Hugh Monfort

Sir Hugh Monfort is a corrupt marshal of the Templar Order and the main antagonist in the "The Youngest Templar" trilogy. He has forsaken the creed of the Templars long a go and wants the power of the Holy Grail for himself.

Past
Sir Hugh Monfort was a high ranking servant of Queen Eleonore. When King Henry had a son with another woman, Eleonore sent for Hugh to kill the baby because it posed a threat for her son Richard's claim to the throne. However, Henry spirited away his baby son Tristan and had him brought to an abbey for his protection.

Keeper of the Grail
He and his regiment arrive at the abbey where Tristan lives. Hugh introduces himself and his second in command Thomas Leux to the abbot and asks for hospitality for the night which the abbot grants. Tristan is ordered to bring the horse of Sir Thomas to the stables. After returning, he accidentaly closes the stable doors to hard and Sir Hugh's horse panicks and hurts itself in the process. Hugh is furious and tries to hit Tristan but is stopped by Sir Thomas. Unbeknownst to them, Hugh grows suspicious of Tristan, as he knows Henry's son was brought to an abbey and Thomas is so protective of Tristan. When Thomas asks Tristan to come with him to serve as squire, Hugh is certain that Tristan is the son of King Henry. When night settles, Tristan returns to the stables to groom the horse of Sir Tristan but is ambushed and beaten by Sir Hugh, whom he does not recognize due to the darkness. Tristan is saved by the arrival of Brother Tuck and Hugh flees before he can be recognized.

When the Templars leave the abbey and ride to Dover, Tristan trains with the other squires. During a sparring exercise, Hugh arrives at the training grounds and corrects the technique of some of the squires. Tristan sees this and remarks how, depite his characteristic flaws, Sir Hugh is and eccelent swordsman. When Hugh comes to Tristan and his sparring partner Quincy, Hugh orders Quincy to give him his wooden sword. He tells Tristan to attack and easily beats him to the ground, calling him a disgrace for the templar order. Hugh does this again, but this time Tristan throws his sword between Sir Hugh's legs which leads to Hugh falling to the ground. Furious, Sir Hugh draws his steel sword but is beaten to the ground by Sir Thomas who calmly tells him that he personally will end Hugh's life if he ever comes near his squire again. Later, while returning to the headquarter at Dover, Tristan sees Sir Hugh secretly talking to two members of the royal guard, who then ride out of the city on their horses.

When Sir Hughs regiment boards the ships bound for Akkon, Tristan is glad that he is on a different ship than Sir Hugh.

At Akkon, when the city is besieged and stormed by the saracene forces of sultan Saladin, Tristan is called by Sir Thomas. Knowing the city to be lost, Thomas hands him the Holy Grail and tells him that this is the most precious secret of the Templar Order and that he may tell no one about it. He tells Tristan to bring the grail to Rosslyn at Scotland. Tristan then leaves Akkon through the caves underneath the city. Unbeknownst to him, he is followed by Sir Hugh but Hugh loses sight of him.

Tristan, now accompanied by Robard Hode and the assassin Maryam heads to Tyre to warn the local Templar marshal that the saracene forces are closing on Tyre. However, at the Templar Bureau he sees that Sir Hugh has arrived first, warning Marshal Curesco about Tristan. Hugh tries to get the grail but, as Tristan has burried the grail before coming to the bureau, is unable to. Furious Hugh states that he knows that Sir Thomas gave the grail to Tristan and that he will get it.Tristan and Robard are imprisoned but saved by Maryam. While trying to find a ship that brings them to England, they are pursued by Sir Hugh but are able to escape by ship. Sir Hugh is unable to follow them due to a uprising storm, hoever the storm also destroys the ship and they shipwreck on the southern coast of France.

