Chronicles of the Black Lion

Chronicles of the Black Lion follows Estienne Wace from King John’s divided England into the wider conflicts and military cultures of the early thirteenth century. Rebellion places the orphaned squire in William Marshal’s household as baronial opposition and Prince Louis of France threaten the crown. Crusade carries him to the siege of Damietta during the Fifth Crusade.

Valour moves Estienne to Burzenland, where service with the Teutonic Knights draws him into conflict with Cuman raiders and a failed mission of conversion. Glory finds him in northern France in 1225, attempting to live without war before the tournament circuit revives the identity of the Black Lion. The sequence examines loyalty, faith and chivalric reputation through a soldier repeatedly displaced by the political ambitions of kings and religious orders.