How we cite our quotes: Chapter, Paragraph
Quote #7
Father Joseph used to say that suffering, even squalid illness, was a gift from God. I knew that this fever was sent from Heaven, a reminder that I was the apprentice of a counterfeiter, little better than a thief myself. I was an ordinary young man with no good name, unworthy of the battle for the True Cross. (21.3)
Edmund believes that he has the plague because of Otto's sin. It's kind of like he's taking all the beatings that Otto should have gotten, and he won't ever be able to escape from God's judgment. Edmund accepts this because he believes it—for him, it explains the bad things that happen in life.
Quote #8
An innkeeper-turned-soldier was caught with a pair of oxbone dice, swore he was holding them for a friend he would not incriminate, and the entire army stood watch as a muscular summoner from Ghent gave him ten lashes with a whip. (32.25)
Seems pretty harsh, right? But so it went in medieval times. You break a rule, and whoever's around to mete out punishment will be all over it.
Quote #9
A voice called out that each heathen killed was one less enemy to God. It was Father Urbino, his blond hair dark with sweat. He shook his fist, urging the pikemen at their labor.
Many knights did not enter the harvest. The few Templar men present turned away and left the rest to their work. Nigel watched with a stony gaze. When I caught his eye he let his expression shift to one of stoic distaste. When the tide of fly-carpeted blood crept close to us, Nigel kicked up a dike of dust to keep it from our feet. (33.24-25)
Even though the king has ordered all of the knights to help slaughter the prisoners, some of the knights decide to go with their own judgment and follow their own sense of justice. Nigel is one of them. It's important to realize that sometimes you have to listen to your own conscience.