Цикл книг «Тайна средневековья» — 17 книг

It is late summer in the year 1270 and England is as weary as its aging king, Henry III. Although the Simon de Montfort rebellion is over, the smell of death still hangs like smoke over the land. Even in the small priory of Tyndal on the remote East Anglian coast, the monks and nuns of the Order of Fontevraud long for a return to tranquil routine. Their hopes are dashed, however, when the young and inexperienced Eleanor of Wynethorpe is appointed their new prioress over someone of their own choosing. Nor are Eleanor's own prayers for a peaceful transition answered. Only a day after her arrival, a brutally murdered monk is found in the cloister gardens, and Brother Thomas, a young priest with a troubled past, arrives to bring her a more personal grief. Now she must not only struggle to gain the respect of her terrified and resentful flock but also cope with violence, lust and greed in a place dedicated to love and peace.

It is late summer in the year 1270 and England is as weary as its aging king, Henry III. Although the Simon de Montfort rebellion is over, the smell of death still hangs like…

Зимней ненастной ночью в замке Вайнторп-каслл происходит странное, необъяснимое убийство. Юный Генри Лейвенхэм заколот у дверей спальни своей молодой и красивой мачехи. Как он там оказался? Кто его убил? Неужели и правда сын хозяина замка, Роберт Вайнторп, которого застали над мертвым телом с кинжалом в руке? Родной сестре Роберта, настоятельнице Тиндальской обители Элинор, приехавшей в замок лечить больного племянника, и ее спутникам надо успеть найти подлинного убийцу прежде, чем уляжется непогода и за подозреваемым сможет прибыть шериф.

Зимней ненастной ночью в замке Вайнторп-каслл происходит странное, необъяснимое убийство. Юный Генри Лейвенхэм заколот у дверей спальни своей молодой и красивой мачехи. Как он там…

Осенью 1271 года, когда осенняя буря бушевала на восточном побережье Англии, близ Тиндальской обители был найден зарезанный крестоносец. На кинжале, торчащем из тела, виднелись странные письмена, похожие на арабскую вязь…Что это - месть таинственной и безжалостной восточной секты Ассасинов? Или убийце очень хотелось, чтобы так подумали? Местный коронер Ральф берется раскрыть преступление и найти злодея, но дело оказывается еще более запутанным, чем представлялось на первый взгляд. Невольным помощником Ральфа становится лекарь брат Томас, прибывший в обитель с секретной миссией, и настоятельница Элинор. У каждого из них свои потаенные мотивы найти подлинного убийцу.

Осенью 1271 года, когда осенняя буря бушевала на восточном побережье Англии, близ Тиндальской обители был найден зарезанный крестоносец. На кинжале, торчащем из тела, виднелись…

It is May of 1272, and Prioress Eleanor of Tyndale, recovering from a near-fatal winter fever, journeys to Amesbury Priory to visit her aunt in time for the Feast of Saint Melor. Although Eleanor hopes to regain her strength in the midst of pleasant childhood memories, Death reveals a most troublesome fondness for her company.

A ghost now haunts Amesbury. And when a man is decapitated near the river where the grim figure walks, Sister Beatrice, Eleanor’s aunt and acting prioress of Amesbury, shows an uncharacteristic hesitancy about taking charge of any investigation.

As others apparently fall victim to the vengeful ghost, Eleanor struggles to put a human face on the restless spirit, and Brother Thomas, pursuing a secret mission for the Church connected with the Priory’s famous Psaltery, finds that his own demons have unexpectedly taken on a very human form....

