In 1386, a few days after Christmas, a massive crowd gathered at a Paris monastery to watch two men fight a duel to the death. A trial by combat to prove which man’s cause was right in God’s sight.

The dramatic story of the knight, the squire and the lady unfolds during the tumultuous fourteenth century. A time of war, plague and anarchy, as well as of honour, chivalry, and courtly love.

The notorious quarrel appears in many histories of France, but no writer has recounted it in full, until now.