The Lion of St. Mark

by G. A. Henty

First published 1889

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2.5(5)

A young Englishman living in fourteenth-century Venice becomes involved in the republic’s maritime wars and the political rivalries created by its commercial empire. Service at sea takes him beyond the city’s canals into a Mediterranean world where merchant routes and naval power are inseparable.

Venice’s struggle with rival maritime states gives the adventure its larger stakes. The protagonist must navigate shipboard combat, diplomacy and the demands of a republic whose wealth depends on protecting trade across distant waters. The novel presents medieval Venice as both a city of merchants and a military power, using a personal career to show how commerce, civic loyalty and naval warfare sustain the Lion of St Mark.