Authorpreneur Dashboard – Charles Gibson
Taking the Cross
Literature & Fiction
In the Middle Ages not all crusades were fought in the Holy Land. A two-pronged threat to the Catholic Church was growing within Christendom itself and Pope Innocent III called for the crusade against heresy to eliminate both the Albigenses and Valdenses, two movements that did not adhere to Church orthodoxy. Andreas, a knight who longs to go on Crusade to the Holy Land, finds himself fighting against one in his French homeland. While Andreas wages war for the lives and religious freedom of his people, a battle rages within his soul. Eva, a young woman of a new religious order, the Beguines, discovers a secret message within a letter about the death of her father in the Holy Land. As she learns more of her father, she is forced to confront the profound and perilous spiritual inheritance he has bequeathed to her. A legacy for which she must fight. Hearing of the feats of Andreas, Eva senses her inheritance may lead her to him. Filled with battles of the flesh and the spirit, Taking the Cross reveals a passionate aspect of Medieval times where some fought ardently for the freedom of others.
Book Bubbles from Taking the Cross
Let Us Dispense with Ignorance
Eva has a strong sense of discernment in the spiritual realm. Not only the presence of evil spirits, but of human spirits as well. She can tell there is another presence in the villa of the Painter. That presence is the Bishop of Siena. In her meeting with the Bishop, Eva's past comes to the fore and clashes with her present. It is not about anything she has done in the past so much as the circumstances of how she came to live in Provence. She comes to realize there is much she does not know about her father, or about the circumstances surrounding his death in the Holy Land. She learns in this excerpt that when she encounters the bishop, she is encountering a man who has traversed the whole of Europe many times in search of her. He carries with him knowledge of her life unknown to her.
They Are Upon Us
The siege of the city of Beziers, France, in July, 1209, was the opening battle of the Albigensian Crusade. It was the only Crusade fought in France. It was a Crusade against heresy. Andreas has been given charge by his lord Viscount for the defense of the wealthy well-fortified city of Beziers. In this excerpt. Andreas is attempting to make the city secure, even as they first witness the approach of the massive Crusading army. However, the residents of Beziers, known as the Bitterois, tend to have an independent streak which proves to make a successful defense of the city difficult.
Eva and the Painter
Taking the Cross alternates by chapter between Andreas and Eva, the two main characters. The first several chapters with Eva introduce the reader to the people who are important to her, or will become important. This includes her relationship with her Painter. He is called Painter and we know him only as the Painter. He is not only her business partner, but far more, and there is a mystery about him in terms of what his full role is in her life, something that even Eva does not totally grasp. Yet she senses there is more to him than what she knows. We also realize that what the Painter knows that Eva does not is troubling to the Painter.
Introducing Andreas
Andreas is a man of action who is fearless in battle. The fears he does have stem his encounters with the spirit realm. As he rides with his Viscount to seek peace from the Crusading army that comes to invade his lands, Andreas encounters a boy upon the road who seems to be tormented in spirit. It marks the beginning of Andreas being forced to confront his own fears that emanate from his childhood. Andreas becomes impatient as his company stops on the road to speak with the father of the boy, and senses danger around them.
Introducing Eva
Eva is one of the two main characters in Taking the Cross. I wanted to give an immediate strong sense right away of what she is like. She is hard-working, industrious, independent, beautiful, for she has "long elegant calloused fingers". There is a grace to her, but a certain grittiness also. I also wanted to convey that even in the sanctuary of her orchard, that she has wounds in her spirit that are painful, that she can't quite bring herself to face. Her witnessing the Crusading army marching south also begins to create a tie between her and the other main character, Andreas, who ends up battling against this same Crusading army.
