The Black Rose [antikvár]

Introduction My pkevious books have been built around historical characters, men who had accomplished rather remarkable things but had been almost completely forgotten. I started The Black Rose with three great men in mind. One was a king of England, the greatest of English kings in my humble opinion, Edward the First, sometimes called the Lawgiver. His determination to conquer Scotland cast a shadow on his memory, but in spite of that he was a man of serious and noble pur- U pose and the real father of parliamentary rule. The second i was a Mongolian general briefly mentioned in histories as p Bayan of the Hxmdred Eyes, who conquered China for | • Kublai Khan in a series of brilliant campaigns. Time has draped thick cobwebs over this page of history, and only ^ the bare outline of Bayan's aggressive warmaking can be ^ seen, but I have a very strong conviction that, if military || historians were in a position to study his operations, they would rank him high on the roster of generalship. The third was Roger Bacon. Interest in this extraordinary friar has grown with the years until today it amounts almost to a cult, and so it is not necessary to say anything about him save to register my personal belief that he was potentially the greatest scientist the world has produced. That these remarkable men adorned one span of years in what otherwise was a dark page of the Dark Ages was a chance not to be overlooked, and so I set myself the task of in- , venting a tale in which all three would figure prominently. I However, the story which grew out of my eflForts refused to be subordinated to the narration of history. It took the bit in its teeth and left me no chance to do more than introduce my three enthusiasms at rare intervals; but in spite of the fact that none of the illustrious trio appears except in brief scenes, their accomplishments dictate the direction of the story. ix t fl t •; f W