking for a wife and fathering sons. Antoine also writes of daring seafarers, the Normans , who ventured out to sea with their ships from France and England more than 200 years ago and who, after a long, dangerous voyage west, stumbled upon a new country. He advises them to emulate these seafarers and to look for a new beginning together with the Holy Grail in this land across the great sea, of which only a handful of people in Christendom know.

literature

  • Alain Demurger, The Templars - Rise and Fall - 1118-1314 . Munich: CH Beck, 1991 → ISBN 3-406-35576-5