The Last Crusaders: Ivan the Terrible

Nicholas Ingoldsby and his companions leave the Mediterranean world on a diplomatic mission that carries them through Constantinople and onward into Muscovy. Their route places them between Ottoman power, Tudor interests and the increasingly formidable state ruled by Ivan IV, whose court is shaped by suspicion and the threat of sudden violence.

Moscow is also exposed to danger from the steppe, where Crimean Tatar forces remain capable of devastating raids. The travellers must navigate a political system they only partly understand while deciding how far their original mission can survive changing circumstances. The novel uses their journey east to contrast the competing empires and military cultures of sixteenth-century Europe and Eurasia.