Many people know of Colonel Blood's attempt to steal the Crown Jewels during the reign of Charles II (1660-1685). However, Blood's conspiracy wasn't the first, and certainly not the most successful. In 1303, while Edward I of England was north of the Scottish border trying to crush William Wallace, he'd stashed his treasure safely in Westminster Abbey—behind iron-bound doors, in a place of sanctity which housed Christ's body, not to mention pious Benedictine monks.

Enter Richard Puddlicott, a former merchant who had been arrested in the Low Countries because of Edward I's debts. This charming dissolute rogue infiltrated the Abbey's inner circle (entertaining them on the proceeds of their own silver) and, before long, had helped himself to a good part of the treasure. The King's fury knew no bounds, but Puddlicott ran his men a merry dance before eventually being captured and sent—along with forty monks—to his death in the Tower.

This compelling work is an exhilarating tale of cunning deceit, lechery, feisty villains, meddling monks, greedy goldsmiths, and devious pimps and prostitutes. It takes the lid off both the medieval underworld and the assumed piousness of the monastic community.