It’s a cliché I know, but when you can’t put down a novel of almost 800 pages and, once finished with a satisfied sigh, the story remains fresh for years, then you have encountered a true great. The Sword and the Scimitar by David Ball (Arrow Books), also released under the title Ironfire, is an epic tale set against the backdrop of the 16th century conflict between Christian Europe and the Islamic Ottoman empire. It’s got everything – slavery, war, betrayal, bravery and love. It’s also superbly researched – I’ve checked out this location thoroughly! So where am I?
In Birgu, in the conventual chapel of St Lawrence, where it was the eighteenth day of May, Anno Domini 1565, the Grand Master solemnly addressed his knights. Behind him, resting in its jewelled silver case on a stand of velvet, was the most sacred of the Order’s relics, the severed hand of John the Baptist. “A swarm of barbarians are rushing upon our island. It is the great battle of the Cross and the Crescent which is now to be fought,” La Valette said, in his voice of iron. “We are the chosen soldiers of Christ. The hope of all Christendom rests upon our efforts. If heaven requires the sacrifice of our lives, there can be no better occasion than this.” His knights shared the body and blood of Christ, took up their armor and weapons, and streamed from the church, racing for their assigned stations.
Aboard the galley Alisa it was the Sabbath, the seventeenth day of the month of Shawwal, in the year 972 of the Hijrah of the Prophet. Beneath a fluttering green banner of Mohammed emblazoned with the red crescent of the Ottomans, Asha Raïs finished his ablutions and knelt on his prayer mat. He faced the rising sun, pressing his forehead to the mat. He listened to the fervent prayer of the mokkadem on the flagship, whose voices floated like the morning mists over the water and through the fleet.
“And those who disbelieve will be gathered unto hell, that Allah may separate the wicked from the good. The wicked he will place piece upon piece, and heap them all together, and consign them unto hell.”
7 comments:
Malta
OK clever clogs Rod, good guess, but are you right?
Yes, it's Malta. Dorothy Dunnett went there with the Knights of Malta, and i followed them!
And are you right Jen? Okay yes. Well done Rod and Jen. But there's still room for comments...
Mike Said:
On Malta, where the knights of St John are preparing to repel the Turk. La Vallette ia a giveaway. Also on the galley of the apostate, Asha Rais, at sea.
Mike, maybe too many clues in the passage but you certainly know your onions!
Very kind of your lordship, but I've read the book.....given to me by a Turkish lady actually, perhaps in a (vain) attempt to encourage me to be fair......
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