The reading public knows Maurice Druon primarily for the saga “The Accursed Kings,” which reveals dark secrets of the Middle Ages. Behind every work in the cycle stood meticulous work in the National Archives: studying documents written in archaic French or Latin. This series of historical frescoes was opened by the novel “The Iron King.”
Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, when he was led to the stake on March 18, 1314, cursed his executioners—the Pope Clement V, King Philip the Fair, his advisor Guillaume de Nogaret, and all their descendants up to the thirteenth generation. The first blow of fate—accusations of unfaithfulness against the king’s daughters-in-law—did not take long to follow. But no one yet knows what misfortunes the future holds for the Iron King…