Blurb:
1242. After being wounded in the Battle on the Ice, Richard Fitz Simon becomes a prisoner of Prince Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod. Alexander, intrigued by his captive’s story, instructs his scholar to assist Richard in writing about his life.
Richard’s chronicle begins in 1203, when his training to be a knight is disrupted by treachery. He is forced to flee England for Lübeck, where he begins work for a greedy salt merchant. After an illicit love affair, his new life is thrown into turmoil, and he joins the Livonian Brothers of the Sword as they embark on imposing the will of God on the pagans of the eastern Baltic. Here, he must reconcile with his new life of prayer, danger and duty – despite his own religious doubts, with as many enemies within the fortified commandery as the wilderness outside.
However, when their small outpost in Riga is threatened by a large pagan army, Richard is compelled to make a crucial decision and fight like never before.
Guest post about the main character in Sword Brethren – and his motivations, conflicts, and challenges.
Bound by faith, forged in battle, haunted by doubt – Richard Fitz Simon’s journey has always been one of internal conflict. A Teutonic Knight and Swordbrother beforehand, Richard has spent decades fighting on the borders of Christendom, battling to bring the word of God to the pagans of the eastern Baltic. But after years of bloodshed, he now lies recovering at Yuriev Monastery from a serious wound incurred at the Battle on the Ice at Lake Peipus in April 1242. His faith – never strong to begin with – now feels more distant and fragile. It's here, in the stillness of recovery, that Richard’s greatest struggles begin to surface.
Richard, now a weary and cynical 53-year-old knight, finds himself more burdened by events of the past than ever before. His body is broken, but it's the complete erosion of his belief that weighs most heavily on him. The monastery, usually a place of solace, becomes a crucible for the thoughts and regrets he's long buried.
Whilst bedridden, he is visited by Prince Alexander Nevsky – the commander of the forces that defeated Richard’s own army. The prince is intrigued by his captive’s story and allows Richard to begin a chronicle about his life to give to his son so he understands his legacy, tasking him to reap the vengeance that has eluded Richard himself. Alexander has his scholar, a stubborn Irishman named Fergus, transcribe and translate the chronicle into Russian so he too has a copy. Both Richard and Fergus dislike each other immediately – hinting at the problems and clashes that will follow in their collaboration.
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| Image Pixabay |
The chronicle itself begins in 1203, when Richard is just fourteen years old, the son of Lord Roger Fitz Simon of Cranham, a small barony on the borders of Suffolk and Norfolk. Raised with the expectation of becoming a knight and eventually taking over his father’s lands, this is all he has ever wanted and what he has spent his short life preparing for. But events take a turn with the appearance of his uncle Gilbert, who arrives from Normandy with his retainers, bringing with him the experience of war and a new direction for Richard’s future.
Richard’s father, Roger, dies in mysterious circumstances in a hunting accident while Richard is on a chore to Bury St Edmunds. His uncle usurps the castle, and Richard is forced to flee Cranham with Wilhelm, his father’s German steward.
The once-secure world of noble birth is replaced by a new uncertainty and hardship. In London, Richard and the ever-loyal Wilhelm barely escape Gilbert’s grasp. But the pursuit doesn’t end there. Their journey leads them to Lübeck, the city of Wilhelm’s birth. Here, they live with Wilhelm’s brother Eberhard, a greedy salt merchant, and Richard works for Eberhard’s henchman, Henkel, a cruel and dangerous man. Richard feels cast adrift in a foreign city, unable to speak the language, penniless, and struggling with tasks well beneath his noble upbringing. He is shunned and persecuted by Henkel, who considers Richard an arrogant boy who has no business being there. Here, Richard is forced to reckon with a harsh new reality. His noble status is meaningless in this new, hostile world.
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| Image Pixabay |
In Lübeck, Richard finds himself abandoned and lost, torn between grief, anger, and a desire for the revenge he knows could destroy him. Despite the harshness of his circumstances, he is driven by a single desire – to return home and reclaim his father’s lands, to confront his uncle and avenge the life he’s lost. But he knows that this path will lead only to death, and his struggle is not just with the physical dangers of the world around him, but with his own inner conflict. Is vengeance truly worth the cost of his life? Can he even survive in a world that seems so determined to break him?
But Richard tries to make the best of his new situation – befriending some of the comrades he works with, especially a boy two years older named Otto. He undertakes every task without complaint, despite some of them being very unsavoury. The connection to his previous world is completely broken. Things take a dark turn when Richard falls in love with Elsebeth, the daughter of Eberhard, and they begin an illicit affair, made worse when Eberhard offers her hand in marriage to Henkel.
Richard’s life is thrown into turmoil again, caught between his feelings for Elsebeth, whilst at the same time knowing that if Henkel found out, it would lead to his death. He tries to convince Elsebeth to run away with him, but she is unwilling to go against her father, leaving Richard bereft and without hope. Everything goes wrong for him, and he feels that God is punishing him for his lack of faith.
Events explode, and Richard is forced to flee Lübeck with Otto, joining the new recruits of a Christian order of warrior monks – The Brothers of the Sword – as a sergeant. They set sail across the Baltic Sea to Riga in Livonia. A new life begins, living in a fortified commandery and praying seven times a day. Richard finds the new routine and discipline boring and hard to adjust to, relieved only by weapons practice. Three other sergeants torment him as he is not German, and he is beaten in the stables.
Richard feels further alienated from his past and England, powerless in this place he’d never heard of a month before, and unable to enact the vengeance that bubbles within him. He becomes the squire for a handsome and arrogant knight named Rudolf – the most noble man in the Order. He treats Richard as a slave, physically bullying him one moment, while being strangely polite and correct the next. This unpredictability adds to Richard’s internal turbulence.
Can Richard find a way to come to terms with his new life? Can he adapt to the harsh regime and finally find acceptance within the Order? Can he learn to quell the anger and bitterness that sometimes consumes him?
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| Image from Pixabay |
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