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HERETIC is a tale of adventure, romantic notions, warriors in battle for truths they hold dear, and the search for the elusive Holy Grail of Christendom in the fourteenth century A.D. Bernard Cornwell, the author of numerous historical chronicles, extends his stories from THE ARCHER'S TALE and VAGABOND to a further quest for the Grail in HERETIC. Thomas of Hookton, the bastard son of a noble family, is the archer who leads the Earl of Northampton's archers to the shores of France.
Thomas distinguishes himself in battle for his lord and is given a new challenge. He is to take a small force deep into southern French territory, capture a fortress, defend it and hope to capture his evil cousin, Guy de Vexille. He seeks Astarac in the county of Berat to explore and find the Grail for Northampton. The ransomed Scot leader, Robbie Douglas and Sir Guillaume, an English nobleman, accompany Thomas to France.
Thomas's father was a priest who had kept secret the location of the Grail, if it had existed. The clue to its whereabouts lay in the Latin words he had inscribed on papers left behind before his murder. Thomas doubted its existence. His father had rambled and been considered a lunatic.
The journey becomes complicated when the archers conquer Castillion D'Arbizon and become involved in local politics. To administer justice in the enclave, the conquerors must carry out orders from the Church's governing bishops. A heretic, a young vagabond girl, has been judged and sentenced to death by fire. Thomas, as civil authority, hears the facts and decides that she should live. Local priests disagree with his judgment and excommunicate him from the Church.
Cornwell's vivid imagery of the time and setting in HERETIC places the reader directly in the action. Each pull of the powerful bowstring follows with an adrenaline rush inherent with victory. His description of the warmongering mechanisms are graphic pictures of their times. The book is fiction based on general facts, but is a believable panoramic view of real events.
Priests ruled their local abbeys with ironclad domination and were not to be disobeyed. HERETIC shows the majority as self-serving and mean-spirited. Father Planchard is an exception --- he befriends Thomas. Planchard produces a wooden box, inscribed with the Latin words Thomas's father had ingrained in him, "Calix meus inebrians." The interchange between him and Planchard is coy wordplay at its best.
The accused heretic, Genevieve, is the pivotal figure in the story. Thomas discovers through her that his quest for revenge and reinstatement in the Church he knows diminishes in importance. He learns that peace can be found without the discovery of the Grail. One hopes that future books will expand this fascinating Grail Quest series. HERETIC defines the men of the era and thirsts for more.
--- Reviewed by Judy Gigstad
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