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Historical person
1150–1194
Guy of Lusignan became king of Jerusalem through his marriage to Sibylla, the sister of Baldwin IV. His leadership was deeply contested, and in 1187 he marched the crusader army away from water before the catastrophic Battle of Hattin, where Saladin captured him.
Released from captivity, Guy attempted to resume authority but faced opposition from Conrad of Montferrat. He eventually received Cyprus, establishing the Lusignan dynasty there. Guy of Lusignan was born in Poitou and died in Nicosia.
Cecelia Holland’s Jerusalem follows the Kingdom of Jerusalem as Baldwin IV’s illness turns the succession around Sibylla and Guy of Lusignan into a destabilising political struggle. Sharon Kay Penman’s The Land Beyond the Sea gives that crisis its fullest fictional treatment, showing how Guy’s marriage, disputed leadership and decisions before Hattin divide a kingdom already under pressure from Saladin. Ben Kane’s Crusader moves to the Third Crusade, where Guy remains one of the rival claimants and commanders whose disputes complicate the siege of Acre. Penman’s Lionheart continues into Richard I’s crusade and the succession politics he inherits in the east. Robert Broomall’s The Red King likewise places the aftermath of Hattin and the struggle over crusader leadership behind the campaigns of Richard, Saladin and Conrad of Montferrat.
Periods
Series
Ferdia, a young Irish noble held hostage after the English invasion of Ireland, saves the life of Henry II’s son Richard and enters his service. He accompanies Richard through rebellion against his father, warfare in Aquitaine and the struggle for the English crown. When Richard becomes king, Ferdia…
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The Roger of Huntley series follows a fugitive monk and crusader through the violence of the Third Crusade and the later crisis of King John’s reign. The early books place Roger among soldiers, pilgrims and rulers in the eastern Mediterranean, while the later novels return him to England…
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The five Angevin novels trace the Plantagenet dynasty from the succession crisis after Henry I through Henry II and Eleanor’s turbulent marriage, their sons’ rebellions, Richard I’s crusade, captivity and final campaigns. The sequence combines royal family drama with the Anarchy, Angevin state-building, church–crown conflict and the Third…
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The Crusades Trilogy follows Arn Magnusson, a fictional nobleman from twelfth-century Götaland, from a monastic childhood through service as a Knight Templar and return to a divided Scandinavian homeland. The Road to Jerusalem establishes the rivalry between the Erik and Sverker factions and Arn’s forbidden relationship with Cecilia…
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Standalone books
Non Fiction
Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.