Trail of Fate
While on the coast, Tristan and his friends are found by a group led by the woman Celia. Celia tells them that she and her people are pursued by the forces of Father Renard because she refused to marry him and insulted him while on a diplomatic mission. She tells them that she is bringing her people to the mountain fortress Montsegur. Afte rparting from Celia, the group is found by Father Renard but they are able to trick him into riding the wrong way. After having met Renard face to face Tristan decides to help Celia and they ride to Montsegur. They are able to get into the castle, however the next morning they find out that Father Renard has started a siege and that he has found an ally in Sir Hugh, whose Templar Knights aid in the siege. The alliance is short lived when Sir Hugh forces Renard to swear loyalty to him, which leads to Renard and his men leaving at night. Now alone, Hugh orders the attack on Montsegur but the inhabitants are able to fend off the attackers. Hugh calls for a parlay. At the meeting, Hugh threatens to kill every man, woman and child inside the fortress if Tristan does not hand over the grail. Tristan tells Hugh to draw off his men and wait at a nearby village. After three days Tristan will come and givew him the grail. Sir Hugh seemingly agrees but tells Tristan that if he does not appear on the third day, Sir Hugh's men will slaughter the village. Believing to have bought some time Tristan returns to Montsegur adn goes to bed but is woke up in the middle of the night by Celia who tells him that Sir Hugh has returned with a bigger force and started the attack. To save Montsegur, Tristan and his friends leave the castle by climing down the mountain, giving him a little headstart to Sir Hugh. After Tristan has left Celia allows two of Hughs men to enter the castle to prove that Tristan is gone. After they confirm it, Sir Hugh immediately continues the hunt and leaves Montsegur.

On their way back, Tristan and his friends are captured near Calais by the royal guard and taken to the castle where they are brought before Sir Hugh and Queen Eleonore. Tristan tries to break the trust between the two by hinting at Sir Hughs true motivation. Eleonore orders Sir Hugh to bring them to the prison but to return immediately afterwards. While Hugh returns, Tristan is able to free his friends. He plans to get the grail back from Hugh but then sees that Hugh did not get the grail because their dog hid it in a haystack. To ensure their escape, Tristan enters the castle and takes Eleonore hostage but sees that Hugh has taken Maryam and built a gallow for her, threatening to kill her if Tristan does not release the Queen and hands over the grail. When the royal guard tells him to stand down because the life of the Queen Dowager is at stake, Hugh threatens their captain, which leads to Eleonore stating that the royal guard is to kill everyone, especially Sir Hugh, if she is harmed. Hugh then kicks the barrel underneath Maryam's feet away.

Orphan of Destiny
Maryam saves her life by grabbing the crossbeam of the gallows. Tristan creates chaos by shoving Eleonore away and the three escape, manipulating the castle gate and thereby trapping Sir Hugh and the royal guard inside for a short time. They escape into the city Calais and get into a boat, though Sir Hugh pursues them and Tristan is wounded by a crossbow bolt and blacks out for most of the journey. He arrives at the shore of England, near Dover. He plans to enter the city to visit the Templar Headquarter there to find out if there is any info about Sir Hugh's plans. However, he sees Sir Hugh and his templars on horseback and quickly hides. Sir Hugh rides off but returns with his men when a citizen spots Tristan hiding and loudly asks what he is doing there. Tristan and his friend run off and hide on a nearby rooftop while Sir Hugh orders his men to search the city. When they try to escape from the city they are attacked by Hughs men and take cover behind a stand at the market place. To drive them out of their cover, Hugh orders his man to throw a torch to the stand. However, the city awakens when the fire rides. Tristan lodly screams that Hugh is respondible for the firse and when one of Hugh's men misses Tristan and shoots a civilian instead, the people grow more angry at Sir Hugh. In the chaos Robard, Tristan and Maryam escape.

Sir Hugh is not encountered again until Tristan enters Rosslyn and finds out that Hugh's regiment has already arrived ad the priest he was supposed to give the grail to was killed by Sir Hugh. Upon returning to his friends on a hill near Rosslyn, he finds that Sir Hugh and his men are there and have taken Robard and Maryam as hostages. Hugh demands the grail but Tristan draws his sword. Sir Hugh is amused and climbs off his horse and engages into a sword fight with Tristan, wounding the young squire multiple times. He also cuts the sack containing the grail off of Tristan's chest bur, when he tries to kill Tristan, stumbles onto the sack on the gound and loses his balance. Ristan uses the oppurtunity to thrust his sword into Sir Hugh's chest. Mortally wounded, Sir Hugh fall sto the ground and slides towards a cliff but Tristan sees that he is holding the sack containing the grail. Tristan jumps after him and grabs the sack. Hugh's weight almost pulls Tristan over the cliff but then the Knight finally loses his strength and falls into the river underneath to his death.