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David
Boyle.
Blondel's
Song: The capture, imprisonment and ransom of Richard the Lionheart.
Viking
Adult, 2005.
ISBN
067091486X.
Hardback.
153 x
234mm.
400pp.
Publisher's
recommended price £20.00
On his way back from the
crusades, one of England’s most famous and romantic medieval kings was
ship-wrecked and stranded near Venice. Trying to make his way home in
disguise, he was arrested and imprisoned and effectively disappeared.
He didn’t return home for another fifteen months, and at enormous cost
– a quarter of the entire wealth of England was paid to win his release.
The extraordinary events surrounding Richard the Lionheart’s
disappearance provides the background to some of the most colourful and
enduring legends – Robin Hood, the Sheriff of Nottingham, the discovery
of King Arthur’s grave, and above all, the story of Blondel, Richard’s
faithful minstrel, and his journey across central Europe – singing
under castle towers – until he finds the missing king.
Blondel’s Song tells the tale of one of the most peculiar incidents of
medieval history, and the background to the real Blondel and his fellow
troubadours, as well as the courts of love, the Holy Grail, emergence
of gothic cathedrals like Notre Dame and Chartres, and the unique
moment of tolerance in the West – when Europe shared a language, and a
new culture of music, romance and chivalry.
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