An omniscient narrator jumps in offering his two cents every now and then in a fairly obtrusive way. This is old-fashioned historical fiction and it’s translated from the French, so there is some clunkiness to the prose. Scenes change rapidly and the plots move right along. (Also luckily for Robert and Isabella, the princesses are unfaithful wives and not very discreet.) Luckily for Robert, he is on friendly terms with Philip the Fair’s daughter, Isabella, who is married to King Edward II of England (to her misfortune.) Isabella despises her sisters-in-law and is only too happy to help Robert in his schemes. Robert of Artois will stop at nothing to see the princesses ruined and Mahaut disgraced.

Mahaut had a claim to the same land but the reason she won her suit was that she married her daughters to two of the king’s sons and her cousin to the third. An interwoven plotline is that of Robert of Artois, who feels he has been robbed of his inheritance in the County of Artois which was given to his aunt, Mahaut, Countess of Burgundy. While this is going on, there is abundant political intriguing and scandal within the court. He then curses the king’s line through the thirteenth generation. As Jacques de Molay is burned at the stake, he curses the king, pope, and secretary-general, announcing they will be dead within the year. Aiding Philip in this and in all things was his Keeper of the Seals and Secretary-General, Guillaume de Nogaret. The Templars were branded heretics, were forcibly disbanded, and their immense wealth was confiscated by Philip the Fair, King of France, in cahoots with his Pope, Clement. It focuses on events surrounding the execution of the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay. So if I can read the 'original' instead–and these books are historical novels.there’s no contest.īook One, The Iron King, was written in 1955. Martin, who calls them the 'original Game of Thrones.' How’s that for marketing? I haven’t watched any of the show and although we have the books (my son is a huge fan), I’m daunted by the investment of time it will take to read them. These books are more than fifty years old but the English translations are being re-released with a foreword and recommendation by George R.R. These French historical novels set in the Middle Ages begin with Philip the Fair and the demise of the Knights Templar and take the reader through to the start of the Hundred Years War.

(It is historical fiction, after all.) So I’m thrilled to have come across Maurice Druon’s The Accursed Kings series. But I really love historical novels where the history is the focus, even if there’s a little embellishment of the facts to enliven the story. And I enjoy novels that sidestep the history that’s going on in the background to present a nice love story or mystery. I love historical novels that plop me right down in the middle of serious history.

The iron king maurice