The Falcon 3: The Bloody Cross by Mark Ramsay

The Falcon 3
The Bloody Cross
by Mark Ramsay (John Maddox Roberts)

Draco Falcon travels to Paris, participates in a jousting tournament, and becomes King Philip's bodyguard. A lot of exposition on Templars, papal power, and currency. Like Renegade, this series has a good balance of pulp action and historical verisimilitude, but this one is a bit heavy on the explainy side.

Paperback from AbeBooks