Justinien Trouve, or God's Bastard

Set in the French countryside in the 1600s, a lone rider deposits a newborn baby boy on the steps of a monastery, having bitten his nose off. The child is bought up by an ex-pirate and his wife and is taught to read, write, count, joust and fence, and is also given a wooden nose. However, he is ordered by a local baron to attend a tough seminary, but he soon rebels and makes an action-packed escape...