Ironhand

by Hilary Green Book 1 in the Crusader series.

First published 2019

Amazon

4.1(197)

Ranulph of Erbistock is orphaned by the Harrying of the North and educated by monks before running away to sea. A violent death aboard ship leaves him burdened by guilt as he becomes trader, mercenary and wealthy merchant in the routes linking western Europe to the eastern Mediterranean. Disaster reduces him to slavery in a Maltese galley, where survival depends on endurance and the uncertain mercy of men who regard captives as property.

Ransomed through Duke Robert of Sicily, Ranulph begins to believe that his preservation has a religious purpose. That conviction is tested when Bohemond of Taranto recruits men for the expedition proclaimed by Pope Urban II. Joining the crusaders offers Ranulph redemption, renewed danger and a route towards the eastern cities through which he once traded. The first volume carries him to the threshold of the campaign that will define his later life.