Il castello di Eymerich

Il castello di Eymerich

Author	Valerio Evangelisti
Language	Italian
Series	Eymerich series
Genre	Historical fantasy novel
Publisher	Mondadori Editore
Publication date	2001
Publication place	Italy
Media type	Print
Preceded by	Picatrix, la scala per l'inferno
Followed by	Mater Terribilis

Il castello di Eymerich ("Emerych's Castle") is a book written by Valerio Evangelisti, an Italian historian and writer of historical fantasy. In chronological order, it is the seventh book in a best-selling series whose central character is Nicholas Eymerich, an inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition - a historical character, whom Evangelisti adopted to his novels following a detailed research of sources concerning Emerych's figure. It has been translated into many languages, most notably German, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

Plot summary

The plot of the book is divided into three threads:

The main thread

Takes place in Montiel in Castile, Spain, in 1369, during the civil war between king Peter of Castile and pretender Henry of Trastamara. Peter of Castile is defending Montiel, besieged by the pretender's forces, which consist mostly of mercenaries commanded by a historical figure Bertrand du Guesclin. Inquisitor Nicholas Eymerich is called in to investigate the use of black magic by the besiegers and the use of cabal by the defenders.

"The five men from Girona"

This thread takes place prior to the main one. It depicts a group of Dominicans sent by the Pope to the Castle of Montiel in a mission to use demonology against cabalistic magic .

"The Chosen One"

Takes place during World War II in a concentration camp Dora, where Sturmbannführer SS Viktor von Ingolstadt is conducting an experiment to revive a dead body to support his quasi-scientific research concerning electricity.