In August of 1838, in the middle of a devastating civil war,
a grotesque figure arrived at Santiago de Compostela, the ancient
pilgrimage town in the North-West of Spain. He was a former Swiss
mercenary, who thirty years previously had heard a rumour about a
massive hoard of church plate buried by the soldiers of Marshal
Ney. A fantasy? A daydream? Just one of the many hollow legends
of hidden gold that abound in Spain? Perhaps so. But,
astonishingly, the Swiss vagrant did not come on his own errand.
He came sponsored by Spain’s savvy Minister of Finance, Don
Alejandro Mon, who for some shadowy reason of his own lent
credence to the tale.
Like an historical sleuth, Peter Missler traces the tale of Benedict Mol the treasure hunter through the mists of time and a smoke-screen of cover-stories. It is a fascinating saga which takes us to Portugal with looting French soldiers, into the wild mountains of Northern Spain with the brilliant polyglot George Borrow, and – by the hand of Mol - into the darkest nooks and corners of a hospital for syphilitics. The first attempt to find the treasure toppled the government, the second ended with the murder of two peasants. But was the hoard secured? Or does it still lie waiting somewhere in a Santiago park…?
Durrant Publishing, Norfolk 2010, pp. x + 225, 3 maps, 29 illustrations. Available in hardcover (£20 + postage), paperback (£10 + postage) and eText (£0.75). For sample chapters see Durrant’s website.
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Graham York
Rare Books
225 High Street, Honiton
Devon
EX14 1LB
England.
Tel: 01 404 41727
email: books@gyork.co.uk