By Sharan Newman from Tom Doherty Associates
CATHERINE LEVENDEUR MYSTERIES
Death Comes as Epiphany
The Devil’s Door
The Wandering Arm
Strong as Death
Cursed in the Blood
The Difficult Saint
To Wear the White Cloak
GUINEVERE
Guinevere
The Chessboard Queen
Guinevere Evermore
Afterword
Usually I can’t say where a book started, but with this one, I’m sure. The seed of it was tucked away in the charters of Paris and is quoted at the beginning of chapter two. The idea of there being one hundred thirty knights of the Temple of Solomon at Jerusalem (later known as Templars) in Paris caught my interest. As I researched the charters of the Temple, both from what is now France and from Spain, I found the prototype for Bertulf, a man who joined the Templars under the sponsorship of his lord and whose son later married the lord’s daughter. The rest of their story is my own invention.
It’s difficult to tell people what in the books is “true” and what isn’t. Catherine, Edgar and their families are imaginary but they behave as I believe some real people would have then. Many others are real but little is known about them. Genta existed and Archer, but only as names in charters. Astrolabe was the son of Abelard and Heloise and his ultimate fate is still being debated. Maurice will one day be bishop of Paris. Albert and Clement, the dean and chanter of Nôtre Dame, really did fight about the music, apparently with no interest in any of the events happening around them. Their feud got so bad that Abbot Suger had to write to Pope Eugenius for his help in settling the quarrel.
The second crusade isn’t discussed much outside of academia, except for the fact that Eleanor of Aquitaine made the journey. But I think it was a turning point in Western history for many reasons, the main one being that it was a monumental failure. This book and the last, The Difficult Saint, take place as the crusade is being planned and begun. Even then, there were many dissenting voices, most of whom were happy to later tell Bernard of Clairvaux, “I told you so.”
As always, I prefer this book to be read as entertainment. I wrote it for your pleasure. There will be no pop quiz. If you wish to learn more about the background for this book and others in the series, please contact me, either through the website:
www.hevanet.com/sharan/Levendeur.html
or in care of the publisher.
Thanks to all who have followed Catherine and Edgar (and Solomon, of course) this far. Your company on the journey is much appreciated.
Sincerely, Sharan
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.
TO WEAR THE WHITE CLOAK
Copyright © 2000 by Sharan Newman
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Forge® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty
Associates, LLC.
Map by Ellisa Mitchell
eISBN 9781466817234
First eBook Edition : April 2012
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Newman, Sharan.
To wear the white cloak / Sharan Newman.—1st ed.
p. cm.
“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”
ISBN 0-312-86965-7 (alk. paper)
1. LeVendeur, Catherine (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. France—History—Medieval period, 987-1515—Fiction. 3. Women detectives—France—Fiction. 4. Jewish families—France—Fiction. I. Title
PS3564.E926 T6 2000
813’.54-dc21
00-031794
First Edition: October 2000
To Wear The White Cloak: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery Page 37