It is May of 1272, and Prioress Eleanor of Tyndale, recovering from a near-fatal winter fever, journeys to Amesbury Priory to visit her aunt in time for the Feast of Saint Melor.…

The summer of 1273 is peaceful for most of England, but not for Prioress Eleanor of Tyndal Priory. Her friend, Crowner Ralf, is newly widowed with a baby. And her new anchoress is welcoming visitors to her window at one of them a man the prioress secretly loves. Now his loyalty to her as head of Tyndal Priory is suspect. Then Martin the Cooper is poisoned at the local inn. Martin had a wealth of enemies. The killer could be any of them. No one likes the direction the evidence points, but God's justice must be rendered even for the most forsaken soul. "Against an authentic backdrop of medieval life and lore, Royal once again brings alive characters who are true to their period yet exhibit emotions and feelings that 21st-century readers will recognize as their own." ―Publishers Weekly starred review Priscilla Royal lives in Northern California. Forsaken Soul is her fifth Medieval Mystery. www.priscillaroyal.com

The summer of 1273 is peaceful for most of England, but not for Prioress Eleanor of Tyndal Priory. Her friend, Crowner Ralf, is newly widowed with a baby. And her new anchoress is…

When one of her company falls ill on a return journey to Tyndal, Prioress Eleanor accepts lodging at a nearby manor. The hospitality may be warm but the underlying passions among the steward's family are scorching. Master Stevyn's wife is having an affair with the groom while a local widow acts more like the lady of the manor than the lady herself. Stevyn's eldest son and spouse are obsessed with sin and heaven, while his youngest son, bound for the Church, unexpectedly returns with more interest in lute playing than the priesthood. It is no surprise when someone's throat is cut. But the sheriff does all he can to avoid offending the family rather than seek the real killer. When he arrests a servant, she herself is stabbed before she can either prove innocence or be taken off for hanging. As strangers in this place, Eleanor and Thomas know nothing about motives or past history, yet God's justice demands that they do what they can before another convenient innocent is condemned. Will they discover the dark secrets that have led to this string of killings before the murderer strikes again?

When one of her company falls ill on a return journey to Tyndal, Prioress Eleanor accepts lodging at a nearby manor. The hospitality may be warm but the underlying passions among…

In the late summer of 1274, King Edward has finally been anointed England’s ruler, and his queen contemplates a pilgrimage in gratitude for their safe return from Outremer, a journey that will include a stay at Tyndal Priory. Envoys are sent to confirm that everything will be suitable for the king’s wife, and Prioress Eleanor nervously awaits them, knowing that regal visits bring along expense and honor. The cost is higher than expected, however, when Death arrives as the unexpected emissary. One of the courtiers is murdered near the hut where Brother Thomas now lives as a hermit. Each member of the party has reason to hate the dead man, including Crowner Ralf’s eldest brother, Sir Fulke, and the prioress’s nemesis, the man in black. Soon Eleanor is embroiled in the dangerous world of power games, both secular and religious. Indeed, England’s future under a new king may offer hope and relief, but skeletons from the past can come back to life like those in the biblical valley of dry bones. Which had cause enough to kill?

In the late summer of 1274, King Edward has finally been anointed England’s ruler, and his queen contemplates a pilgrimage in gratitude for their safe return from Outremer, a…

Baron Herbert’s return from crusade should have been a joyous occasion. Instead, he grows increasingly morose, withdraws from his family, and refuses to share his wife’s bed. When his sons begin to die in strange accidents, some ask whether Herbert harbors a dark sin for which God has cursed him. The baron suddenly sends for Sir Hugh of Wynethorpe, begging his friend to bring spiritual and secular healers but giving little explanation for the request. Worried about Herbert’s descent into melancholy and the tragic deaths, Sir Hugh persuades his sister, Prioress Eleanor of Tyndal Priory, to accompany him as well as a respected physician, Master Gamel. Although he is pleased when the prioress brings her healer, Sister Anne, he is dismayed to find Brother Thomas included, a man he has reason to despise. Perhaps there is a malign presence at this storm-blasted castle, oddly named Doux et Dur. Tensions spark among family members and soon between those who came to help. Death’s scythe harvests more victims, and it is not long before Ecclesiastes’ grim words seem all too apt: there is a season for everything under heaven, including a time to kill.But is there also a time to heal?

