1 1125. An oak table in a large hall in a small county named Portugale . . .
2 1095. November. In the Auvergne, a mountainous region in central France . . .

3 1096. August. Constantinople, capital of the Holy Roman empire . . .

4 1096. August. With the northern army, preparing to depart . . .

5 1098. On the desert road near Antioch . . .

6 140 BC. In a land in western Iberia called Lusitania . . .

7 1099. June. Outside the gates of Jerusalem . . .

8 Thirty years earlier. Orval. A town downriver from Bouillon . . .

9 1114. Braga. A very old city in Portugale . . .

10 1100. Jerusalem. In the palace of the new king . . .

11 1100. Braga. Hearing foreign voices . . .

12 1117. Bethlehem. At a ceremony . . .

13 1117. Guimarães. In the court of Countess Tareja . . .

14 1126. Clairvaux. A very, very, very modest abbey in Champagne . . .

15 Seven Years Earlier. Clairvaux. A special moment on June 24 . . .

16 1125. Late Autumn. Porto. Disembarking after a long sea voyage . . .

17 1127. Autumn. Aboard a galley in the Mediterranean . . .

18 1128. April. Braga. An office where lots of documents are signed . . .

19 1128. January. A major gathering at Troyes, a town in Champagne . . .
20 1128. Back in Clairvaux. Upon the conclusion of the conclave . . .

21 1128. April. A chamber in the royal residence of Guimarães . . .

22 1128. Meanwhile in Champagne . . .

23 1128. June 24 A battlefield outside Guimarães . . .

24 1129. March. Afonso reveals himself . . .

25 1139. Ourique. Preparing to battle the Moors . . .

26 1139. Clairvaux. Early dawn, outside the chapel . . .

INTERMEZZO

27 1867. Jaffa. A mule train heading toward Jerusalem . . .

28 1146. Coimbra. At home with Afonso and his new bride . . .

29 1147. April. Braga. The mysterious Prior Arnaldo in his new abode . . .
30 1119. Temple Mount. A tunnel, eighty feet beneath . . .

31 1147. Braga. Gualdino Paes also moves into his new domicile . . .

32 1121. Saint-Omer. In the home of a cryptographer named Lambert . . .
33 1947. Qumran. Two goatherds, in a cave, by the Dead Sea . . .

34 1159. Ceras. A pile of rubble near a dilapidated town . . .

35 68 AD. Mount Sion. Men in white, hiding scrolls and other important things . . .

36 1159. Coimbra. The king of Portugal’s desk, part I . . .

37 1159. Coimbra. The king of Portugal’s desk, part II . . .

38 1159. Coimbra. The king of Portugal’s desk, part III . . .

39 1160. March 1. A dawn ceremony on the promontory above Thamar . . .
40 Present Era. April. Inside the rotunda of Tomar . . .

41 1865. The Vatican. Pope Pius IX gets all steamed up . . .

42 Present Era. April. By the rotunda, amid the secrets of the beehive . . .

43 Present Era. April. Musing outside the beehive . . .

44 1165. Monsanto. Peculiar behavior on an unusual hill . . .

45 Present Era. Monsanto. And other places for musing . . .

46 1147. Sintra. A funny thing happens on the way to the castle . . .

47 Present Era. Sintra. In the Forest of Angels . . .

48 Present Era. April. In the shadow of a statue in Tomar . . .

49 1153. Gossip in the alleyways of Jerusalem . . .

50 1312. Southern Portugal. The templars enjoy a six-year vacation . . .

51 Present Era. Aksum. A feast day when the Tabotat are seen in daylight . . .

52 Present Era. Tomar. Staring at the rotunda . . .

53 Present Era. A circular hall in a small country named Portugal . . .

EPILOGUE

Lusitania. Where knowledge is stored, guarded by a goddess whose symbol is a triangle . . .

Notes

Bibliography

Image Credits

Index

About the Author