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Overview: Peter Darman was raised in Grantham, Lincolnshire and attended the King’s Grammar School after passing the Eleven Plus exam. In the latter he clearly remember writing an essay on Oliver Cromwell – his first piece of military writing. Then came a BA in history and international relations at Nottingham followed by a Master of Philosophy course at the University of York. The subject was the generalship and cavalry of Prince Rupert of the Rhine, his boyhood hero, during the English Civil War. The year he spent researching and writing at York, Oxford and at the British Library in London was a truly wonderful time. He moved to London and eventually joined a small publishing company as an editor. Thus began his writing career.
Genre: Fiction > General Fiction/Classics
1. Sword Brothers: Jerusalem may have fallen to the Saracens but in the Baltic Bishop Albert of Riga has created the crusader state of Livonia to bring the word of God to the indigenous pagans. The battle to convert the natives is savage and unrelenting and into this holy war is thrust Conrad Wolff, a young native of the city of Lübeck whose family has suffered a terrible injustice.
Forced to leave his homeland to seek sanctuary in Livonia, Conrad’s fate is soon entwined with that of the Sword Brothers, the order of warrior monks that fights to defend and expand Christendom in the Baltic. But as Conrad begins his training to become a member of the brethren, the enemies of the Bishop of Riga gather and soon Livonia is surrounded and battling for its very existence.
Conrad and the order soon find themselves fighting for their lives as the enemies of the Sword Brothers close in on all sides.
2. Army of the Wolf: The Sword Brothers have won a great victory and the implacable enemy of their order is dead. There is now nothing to stop the Bishop of Riga from marching north and seizing the whole of Estonia. But in the moment of triumph the seeds of future difficulties have been sown, for the bishop’s German crusaders believe that the fight against the pagans has been won and thus there is no reason for them to stay in Livonia. Faced with a lack of holy warriors to complete his task, the bishop is forced to beg the ambitious King Valdemar of Denmark for military aid, a request that will have disastrous consequences.
While he is away Conrad Wolff, now a veteran brother knight of the Sword Brothers, his reputation high among pagans and crusaders alike, is sent to Ungannia whose ruler Kalju is an ally of the Sword Brothers. There a trivial incident escalates into a full-scale war that results in a great barbarian horde sweeping into Livonia and threatening the very existence of the crusader state.
3. Castellan: Outraged by the behaviour of the Sword Brothers, King Valdemar has placed a blockade on the whole of Livonia. With the Danes having a stranglehold over Livonia the crusader state is slowly dying, made worse by an outbreak of pestilence at Riga. But when the Danish king invades the island of Oesel the wheel of fate turns and Valdemar finds himself at the mercy of the Sword Brothers and Conrad Wolff, the man he wanted to have executed.
The Sword Brothers and Conrad’s Army of the Wolf save King Valdemar who lifts the blockade, thus saving Livonia. But Conrad has many enemies and an act of wickedness causes conflict to flare up on Livonia’s eastern borders that will threaten not only the crusader state but also the life of Conrad himself.
4. Master of Mayhem: After the fall of Dorpat to the Sword Brothers in 1224 and the cessation of hostilities with Novgorod, Bishop Albert had established peace throughout Livonia and Estonia. His crusader kingdom had expanded to cover an area from the River Dvina north to the gates of Reval. But that place was still under Danish control and there was a festering resentment between the Danes and the Sword Brothers.
Estonia may be at peace but Conrad Wolff, now a master of the Sword Brothers, seethes with anger against a wrong committed against him and his friends. The aftermath will lead to Livonia and Estonia being dragged into international politics as the Papacy intervenes in the affairs of the Sword Brothers and Livonia.
Meanwhile a frustrating war continues against the pagan Lithuanians in the south, a conflict that puts a severe strain on the resources of the Sword Brothers. But it is in the north where a crisis suddenly develops, resulting in Conrad and his order facing annihilation in the freezing wastes. Against this dire backdrop Conrad is forced to make a decision that will have major ramifications for both him and the Sword Brothers. And in the aftermath of that decision a giant of the crusader kingdom in the Baltic leaves the stage.
5. Schism: A new Papal Legate has come to Livonia but he is no friend of Conrad Wolff or the Sword Brothers. Grave charges are levelled against the commander of the Army of the Wolf, leading to a series of events that threatens to rip apart the crusader state in the Baltic.
For Conrad these are strange times as former enemies become allies and erstwhile allies seek to take advantage of Livonia’s weaknesses to further their own ends. This, the penultimate volume in the Crusader Chronicles series, sees Conrad fighting for his life and the Sword Brothers battling for their very existence against a backdrop of intrigue, international politics and betrayal.
6. As Dust to the Wind: No man can escape his destiny, not even the famed Conrad Wolff whose named is revered and feared in equal measure throughout the Baltic following nearly thirty years of bloodshed.
Conrad and the Sword Brothers are now masters of all they survey. The crusader state they have created by the sword is strong and prospering but peace is only temporary, a cruel illusion. The riches of Novgorod, now threatened and weakened by the Mongols, is an irresistible target for Bishop Hermann and the Papacy, leading to a new and bloody crusade against the Russians.
For Conrad the appearance of an enemy from his past will reawaken old wounds and a thirst for revenge. But his actions will have a catastrophic effect on the Sword Brothers and will set in train a sequence of events that will lead to a final confrontation between East and West on the frozen surface of Lake Peipus. This battle will be a defining moment not only for Conrad Wolff and the Sword Brothers but also for European history.
This, the final volume in the Crusader Chronicles series, sees Conrad and the Army of the Wolf embark upon their final, fateful campaign.
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