Conquest - Böcker

The third novel in the compelling Conquest series (1066: The Bloody Aftermath) from the author of Sworn Sword. Perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwall, Simon Scarrow and Ben Kane.AUTUMN, 1071. The struggle for England has been long and brutal. Five years after the fateful Battle of Hastings, only a desperate band of rebels in the Fens stands between King William and absolute conquest.Tancred, a proud and ambitious knight, is among the Normans marching to destroy them. Once lauded for his exploits, his fame is now dwindling. He yearns for the chance to restore his reputation through spilling enemy blood.But as the Normans’ attempts to assault the rebels’ island stronghold are thwarted, the King grows ever more frustrated. With the campaign stalling and morale in camp failing, he looks to Tancred to deliver the victory that will crush the rebellions once and for all.

January 1069. Less than three years have passed since Hastings and the death of the usurper, Harold Godwineson. In the depths of winter, two thousand Normans march to subdue the troublesome province of Northumbria. Tancred a Dinant, an ambitious and oath-sworn knight and a proud leader of men, is among them, hungry for battle, for silver and for land.But at Durham the Normans are ambushed in the streets by English rebels. In the battle that ensues, their army is slaughtered almost to a man. Badly wounded, Tancred barely escapes with his life. His lord is among those slain.Soon the enemy are on the march, led by the dispossessed prince Eadgar, the last of the ancient Saxon line, who is determined to seize the realm he believes is his. Yet even as Tancred seeks vengeance for his lord's murder, he finds himself caught up in secret dealings between a powerful Norman magnate and a shadow from the past.As the Norman and English armies prepare to clash, Tancred begins to uncover a plot which harks back to the day of Hastings itself. A plot which, if allowed to succeed, threatens to undermine the entire Conquest. The fate of the Kingdom hangs in the balance ...

1033, on the Norman–French border: It is thirty years before William Duke of Normandy sails to England and does battle at Hastings, but the events leading up to that epic moment are already taking shape. The twelve sons of Tancred de Hauteville are following in their father’s footsteps. As knights, they have but one true purpose: to fight. But denied service with their duke, they are forced to take employment as mercenaries. Their unequalled battle skills are for hire to the highest bidder.Victory and defeat, betrayal and revenge combine as the desperation to rule becomes an intense battle, testing even the strongest of ties. But through it all shines the loyalty of blood that binds families—and warriors—together. This is the epic story of a true band of brothers.

Eleventh-century Italy: The Byzantine Empire rules much of Europe, but in the Italian states to the south it does so in the face of constant revolt from its unwilling subjects—a strife that extends from the great trading ports to the rich agricultural lands of Apulia. The Lombards, heirs to a northern tribe, are no exception and their leader, Arduin of Fassano, feels the time may have come to rejoin his brethren and rise up in revolt against their Eastern rulers. And so he brings into the conflict the fearsome mercenary brothers, the de Hautevilles, to help him in his quest to destroy the power of Constantinople.Will the might of the Byzantine Empire crush Arduin's revolt? Can his ambitious plan succeed, or will the treachery that stalks the land play into the hands of the Normans?

In twenty years, the de Hauteville brothers have risen from penniless obscurity to become the most potent warrior family in Christendom: depended on by the Pope, feared by Byzantium, and respected by the Holy Roman Emperor. And now Roger, the youngest son, has finally come to Italy, where he also proves himself to be a great warrior and canny politician. It is he who will raise the family to the pinnacle of influence, not as vassals beholden to a greater power, but rulers in their own right.But the path is not easy; brotherly love only goes so far and nothing has altered in the bubbling stew of Italian politics. There are enemies at Roger’s back as well as before him, battles to fight and defeats to be reversed, treacheries both secret and transparent to circumvent. Yet the loyalty of blood that binds this family of warriors together is still present and it is that, above everything, which will in the end be the catalyst that propels the name de Hauteville to the pinnacle of power as they face the mighty Saracen Emirs of Sicily and undertake, with papal blessing, the first true crusade of the eleventh century.