Baron Herbert’s return from crusade should have been a joyous occasion. Instead, he grows increasingly morose, withdraws from his family, and refuses to share his wife’s bed. When…

Summer 1276 is peaceful at Tyndal Priory until a villager's corpse is found floating in the millpond. The murder victim was greatly disliked, yet no villager wants to see one of their own hanged for the deed. Fingers quickly point to a Jewish family forced to take shelter while relocating under the provisions of King Edward's Statute of the Jewry. Riots loom; threats mount. Eleanor and Ralf have little time to gather evidence before popular opinion rules the murder solved. But just who is really responsible for this crime?

Summer 1276 is peaceful at Tyndal Priory until a villager's corpse is found floating in the millpond. The murder victim was greatly disliked, yet no villager wants to see one of…

In the Spring of 1277, Prioress Eleanor goes on a pilgrimage to a famous East Anglian shrine.
There are rumors that King Edward may also visit the shrine soon to seek God’s blessing for his invasion of Wales.
Lurking in this sacred place, however, is an assassin hoping to murder a king.
Soon after Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas arrive, a nun falls to her death from the priory bell tower. Brother Thomas finds the body, and the pair quickly grasp that this nun’s death was not a simple tragedy. The circumstances point to murder, but this slaying is further tainted with treason. Among the pilgrims, merchants, and religious, too many betray an interest in this death—including a canny street child. At least one of them is most certainly a killer.
Can Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas succeed in exposing the assassin or will they also fall victim to one who has made a covenant with hell?

In the Spring of 1277, Prioress Eleanor goes on a pilgrimage to a famous East Anglian shrine.
There are rumors that King Edward may also visit the shrine soon to seek God’s…

It is the autumn of 1278. The harvest is in. The air is crisp. Dusty summer breathes a last sigh before the dark seasons arrive.

For Prioress Eleanor, dark times arrive early in Norfolk. Abbess Isabeau, the head of her order, has sent Father Etienne Davoir from its headquarters in France to inspect all aspects of Tyndal Priory from its morals to its roofs. Surely the Abbess would not have chosen her own brother for this rare and thorough investigation unless the cause was serious and she had reason to fear intervention from Rome. Prioress Eleanor knows something is terribly amiss.

The situation turns calamitous when Davoir's sick clerk dies from a potion sent by Sister Anne, Tyndale's sub-infirmarian. Is Sister Anne guilty of simple incompetence - or murder? Or, Davoir asks, did Prioress Eleanor order the death to frighten him away before he discovered the truth behind accusations she is unfit for her position? When Davoir himself is threatened, the priest roars for justice. Even expectant father Crowner Ralf, the local representative of the king's justice, has lost all objectivity. The most likely suspects are Anne, the woman Ralf once loved, the prioress he respects, and the Tyndal monk, Thomas, who is his closest friend. Who among the French and English assembled at Tyndal has succumbed to Satan's lullaby?

It is the autumn of 1278. The harvest is in. The air is crisp. Dusty summer breathes a last sigh before the dark seasons arrive.

For Prioress Eleanor, dark times arrive early…

A royal birth, a nobleman’s death, a scarlet woman’s murder…

In March, 1279, Edward I takes a break from hammering the Welsh and bearing down on England’s Jews to vacation in Gloucestershire. The royal party breaks the journey at Woodstock Manor. And there one life begins as Queen Eleanor labors to birth a new daughter, and one draws to an end when apoplexy fells Baron Adam Wynethorpe.

Hotfoot to the baron’s deathbed comes his elder son, Hugh, a veteran of Edward I’s Crusades, who can’t shake off the battle horrors he’s witnessed. The baron’s daughter, Prioress Eleanor, has already arrived, bringing along both her sub-infirmarian, Sister Anne, and the monk, Brother Thomas, to tend her father. Awaiting Hugh is his bastard son, Richard, a youth filled with rebellion…and a secret.

