Pagan's Vows
Monks, monks, monks. Monks everywhere...crammed together on their chapter-house seats like bats in a cave. Like crows around a corpse.
Pagan is back! After renouncing the sword in Pagan in Exile, Pagan and his noble Lord Roland become novices at the Abbey of Saint Martin, where they will prepare to learn the twelve steps of humility and take the oath of obedience. But as Pagan soon finds out, neither humility nor blind obedience comes easily to him. And while Roland sets his eyes firmly on the face of God, the more worldly Pagan discovers just how corrupt and dangerous life in a monastery can be.
Winner of the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award, Older Readers (1996)
About the Pagan Chronicles Series
Books in series order
- 1.Pagan's Crusade(1992)
- 2.Pagan in Exile(1994)
- 3.Pagan's Vows(1995)
- 4.Pagan's Scribe(1995)
- 5.Babylonne (Pagan's Daughter)(2006)
Reading age: 13+ years
This series should be read in order.
Pagan is a 16-year-old thief and beggar, trying to survive in 1187 medieval Jerusalem with no home or family. To find safety and escape those to whom he's indebted, Pagan joins the Knights Templar and is soon a squire-in-training to the admirable and good-hearted, Lord Roland. The irreverent Pagan must learn to fight, clean, escort pilgrims to holy areas and shrines and - most importantly - hold his tongue!
But even the life of a Lord is never as perfect as it seems. Pagan's journeys with Lord Roland will take him from Jerusalem to France to renunciation of the sword and life in an Abbey, where perfection is also in question. As Pagan grows and matures, his experiences lead him from apprentice to mentor, and to situations in which he must re-evaluate all his previously held values and ideals.
This action-packed and humorous series is narrated in Pagan's sarcastic and witty voice. It is loaded with down-and-dirty details of medieval times and brings to life Medieval Jerusalem and the Crusades.