On a glorious sunny afternoon in August 778 AD, Charlemagne, a medieval monarch, was returning from an unsuccessful invasion of the Spain. As he entered the Roncesvalles pass to cross the Pyrenees to return to France, he was unaware that the Basque tribes were waiting in ambush.

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The Moon Worshippers is a historical novel set in the time of Charlemagne, around 800 AD, in the mountains of Spain. This is the story of Inaki, a reluctant Basque warrior who manages, with the help of his faithful wolf-hound Storm, to perform incredible feats of daring against the great power of Charlemagne.

 

The novel opens atmospherically with the death of an old warrior in a remote fortified monastery in the Pyrenees, where his deathbed revelations are committed to parchment on the orders of the Abbot. The old warrior is a Basque, and the tale he has to tell is quite an incredible one.

 

The Benedictine monks are Charlemagne’s spies. Their monastery stands at an important strategic point in the mountains. It lies at the eastern entrance to the Roncesvalles Pass, and the nearest Basque village is Archurieta. The Black monks are known for gathering information relating to the Iberian peninsular, reporting on Moorish troop movements and their strength. The Abbot himself is Basque, although he has renounced his background and is now firmly in Charlemagne’s pocket. However, he still harbours a love for the fierce and proudly independent Basque people.

 

The Old Basque warrior had been brought to the monastery and left at the door because he is sick. He had been there a week, but is dying from some obscure poison. As he lies on his death-bed, he narrates to the monks the story of Inaki; of how it was the Basque themselves who had ambushed and defeated the great Charlemagne in the Roncesvalles Pass, and not the Moors as had been previously believed. The old warrior begins the story with an escape that Inaki and his mother make from his father’s murders.  The monk who has listened to the story thinks that:

‘It could be the story of the age. Few would believe it and many would doubt its authenticity.’ (Page 4)

But it is the further revelations of the Old Warrior that really catches the monk’s attention:

         ‘What I shall tell you is how a young Nagusi made it possible for us to defeat Charlemagne, safeguard our two provinces in France and the part he played against the Sisters of the Moon.’ (Page 37)

 

At the mention of the sisters the monk is all ears. The Basques are a mysterious people, steeped in legend.

‘They keep to their mountains and do not welcome strangers.’ Traditionally they have been dismissed as barbaric and ignorant, but the Abbot has been forced to reassess his opinion.

 

Thus we learn the story of the young Basque boy Inaki, who grows up to be one of the finest warriors of the age, able to defeat the great legendary Charlemagne himself. Charlemagne is a medieval king, who had not known military defeat for over thirty-five years. His defeat by the Basques was remarkable. How the Basques perform this feat-of-arms is revealed through the life of Inaki, a reluctant boy hero.

 

Despite all the forces at his disposal, Charlemagne is routed and defied by a Basque army mostly made of sheep herders who live in the mountains, and vanish into the mist. Through various adventures, Inaki grows into manhood. Inaki’s final act is one of revenge. The book ends with a double climax that leads on to the next book. The book is the first of two books.