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Phase
1254–1266 CE
After the death of Conrad IV, Manfred consolidated Hohenstaufen power in Sicily and southern Italy while supporting Ghibelline allies farther north. The papacy disputed his legitimacy and feared encirclement by a dynasty it had opposed for generations.
Urban IV offered the Sicilian crown to Charles of Anjou, brother of Louis IX. French intervention eventually produced the Angevin invasion and Manfred’s defeat at Benevento in 1266, transforming the political balance of Italy.
The Saracen: Land of the Infidel places Daoud, Sophia and their allies within this struggle. Manfred’s court, papal Orvieto and factional conflict among Italian cities give the espionage mission its immediate political setting.
Series
The Saracen is a two-volume historical epic set in the Mediterranean world of 1263–1266. Daoud ibn Abdallah, born to a crusader family but captured and raised in Egypt, has become a Mamluk warrior, Sufi initiate and covert agent of Sultan Baibars. He is sent to Italy with the…
