1191. For Will Bowman, newly restored to the service of King Richard ‘Lionheart’, the war against Saladin in the Holy Land now reaches its bloody climax.
HERO
No sooner is it over than the skulduggery of traitors conspiring against Richard’s kingdom threatens the outbreak of yet more conflict.
WARRIOR
Torn between his destiny and his allegiance, Will yearns for a life of peace. But when a deadly new danger threatens the king, only one man can save him.
RESCUER
Now, Will and his companions must embark on their most dangerous voyage yet, a covert rescue mission deep into the heartlands of a ruthless foreign power. Is Will’s loyalty to Richard strong enough to die for him?
A couple of years back I got an email, out of the blue, from one of my favourite authors, Scott Mariani. Scott didn’t even know I was a fan. He had found my blog and had a new historical fiction series coming out and wondered if I could feature it on History…the Interesting Bits. I have to admit that, at first, I thought it was a scam. One of my favourite authors contacting me out of the blue? How likely is that?
But, no. It really was Scott and I had the pleasure of interviewing him for the blog – and for A Slice of Medieval. I admit, I did have a few ‘fangirl’ moments. All the same, I was nervous about reading the first Will Bowman book. Scott had written 30 books in the fabulous Ben Hope series. They were modern thrillers, although most of them had a historical element – which is what drew me to them. But could a thriller writer move to full-on historical fiction and keep the tension, weave a story within the facts to the high standards that historical fiction fans expect? I needn’t have worried, The Pilgrim’s Revenge and The Knight’s Pledge lived up to Scott’s usual standard, taking me into a period I have myself written about in both Princesses of the Early Middle Ages and King John’s Right Hand Lady: the Story of Nicholaa de la Haye.
That is, the Third Crusade.
In The Pilgrim’s Revenge, we saw Will Bowman join the crusade as it sailed from England, pursuing the men who had killed his wife. In The Knight’s Pledge, Will proves himself the capable fighter and a man with convictions, opposed to the slaughter of prisoners, at the same time, enraging and endearing himself to Richard the Lionheart. And the tale continues in Die For A King, with Will, now one of the king’s most trusted knights, reaching the end of the Crusade and looking for new purpose.
No sooner has he pledge himself to the Knights’ Hospitallers than he receives a visit from two queens, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Berengaria of Navarre, with news of Richard’s capture on his way home and a plea that he lead a rescue mission into Germany. Die For A King is a fictional historical adventure built around a historic incident that sent shockwaves through Europe: the capture and imprisonment of King Richard the Lionheart.
Will jerked his head around to look to the east. From behind the very same sparsely wooded rise he had been about to ride over to reconnoitre, were streaming a large body of fast-moving cavalry. How many exactly was hard to say at this distance, but it was clear that they greatly outnumbered the party of pilgrim knights now setting up camp in blissful ignorance of this imminent attack. Perhaps by as many as eight or even ten to one: a ratio rapidly growing more disadvantageous with every passing moment that he went on watching the long line of riders emerging into the open, riding hard and sending up a dust cloud that rose like smoke and then was whipped away by the breeze. Curving around due west. Heading straight towards them. At their head fluttered the black and white Mussulman banner of holy war. Already Will could hear carried on the wind their blood-curdling cries of ‘Allahu Akbar!’ Ours is the greater god. We will destroy you in the name of Allah.
Grisel was prancing and tossing his head nervously, snorting and rolling his eyes with his ears laid flat back. Will could feel the latent power of the stallion fighting to break free. ‘Steady, steady, boy,’ he murmured reassuringly, patting the horse’s thick neck. ‘You were right. Renier may wish he had taken heed of your warning.’
‘I would say that somebody should perhaps go and wake up King Richard,’ Gabriel said dryly. ‘He is about to get an unpleasant surprise, else.’
But there was no need, as the alarm was already being raised across the camp with urgent cries of ‘Attack!’ and ‘They are coming!’ Those knights who had relieved themselves of their bothersome helmets, shields and weapons now hurriedly prepared for the imminent assault. Horses whinnied and reared up; one got loose of its handlers and galloped off in a panic. Man ran here and there, squires racing to get agitated animals under control; knights grabbing lances and spears from the rack, pulling on armour, helms, shoes; scurrying back from the privacy of the rocks where they had been urinating; yelling or receiving orders.
