Featured Medieval Historical Fiction Novel
Mercenaries: The Conquest Trilogy, Book I by Jack Ludlow
Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Allison & Busby (October 12, 2009)
ISBN-10: 0749007850
Product Description:
Six brothers, trained since birth to become great warriors, prepare to experience their first taste of battle.
1033, along the Norman/French border. The sons of Tancred de Hauteville are following in their father’s footsteps. As knights, they have but one true purpose: to fight. But denied service with their duke, they are forced to take employment as mercenaries; their unequalled battle skills are for hire to the highest bidder. Victory and defeat, betrayal and revenge combine as the desperation to rule the wealthy Norman lands becomes an intense battle, testing even the strongest of ties.
Filed under: Middle Ages History, Medieval History, Historical Fiction on November 19th, 2009
Sounds like an interesting story. . . . they ended up in Italy, IIRC. And eventually in Sicily. Robert Guiscard was the most famous of that bunch, again, IIRC.
I’ll trust your knowledge on that, Anne. I don’t know too much about Robert Guiscard. I might go study up on him a bit now.
Steven:
I don’t know all that much about Robert Guiscard for that matter, and only a bit about the Hauteville family. But they were certainly important enough, in the Italy of the time, fo influence popes and the like.
Anne G
Know any good sources off-hand where I can read up on him?
Steven:
Sorry for taking so long to reply to this. I’ve been busy with a lot of things lately. IN any case I can’t think of any specific titles that deal with the Hautevilles exclusively. OTOH, there are any number of books about the Normans that mention the Hautevilles, especially Robert Guiscard. You might want to try amazon.com and see what you come up with. I’ve found good material of various kinds tehre.
Anne G
That’s ok about the delayed reply. I understand. I will look into it more. There is a book I see in the bookstore quite often called The Normans: Warrior Knights and Their Castles by Christopher Gravett. Not sure if you are familiar with it.
STeven:
I’m sure I’ve seen the book. Gravett is a decent writer, and he’s worth reading, though his expertise on these things is primarily “military”. Still, you might learn something useful if you read it.
Anne G
I have one book that is pretty good by him. It’s about medieval sieges and warfare. It’s a quick read, only about 100 pages.