by Angus Donald
I am deeply indebted to Professor John Gillingham, whose magisterial book Richard I was my guiding historical light in this fictional story. And my wife Mary has also been a tower of familial strength – and has given up many hours of her free time to go over the book with an eagle proofreader’s eye.
Finally, I’d like to thank my brother John for driving me on a research trip to Ochsenfurt after a beery night on the tiles in Frankfurt, when I had quite possibly the worst hangover of my life. If I have made any mistakes in the German part of this book, I am afraid they may be due to my weakness for sausages, sauerkraut and huge steins of Pilsner. For any other errors in the book, my apologies, and I really have no excuses whatsoever.