The royal manor is packed with troubling guests including a sinister priest, an elderly Jewish mother from nearby Oxford mourning a son hanged for the treason of coin-clipping, contentious and greedy courtiers, and a lusty wife engaged with more than one lover. Quite soon, the wife is found hanged. Eleanor and Sister Anne persuade the High Sheriff of Berkshire that Mistress Hawis’ death was not a suicide. In fact, many at the manor had reason to wish Hawis dead. One suspect is…Richard.

A royal birth, a nobleman’s death, a scarlet woman’s murder…

In March, 1279, Edward I takes a break from hammering the Welsh and bearing down on England’s Jews to vacation in…

In the winter of 1282, snow and ice ravage East Anglia while Prioress Eleanor awaits the decision of her young maid, Gracia, found starving on the streets some years ago, whether to take vows or to leave Tyndal Priory to make her way in the world.

But a far greater problem arrives at the priory gate. Seven abbots are riding to meet a papal legate in Norfolk. This is not a pilgrimage - each abbot hopes to make a case for being raised to a bishopric at the next vacancy. One abbot grows so ill the party has detoured to Tyndal. And despite the limited care Sister Anne can offer, Abbot Ilbert dies a horrible death, cause unknown. As his fellows prepare to resume their journey the next day, Abbot Tristram doubles over in great distress. By now the heavy snows have choked all the roads and the priory and village are marooned. Tristram dies. And then another abbot sickens while Sister Anne struggles to determine what killed these men - which question soon becomes not just what, but who did it?

One suspect is the gluttonous Odo, the ambitious Abbot of Caldwell and younger brother of Crowner Ralf. Since everyone despises Odo, is he simply a red herring? Prioress Eleanor is determined to stop the carnage that has shattered the tranquility in her priory while the Crowner must enforce the king's justice. Brother Thomas and Sister Anne form part of the investigation which plumbs the priory's kitchens and management as well as its medical facilities.

The Proud Sinner, 13th in the Medieval Mysteries by Priscilla Royal, illustrates medieval matters medical and culinary as well as vocations for the religious life in a framework that crosses Chaucer's Canterbury Tales with Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None.

In the winter of 1282, snow and ice ravage East Anglia while Prioress Eleanor awaits the decision of her young maid, Gracia, found starving on the streets some years ago, whether…

It is Spring 1282. England is at war again with Wales. As Baron Hugh of Wynethorpe, a veteran of fighting in Outremer, prepares to join his King's army, he begs his sister, Prioress Eleanor, a favor. On her journey home to Tyndal Prior in Norfolk, she is to carry a gift of rents from the Wynethorpe estates to Mynchen Buckland Priory. The charter for the grant and a private letter are to be given to the Hospitaller nuns' Prioress Amicia, and none other. Eleanor agrees - if Hugh is heading into the Welsh wilderness, then she, Eleanor, will do him this service as well as pray for his protection.

When she and her party of Brother Thomas and Sister Anne arrive in cold and rain-sodden Somerset, they receive a chilly welcome. Then the new Prioress at Mynchen Buckland delivers shocking news: Amicia has been imprisoned, convicted of murdering a widow from the village in the priory's cloister, and awaits sentencing by the Prior of England, the Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem's regional head in London. Eleanor gives Hugh's grant to newly elected Prioress Emelyne, but insists she must obey her brother's wishes by having an audience with Amicia in her cell. Eleanor is resolute in wishing to fulfill her promise by delivering Hugh's letter into Amicia's hands. Permission is granted.

Eleanor is unprepared for Amicia's terribly frail condition. And more so when Amicia reads the Baron's letter, then tearfully begs Tyndal's prioress to prove her innocence, claiming she did not commit the crime. Eleanor believes her.

In an unfamiliar place, the murder victim buried, and nothing left at the crime site, what can the Tyndal trio unearth? And how can they prolong their visit? Eleanor has it - she fakes a fall and injury to her ankle which requires nursing. Thomas and Anne will have to be her investigators, though they are closely chaperoned by members of the Mynchen Buckland community. Still, they learn the dead woman's unsavory behavior had made her well hated. Will anyone help uncover the real killer when so many welcomed the victim's death?

