The Saracen Land of the Infidel

by Robert Shea Book 1 in the The Saracen series.

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2.5(5)

Daoud ibn Abdallah was born to a crusader family but captured as a child, raised in Egypt and trained as a Mamluk warrior, Sufi initiate and Hashishiyya agent. Sultan Baibars sends him to Italy to stop a proposed alliance between Pope Urban IV and Mongol envoys from the Ilkhanate. Travelling under a Christian identity with the Byzantine courtesan Sophia, Daoud enters the factional world of Lucera, Orvieto and the papal court, where French knight Simon de Gobignon protects the ambassadors he has been ordered to defeat.

The espionage mission becomes entangled with Manfred of Sicily’s struggle against the papacy and Charles of Anjou, as Ghibelline and Guelf factions compete for Italian cities. Thomas Aquinas, Louis IX, Hulagu Khan and the troubadour Sordello stand beside fictional conspirators in a story that treats Christian, Muslim and Mongol ambitions from several perspectives. The first volume establishes the political and personal conflicts that continue in The Holy War.

Historical Periods

Papal–Mongol Alliance Negotiations1263–1264 CE Papal–Hohenstaufen Conflict in Italy1254–1266 CE

Genres

Court & Political Fiction Espionage Historical Fantasy Historical Thriller War Fiction

Historical people

Hulagu Khan1217–1265 Louis IX of France1214–1270 Baibarsc. 1223–1277 Manfred, King of Sicily1232–1266 Charles I of Anjou1227–1285 Pope Urban IVc. 1195–1264 Thomas Aquinas1225–1274 Sordelloc. 1200–c. 1269