Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.Sample Book Insights: #1 The idea for this book first occurred to me ten years ago while reading a medieval account of the legendary quarrel between Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris. I traveled to Normandy and Paris to explore manuscript archives and experience the places where the drama unfolded more than six hundred years ago.#2 In 1386, thousands of people packed a large open space behind a monastery in Paris to watch two knights fight a duel to the death. The beautiful woman was about to be put to death for having sworn a false oath.#3 The Middle Ages were a time of constant warfare between Europe’s feuding monarchs. The frequent wars among Europe’s feuding monarchs reduced towns and farmland to smoking ruins, killed or starved the people, and left rulers with huge debts that they paid by raising taxes.#4 The Kingdom of France, located in Europe, was the center of feudalism. It had endured for nearly ten centuries, but was now desperately fighting for its survival. The English invaded France in 1339, beginning the long, ruinous conflict that would be known as the Hundred Years’ War.