It is Spring 1282. England is at war again with Wales. As Baron Hugh of Wynethorpe, a veteran of fighting in Outremer, prepares to join his King's army, he begs his sister,…

It is Autumn, 1282. Edward I, more often hammering the Scots, is at war with Wales and it is not going as well as he wished. Everyone is edgy on both sides of the loosely defined border between England and Wales. Crucial battles have been lost. Raids are common. Death is a constant threat.

Prioress Eleanor is escorting her younger brother, Robert, and his wife, who is in labor, from their Marcher lands to greater safety at a Wynethorpe manor in a village just inside the English border. With her are Brother Thomas and Sister Anne, the sub-infirmarian and a good woman to have at a difficult birth. The baby arrives, a girl.

Mother and child may be healthy, but Death never wanders far from this beloved Prioress - whether she's home at Tyndal in Norfolk or traveling the realm. The local abbot begs her help. - the village priest has been found dead and standing over him is, a reliable witness says, the ghost of Hywel, the village stonemason yet a Welshman, and recently hanged for slaying some sleeping English soldiers. The abbot has failed to exorcize this malign spirit - surely the saintly visitors from Tyndal Priory in far away Norfolk, can do the job.

Bone tired, Eleanor questions the village hangman, who assures the religious party that Hywel was hanged once and then, when the weight of the fat felon strung up alongside him broke the beam, was hanged again. The experienced executioner checked all the bodily signs - Hywel was dead. But where is his grave? And why is the hangman quite soon found hanged? And what manner of secrets are so many of the locals - the sheriff and his household, the spice merchant, Maud the Bawd - keeping?

It is Autumn, 1282. Edward I, more often hammering the Scots, is at war with Wales and it is not going as well as he wished. Everyone is edgy on both sides of the loosely defined…

May 1283. The roads near Tyndal Priory are filled with happy pilgrims returning from St. Walstan’s feast day.

But all is not joyful. Prioress Eleanor’s loved ones are suffering. Signy, the local innkeeper, is quarelling with her suddenly rebellious foster son. Gytha, Crowner Ralf’s wife, suffers failing health while her husband hunts smugglers on the remote North Sea coast. Brother Thomas remains moody and aloof. She longs to help them all, but disaster strikes. An itinerant carpenter is badly beaten. A pilgrim is murdered near the priory walls.

Are the two crimes connected? Prioress Eleanor has no right to intervene in crimes outside the Church’s authority, but any delay will allow the killer to escape into the crowds of pilgrims. Until the crowner can return, she must act.

Is it too late? Will this be the first murderer she cannot bring to justice?

May 1283. The roads near Tyndal Priory are filled with happy pilgrims returning from St. Walstan’s feast day.

But all is not joyful. Prioress Eleanor’s loved ones are…

November 1283. Prioress Eleanor’s cousin, the Earl of Ness, visits with his wife, Eda. When his unloved spouse is murdered in the priory chapel with his knife, he becomes the prime suspect. Another murder follows. Eda’s quiet priest is killed in the same chapel. Eda had many enemies, so what connection could there be between a ruthless woman and a pious man who cared nothing of earthy things?
Crowner Ralf insists the crimes fall under the king’s law and that Prioress Eleanor lacks objectivity because of her cousin’s involvement. Prioress Eleanor refuses, claiming that she must determine why the crime occurred in her priory. She also believes that her cousin is more likely to tell her needed details than to an unknown crowner. But as she digs deeper, she begins to fear what she might discover. She may have thought her cousin was innocent, but she realizes he is lying to her. Having given her word that she would not be blinded by familial love, she knows that she may have to face tragedy and walk her cousin to the gallows.

November 1283. Prioress Eleanor’s cousin, the Earl of Ness, visits with his wife, Eda. When his unloved spouse is murdered in the priory chapel with his knife, he becomes the…