Nicholas Salaman Libri

The year is 1189 AD and Henry, Duke of Normandy and King of England, is in Normandy as usual, trying to bring his unruly barons to heel. Bertold, the twenty-one-year-old bastard son of one of these barons, has just been released from seven years' education in a local abbey. He has a mastery of Latin, maths and other subtle arts but is desperate to learn the subject of Women. He soon falls for Juliana, daughter of the King and wife of an ambitious and sottish local Count. She employs Bertold as a tutor for her little girls and his love is returned. But the disputes and intrigues of the barons and the Court cannot be kept at bay. Juliana's daughters are offered as hostages for a strategic castle, and a tragedy is unleashed that overtakes them all.

First edition hardcover with unclipped dust jacket, in very good condition. Jacket is lightly marked and edges are creased. Lower board edges and corners are slightly bumped, and page block is a little blemished. Boards are clean, binding is sound and pages are clear. LW

In einer deutschen Kleinstadt erlebt Julius, ein Schüler des Malers Hieronymus Bosch, die Schreckensherrschaft der Wiedertäufer, einer Glaubensgemeinschaft, die die Liebe predigt, aber mit Hilfe von Terror und Gewalt ihre Machtansprüche durchsetzen will. "Salamans grandioser Roman läßt die Gewalt, die Schrecken und die Leidenschaft dieses stürmischen Kapitels der deutschen Geschichte in ihrer ganzen Wucht wiederauferstehen. Es gelingt ihm auf beeindruckende Weise, die geistige Atmosphäre jener Zeit zum Leben zu erwecken und in moderner, lebhafter Umgangssprache zu schildern." (The Times, London.)