The Trinity Crown

From the author of The Lion and the Rose and The Aetheling's Bride series comes The Trinity Crown, leading us into the world of one of the most famous -- and controversial -- kings in English history: Richard the Lionheart. A singularly flawed, complex, and brilliant man, visionary battle commander, and ahead of his time in many ways, yet one who would ultimately be undone by his pride and secrets, Richard has finally become king in the year 1189 on the eve of the Third Crusade, and is surrounded by the delicate and dangerous politics of power and treachery and their players: his mother, the formidable Eleanor of Aquitaine, his jealous, dispossessed brother John, his closest friend turned bitterest rival, Philip Augustus, King of France, and the confrontation that awaits him in the Holy Land, with Sultan Saladin and the ultimate battle for the fate of Jerusalem and the future of Muslims and Christians alike. For the young Spanish princess who will soon become his wife, Berengaria of Navarre, Richard resembles nothing so much as the towering chivalric hero, fully worthy of the status he earned in his own lifetime and the name by which he would hence be known: Coeur-de-Lion. But she, all the participants on the Crusade -- including a young Scottish knight, Adam fitz Robert -- and Richard himself are about to be tested in unimaginable ways.

Written with the same eye for detail, extensive historical research, humor, adventure, and storytelling flair as the saga of William the Conqueror, The Trinity Crown introduces us anew to his legendary great-great grandson, challenging expectations, redrawing conclusions, and bringing history to full, colorful, complex life. Spanning England, France, the Holy Land, and the broad tapestry of medieval Europe, from the battlefields of the Crusade to the backroom political intrigues of Popes and princes, from the obsessive, poisonously personal rivalry between two kings to its eventual shattering end, The Trinity Crown continues the story of William's legacy and that of his descendants, one of the most dynamic, talented, and flawed families in history: the Plantagenets.