Mid-11th century, Europe at the borders of the High Middle Ages. One extreme gives rise to another: droughts give way to floods, famine increases the birth rate, prayers for sins grant forgiveness, but the long-awaited harvest leads to gluttony and satiety. Everything and everyone is in a fever, right up to the throne of the Apostle Peter in Rome. There are three popes on the throne at once. Even four: one is an anti-pope. In order to restore order in the surrounding lands of his estate, the German king Henry III the Black sets out on an Italian campaign. But he is not the only one who dreams of the treasured key to world domination. His namesake, the French king from the Capetian family, also has his own, not so straightforward, plan in this regard. Errant knights, monks, emperors, peasants and jesters - the heroes of the new novel by Vladimir Moskalev - will talk about their lives full of passions, joys and disappointments on the threshold of the era of the Crusades.