Amid this scene of woeful confusion King Richard burst out from hi stent with his drawn sword in his hand, glanced about him and quickly grasped the situation. Thankfully for him, he had had the foresight not to remove his hauberk, belts or boots in order to rest. Pulling the coif over his head and strapping on his helmet he leaped astride his tall dun warhorse, Fauvel, and began marshalling the men to repel the attackers. Meanwhile the charging Saracen cavalry column was fast closing in, and Will’s fear was confirmed that this had been an ill-chosen spot to make camp. The valley was far too open, permitting the enemy enough space to surround them and close in for the kill. They must be stopped before that could be allowed to happen.
Will’s powerful bow was the best longer-range weapon the king’s men possessed, markedly superior in both reach and accuracy to the handful of crossbows some of the squires and one or two of the knights had brought along. But unlike the handy little bows that the Saracen riders favoured, it did present the serious disadvantage of being virtually unusable from the back of a horse, on account of its unwieldy length. Will had faced an enemy cavalry charge on foot before now, and was loathe to repeat the experience, given the choice: so, reluctantly abandoning the use of the bow for now, he hurried Grisel over to where a couple of lances remained among the rack of weaponry.
Will was as yet no great expert in the use of the lance, but under the tutelage of his mentor Robert Leighton he had come to appreciate its great effectiveness to the mounted warrior. Grabbing up one of them by its long, slim oak shaft, he reined Grisel back around to face the incoming Saracens.
Die For A King by Scott Mariani is a fabulous adventure, set in two parts and in two arena: the Holy Land and Germany. A rescue mission that is so audacious it may just succeed. Scott Mariani has woven fact – of the Third Crusade and Richard the Lionheart’s kidnapping – with the fictional rescue attempt. Though, as Scott says in his Historical Note, it may be fictional but it is entirely plausible. Eleanor of Aquitaine was a wily political operator and it is entirely conceivable that she had a back-up plan, should negotiations fail.
Die For A King portrays the best and worst in men: those willing to die for their friends against the mercenaries who are in it solely for the money. Will has been consistently loyal to King Richard but some of the characters he employs in his mission are not so nobly minded. One thing they all have in common, however, is their ability to fight. Will Bowman is a fascinating character. A young man who set out on a mission of revenge who has become a trusted member of King Richard’s household, and who will not compromise his principles, even when he incurs the wrath of the king. He is also a man you definitely want on your side in a fight. He is resourceful and resilient.
Scott Mariani creates an eminently plausible scenario. The characters are wonderfully colourful, playing to a strong storyline.
Tense and unpredictable, the story leaves the reader guessing to the very end.
This is storytelling at its very best – Scott is a master of the art.
Scott Mariani is the No.1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the multi-million-selling Ben Hope thrillers. From 2025 he is launching into a new historical adventure series featuring medieval English hero Will Bowman, who is forced from his home to join King Richard ‘the Lionheart’ on the Third Crusade and rises up to become a knight. Book 1, The Pilgrim’s Revenge, is available from April 2025 and is published by Hodder & Stoughton.
Scott lives and writes in west Wales, UK. You can find out more about his work by visiting his official website.
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My Books
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop or the Contact Me page.
New releases in 2026:
New Hardbacks
Out now: Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Conquest
‘My daughter wanted me to treat her more like a princess. So, I married her to a stranger to strengthen the alliance with Poland!’
Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Conquest and Princesses of the Later Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Plantagenets tell the stories of England’s royal daughters from 1066 to the rise of the Tudors, from the last Anglo-Saxon princesses to the fall of the House of York.
Were they really pampered pawns sent off to marriages on the Continent, out of sight and out of mind?
Perhaps, there was different story, where a foreign marriage does not mean eternal exile, but a purpose in life, where a princess is a diplomat, an ambassador for England in her new country.
Where she is the bond between allies – most of the time.
Heidi Malagisi: ‘This is another excellent book by Sharon Bennett Connolly. Extremely well researched and relatively easy to follow along, which is a great thing because there are so many Matildas and Eleanors in this book.‘
Tony Riches: “I challenge anyone with an interest in medieval Britain to not find something they will learn from this book.”
