Rage of Swords

Name: Rage of Swords
Rating: 4.7 (1114 reviews)

by David Gilman Book 9 in the Master of War series.

First published 2025

Amazon

4.7(1,114)

In 1368, Thomas Blackstone rides toward Milan to secure gold and alliances for the Plantagenet war in France. Lionel of Antwerp’s marriage mission promises political advantage, but Milanese power, assassination and Blackstone’s own enemies turn diplomacy into a road of traps.

The book moves the Hundred Years’ War into northern Italy, where money and marriage matter as much as armies. Its setting links Visconti Milan, English war finance and the continuing instability of France and Aquitaine, showing how a war fought over the French crown also depends on bankers, city-states and dynastic marriages far from the main front.

Blackstone’s mission shows the financial machinery behind medieval warfare. English campaigns require credit, mercenary service and access to Italian banking networks, while marriage can bind political interests as effectively as treaties. Milan is therefore not a diversion from the Hundred Years’ War but one of the places where the money and alliances needed to continue it are negotiated.

Historical Periods

Hundred Years’ War in France1337–1453 CE Medieval Italy476–1494 CE Late Medieval France1300–1499 CE

Historical people

Edward III of England1312–1377 Charles V of France1338–1380 Edward, the Black Prince1330–1376 Bernabò Visconti1323–1385 Galeazzo II Visconti1320–1378 Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence1338–1368