| Introduction : |
CATHARS, TEMPLARS AND SOME OTHERS |
| What happened in history? Many alleged facts are dubious at best as what we know of as history is self-serving, the record
compiled by victors. But the role of the individual in history simply cannot be brushed aside. |
| In this short series of papers I have selected out four individuals - two men and two women - who truly were movers and
shakers, determined over-achievers who were broken on the wheel of history. Simon de Montfort, once Lord of a small insignificant seigneury in the
Ile de France, became Governor of the entire Langue d’Oc and could have become master of an empire stretching across the Pyrenées to Aragon.
Phillip le Bel, King of France, a man probably unjustly maligned, defied and defeated not only the Papacy but also the Knights Templar, those
premature internationalists who claimed the right to make and break Monarchs. Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, turned a string of French defeats
into victory. Yet we know little of her; was she really a bastard daughter of the French Royal House, most probably sired by the King’s own brother?
Shakespeare, who had his own axe to grind, portrayed her as a foul-tongued harridan who used black magic to defeat the invading English soldiery as without
such infernal aid it simply was unbelievable that the English could be defeated by the epicene French. It is tragic that the magnificent Jehane should now
have been adopted by the French National Front. Lastly I have chosen another woman, today virtually forgotten, who was renowned as a fighting captain, as
the “Queen of Ice and Fire”. This was the beautiful Margaret, daughter of King René d’Anjou, and wife to England’s
ineffectual Henry of Lancaster, a woman who fought desperately to preserve her son’s inheritance but who finally was brought down by the armies of
Edward of York and his brothers. |
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| Historical Pieces : |
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THE BUZZARD |
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“Kill them all! God will know his own!”
(attributed to Pierre de Castelnau during the terrible massacre at
Béziers). |
Simon de Montfort
and the Albigensian Crusades |
| 2000 words |
| $4.00 |
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THE TITANS |
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| “Members of the French nobility had long been assured that by serving their own interests they also served God.” |
Phillip le Bel
and Pope Boniface |
| 2000 words |
| $4.00 |
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THE LILY AND THE SHADOW |
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“If I am in a state of grace, may God keep me in it. If I am not, may God bring me to it.”
(The Passion of
Joan of Arc). |
| Joan of Arc |
| 1200 words |
| $4.00 |
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THE QUEEN OF ICE AND FIRE |
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| Crying, “Fie, Mesdames, for shame!” the King, terrified by the sight of partially naked female bodies fled to his chamber to pray. |
| Marguerite d’Anjou |
| 1700 words |
| $4.00 |
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| Modern Short Stories: |
| L’INCONNUE |
1200 words $4.00 |
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| CAKEWALKING WITH GEORGIA |
1800 words $4.00 |
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| Special Offers: |
| THE HISTORICAL STORIES |
$17.95 |
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| THE MODERN STORIES |
$6.95 |
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| ALL SIX STORIES |
$22.45 |
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| ( Stories are sent by email in PDF format. ) |
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