Anna Belfrage: “I just love how [Sharon] presents this huge cast of real life people in a casual, chatty tone that has me expecting the various female protagonists to suddenly pop their head up and add their own commentary.“
OUT NOW! The momentous events of 1066, the story of invasion, battle and conquest, are well known. But what of the women? Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest traces the fortunes of the women who had a significant role to play during the Norman Conquest – wives, lovers, sisters, mothers, leaders. These are lives full of drama, pathos and sometimes mystery: Edith and Gytha searching the battlefield of Hastings for the body of Harold, his lover and mother united in their grief for the fallen king. Who was Ælfgyva, the lady of the Bayeux Tapestry, portrayed with a naked man at her feet?
Janina Ramirez said it’s ‘Excellent’!
COMING 15 July 2026: Heroines of the Tudor World focuses on the women who lived through the Renaissance and Reformation, examining the threats and challenges they faced and how they overcame them. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. These are the women who made a difference, who influenced countries, kings and the Reformation.
Derek Birks: ‘An excellent account of the changing roles of women in Tudor society.’
Annie Whitehead: ‘What a treat this book was to read. Bennett Connolly has an easy, conversation style of writing which welcomes you from the opening pages and draws you into her story.‘
Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:
Heroines of the Medieval World; Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest; Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England; Defenders of the Norman Crown: Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey; King John’s Right Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye; Women of the Anarchy; Heroines of the Tudor World; Scotland’s Medieval Queens: From St Margaret to Margaret of Denmark; Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Conquest (March 2026); Princesses of the Later Middle Ages; Royal Daughters of the Plantagenets (August 2026)
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Ian Mortimer, Bernard Cornwell, Elizabeth Chadwick and Scott Mariani, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.
Will Bowman, now fully entangled in Richard Lionheart’s crusade, has reached the Holy Land. However, just as he and his crew are about to touch down in Acre, they are drawn into an intense battle at sea, where they are faced with the dreaded Byzantine weapon: Greek Fire.
Barely escaping with his life, Will gains the trust of Richard Lionheart, moving into his service. But as the siege of Acre continues, and Richard’s campaign grows ever more brutal and barbaric, Will begins to wonder just how safe his new position is.
And when the King sends him on a seemingly doomed mission, Will must ask himself: who exactly is he fighting for?
Well, Scott Mariani has taken to historical fiction like a duck to water. He has a flare for it. But then, he did draw me in with his Ben Hope novels, all of which had a historical mystery at the heart of the the story. With his second full, historical fiction, The Knight’s Pledge, he draws the reader into the action from the very first pages as his hero, Will Bowman, arrives at Acre to take part in the Third Crusade.
And an added bonus is that a quote from my review of the first book,The Pilgrim’s Revenge, is among the endorsements on the first pages!
And what an adventure we are treated to. Scott Mariani expertly blends fact with fiction and tells a story that will keep you hooked.
The story is gripping and full of suspense – you are never quite sure whether the heroes are going to succeed – or even make it out alive!
Will had personally come face to face with King Richard only once, and then for only a few brief moments. But he had seen his monarch flying fearlessly into the thick of battle enough times to know how he would respond.
Sure enough, almost within a heartbeat the flagship had diverted course and was steering straight at the enemy vessel, all oars manned and powering as hard as they could go. The captain of Will’s ship instantly followed suit, with a clamour of shouted orders and the frenzied activity of the sailors all around them. Every crewman aboard knew his duty as well as he knew his own name, and they needed little encouragement as they rushed to their stations and flung themselves behind the oars. Amid the rapid pounding of the drum and hoarse cries of ‘Heave ho, boys,’ and ‘We’ll have at those bastards,’ the ship picked up pace and curved sharply around. As they leaned hard into the turn, the deck sloped like a pitched roof and the bows threw up a white wave that smothered the nearside rail with foam.
One by one, every other ship of the fleet was veering off their course to engage this new enemy. Will sprinted back across the sloping deck to where he and his companions had been sitting earlier and snatched up the weapons that he kept stowed next to his habitual sleeping place. With hands trembling in anticipation of the fight that would very soon be on them he buckled up his sword belt, then quickly tensioned and strung his bow stave, an action that was second nature to him. He had been an expert with the bow for such a large part of his life that it had become the name he was known by. His leather quiver contained a sheaf of arrows carefully fashioned by his own hand, made to fly straight and true and each fitted with an iron-pointed bodkin head capable of piercing a coat of chain mail like the one he was wearing under his leather jerkin.
