title: Robes and Honor: The Medieval World of Investiture (The New Middle Ages)
author: S. Gordon
description: "This book offers a set of takes on its subject that is timely."--Janet L. Nelson, American Historical Review<br /><br /><br />This book offers a set of takes on its subject that is timely...--Janet L. Nelson "American Historical Review "
zlib_text: Empires, Book Three
  
  The Crusade
  
  1  
  The King's Men  
  King Azoun IV of Cormyr paced back and forth before a window in his castle's
  highest tower. After two or three steps in the circular room, the king paused
  and threw open the wooden shutters. Restlessly clasping his hands behind his
  back, he looked out on Suzail, the capital of his rich and expansive kingdom.
  What the monarch saw of the city from that vantage troubled him greatly.  
  Suzail sprawled contentedly in the bright, early spring sunshine. As on most
  mornings in good weather, crowds filled the narrow streets, heading toward or
  returning from the capital's bustling marketplace, doing what people in most
  of western Faerun's larger cities did each day. Servants ran from their
  masters' homes to shops, then returned with goods purchased. Watchmen, dressed
  in the livery of their office, settled disputes and kept the peace. Wealthy
  merchants argued among themselves about the price of ivory or cloth or wheat.
  Freebooters and sailors