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Rome, 799 AD. Pope Leo is viciously attacked in the street, by unknown assailants. Sigwulf, a Saxon prince who has been banished to the court of King Carolus in Frankia, is sent to Rome as a spy to discover who was responsible.
There, he discovers a web of lies - the only clue to the attackers' identity is an intricate gold buckle, which Sigwulf links with a mysterious gold warrior flagon he finds in the home of the Pope's chamberlain. Could the attack have its source in even the highest levels of the church? Pope Leo had made enemies among the nobility on his rapid ascension to St Peter's Throne, and there are many who would see another in his place.
Returning to Paderborn Palace in Frankia to report his discovery, the flagon is stolen, and Sigwulf is tasked with tracing it. His journey takes him deep into dangerous territory, to the notorious stronghold of the pagan Avars . . .
- Sales Rank: #728335 in eBooks
- Published on: 2015-07-30
- Released on: 2015-07-30
- Format: Kindle eBook
About the Author
Tim Severin is an explorer, traveller, author, film-maker and lecturer. In addition to The Brendan Voyage, he has also travelled in pursuit of the legends of Sinbad the Sailor, Jason and Argonauts, Ulysses, Genghis Khan, Moby Dick and Robinson Crusoe. He has won numerous book awards, the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society, and the Livingstone medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. He has Honorary Doctorates of Letters from University College Cork and Trinity College Dublin, and lives in West Cork.
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The third but hopefully not the last!
By JPS
“The Pope’s Assassin” is the third volume of Tim Severin’s “Saxon” series. These tell the story of Sigwulf, the exiled son of a Saxon chief from England who was exiled and sent to the court of the Frankish King Carolus (Charlemagne). Over the years, he has become a member of his military retinue (one of his “miles”) but also a valuable and learned member of his household who is occasionally used on “special” missions, whether diplomatic or inquisitive, which require more than just muscle.
The first volume of this series focused on King Carolus’ expedition to Spain, including the famous disaster at Roncevaux and the death of the no less famous Rollo. The second book was about the no less historical embassies exchanged between King Carolus to the Caliph Harun-Al-Rashid.
This one, which takes place a few years later in King Carolus’ reign, covers the years AD 799 and AD 800. The focus here is on two historical events which the author has linked together: a vicious attack on the streets of Rome against Pope Leo and the crowing of Carolus as Emperor in Rome a bit less than two years later.
While perhaps not quite perfect – there are a few glitches which I will come back to and which make some parts of the story a bit hard to believe – the book is nevertheless excellent in many respects.
The web of lies and plots is griping and has multiple levels, involving noble factions in Rome and Italy but also wider rivalries pitting the Frankish Kingdom and the Byzantine Empire. The later, despite its declining influence, fights hard through its cunning diplomacy to try to keep the “upstart” Frankish king from usurping the imperial crown. It also plays a key role on the steppes North of the actual Danube in pitting nomadic confederations, tribes and warlords against each other in a ruthless and pragmatic “divide and rule” tactic that has been practised by the Eastern Roman Empire for centuries and would continue to be used for still more centuries.
The second strongpoint is the description of the papacy and Roman church at the end of the eighth century. It was essentially a prize which Roman (and some Lombard) aristocratic families fought for, attempting to nominate their own candidates in order to control and plunder the riches that derived from it. The author has particularly well shown some of the power games, thefts, embezzlements and corruption that were at play through the diversion of the “Avar Treasure”, part of which was donated by Carolus to the Pope. He also mentions the so-called “Donation of Constantin”, the most well-known ecclesiastic forgery of the time which would be used and re-used by Popes to justify their alleged supremacy over temporal rulers across Europe
A third set of great features are the descriptions of early medieval, shrunken and half derelict Rome, which its abandoned quarters, its districts turned into slums, its temples turned into churches and its rundown old Roman palaces. The squalidness of some descriptions, allied with an expedition to hunt down a member of a Roman gang on his own turf to extract information from him, are quite stunning.
The fourth set of interesting features are the characters themselves, and that of Sigwulf in particular. The main characteristic is that they are believable. Sigwulf is no super-hero or great warrior, misses quite a few things, gets bashed about and used as an instrument without always being aware of what exactly is at stake. Some of other characters, such as that of Paul, the now retired high ranking papal official who still wields a lot of influence, has kept all his contacts and is the consummate insider and clerical politician, are also very good. A further interesting character was that of the Frankish Archbishop whose physical appearance belies his cunning and who had become one of Carolus’ lead official and Sigwulf’s “boss”. One last character is the Byzantine Emperor’s ambassador to the Avar Khagan, one Nicephoros, whose nickname among the Avars – the Poison Dwarf – tells it all.
Finally, the section dealing with the Avars is also fascinating, even if the author may have perhaps slightly “overdone” the “barbaric” aspects of the Khagan’s Court. These were a military aristocracy that dominated a composite federation of numerous people beyond the Danube, including Germanic (such as the Gepids), Slavic and Turkic (O�gurs and Onogurs in particular), as shown in the book. The assault and destruction of the Khagan’s Ring was indeed a major blow to his prestige and lead to upheavals, rebellions among their subjects and infighting between the various Avar clans which would bring their demise, as largely shown in the book.
There are, however, a few little glitches which prevent this exciting, well-thought out and well-researched story from being perfect. I will mention just two.
One is that I cannot help finding it a bit unrealistic to have Sigwulf riding back and forth from Carolus’ palace at Paderborn to Rome (a couple of thousand miles) on his own without anything unpleasant happening to him. I would make a similar comment for his expedition to Avaria, even if this time he is escorted by another rider and expert scout.
Another is that the author develops some of the threads of the Roman plot, and in particular connections with Monte Cassino and the Lombard Principality of Benevento, but then seems to drop them and nothing more is heard about them. I will not mention anything more about this point to avoid spoilers.
Anyway, these two little glitches were both relatively minor. They did not prevent this book from being a fascinating read and attracting a strong and fully deserved four stars. As mentioned in this title’s review, I very much hope there will be a sequel. Perhaps something involving Sigwulf with the Danes and/or the Slavs this time? Or an embassy to Constantinople perhaps?
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