Gabriel came running hot on his heels, and disregarding his precious chessmen that were strewn and rolling all about the deck he grabbed the curved falchion sword he favoured over the more conventional straight-bladed variety. Samson’s preference was for his short-handled war axe, a gift to him from Will, which had hammered and split the heads of many a foe in the battles they had fought en route.
But this new enemy was like no other they had faced before. As the deck levelled itself after their steep turn, Will glanced forward and saw the Saracen ship suddenly much closer, partly wreathed behind the curtain of roiling black smoke that was pouring from the burning galley. ‘Godspeed,’ he yelled at Gabriel and Samson, then ran for the laddered companionway that led up to the elevated section of the forecastle. It was already teeming with his fellow archers, mostly equipped with crossbows and only a minority who used the more old-fashioned but further-shooting and more accurate – when properly handled – longbow.
Scott Mariani’s meticulous research and attention to detail helps to recreate the Holy Land of 1191. The sights, the smells, the spiders! Oh, and the insults! I have a new favourite insult; ‘scobberlotcher’.
Will Bowman proves how fearless and brave he can be. Though he is still young and has a naivety about him which I think will be increasingly challenged as his war goes on. It is fascinating to watch the evolution of this young man, from grieving farmer to warrior. And expert archer, he’s strong, courageous and loyal. He is quick-witted, intelligent, even, a natural leader of men, but still in possession of a sense of chivalry that will get him into trouble.
In the first half of the story, we follow the experiences of the army during the Siege of Acre, and its aftermath. Ever a writer with a sense of adventure, Scott Mariani then sends our hero on a near-suicidal mission in search of lost treasure. While it may not be in the historical record, the quest is certainly plausible – as is the outcome! (but no spoilers!)
All in all, The Knight’s Pledge is an absolute joy to read – or, rather, devour. Scott Mariani has lost none of his legendary storytelling skills in his transition from the thriller genre to historical fiction. And I like to think I can see a little of Ben Hope in this new hero, Will Bowman. I think Ben would certainly have approved of Will.
At least I know what I’m getting my dad for Christmas – he’s gonna love The Knight’s Pledge!
Scott Mariani is the No.1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the multi-million-selling Ben Hope thrillers. From 2025 he is launching into a new historical adventure series featuring medieval English hero Will Bowman, who is forced from his home to join King Richard ‘the Lionheart’ on the Third Crusade and rises up to become a knight. Book 1,THE PILGRIM’S REVENGE, is available from April 2025 and is published by Hodder & Stoughton.
Scott lives and writes in west Wales, UK. You can find out more about his work by visiting his official website.
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My Books:
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available, please get in touch by completing the contact me form or through my online bookshop.
Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens
Scotland’s history is dramatic, violent and bloody. Being England’s northern neighbour has never been easy. Scotland’s queens have had to deal with war, murder, imprisonment, political rivalries and open betrayal. They have loved and lost, raised kings and queens, ruled and died for Scotland. From St Margaret, who became one of the patron saints of Scotland, to Elizabeth de Burgh and the dramatic story of the Scottish Wars of Independence, to the love story and tragedy of Joan Beaufort, to Margaret of Denmark and the dawn of the Renaissance, Scotland’s Medieval Queens have seen it all. This is the story of Scotland through their eyes.
‘Scotland’s Medieval Queens gives a thorough grounding in the history of the women who ruled Scotland at the side of its kings, often in the shadows, but just as interesting in their lives beyond the spotlight. It’s not a subject that has been widely covered, and Sharon is a pioneer in bringing that information into accessible history.’ Elizabeth Chadwick (New York Times bestselling author)
Daughters of kings were often used to seal treaty alliances and forge peace with England’s enemies. Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters from the Conquest and Princesses of the Later Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Plantagenets will explore the lives of these young women, demonstrating how they followed the stereotype, and how they sometimes managed to escape it. It will look at the world they lived in, and how their lives and marriages were affected by political necessity and the events of the time.
Were they political pawns? Or, were they able to control their own lives and fates? What impact did they have on the world in which they lived?
Their stories are touching, inspiring and, at times, heartbreaking.
Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters from the Conquest is now available for pre-order from Amazon and bookshop.org.
Also by me:
Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available for pre-order from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK.Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, unable to wield a sword themselves, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other. Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
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Podcast:
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Elizabeth Chadwick, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.
History... the interesting bits! 