1393 Tarnovgrad. Bayazid the Lightning has led his troops to the last fortress of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom. And Tsar Ivan Shishman flees, leaving the defence of the city in the hands of a cleric beloved by the people. 1443 Southern France.
A group of faithful followers of the Bogomil doctrine risk their lives to rescue from the papal knights priceless relics, kept for years in the legendary fortress of Monsegur, and return them to the lands to which they belong. Autumn of 1443. The city of Buda. The eighteen-year-old King Vladislav Jagiello III leads tens of thousands of knights to the Bulgarian lands, stiffened by the bitter winter. 1444 - Shumen Fortress. Bulgarians defend their homes and their faith from the crusader forces of Pope Eugene IV and find an unexpected ally in the garrison that rules the fortress at the time.
What is the connection between one of the most influential and mystical teachings in Bulgarian and world history - Bogomilism, the Holy Inquisition and the Last Crusade? Why did the young Polish-Hungarian king lead a huge Catholic army to cross swords in the so-called Battle of the Nations? In what mysterious language was the Gospel of Rheims written before which the French kings took their oaths? What is the legend of the spirit of Bayan Maga and does it still haunt the forests to protect the Bulgarian people? Who might be the heirs of the last royal family in Bulgaria and what secret did their predecessors hide?
A story that has been shared from generation to generation and has been waiting to be told for six centuries in the Shumen region. A story that Lyudmila Filipova has been considering how to pass on for seventeen years comes to life in the plot of her new novel. A story crowned with an epic battle in which the Western and Eastern worlds collide.
Engagingly and daringly, the author takes us through a highly dramatic period of our past in which bravery and villainy, selflessness and the lust for power and money, epic battles and poignant human destinies intertwine. Last but not least, a beautiful love is born that is stronger than religious dogmas, prejudices and the limits of time and space.
