Castellan
As the Sword Brothers achieved military success against the pagans in what is now Latvia and Estonia, they consolidated not only the crusader state of Livonia but also their own reputation. By 1220 they had become a major force in the Baltic and Riga was on the way to being a great trading city. But King Valdemar of Denmark was determined to conquer Estonia, which put him on a collision course with the Sword Brothers. The latter were determined that they should rule from the Dvina to the Gulf of Finland and were not averse to backing up their claims with military force. The actual number of brother knights in the Sword Brothers was always relatively small, but they were a military élite that were among the finest soldiers in the whole of Europe. This made them dangerous and resourceful foes, which Valdemar and others would discover to their cost.
Outraged by the behaviour of the Sword Brothers, King Valdemar has placed a blockade on the whole of Livonia. With the Danes having a stranglehold over Livonia the crusader state is slowly dying, made worse by an outbreak of pestilence at Riga. But when the Danish king invades the island of Oesel the wheel of fate turns and Valdemar finds himself at the mercy of the Sword Brothers and Conrad Wolff, the man he wanted to have executed.
The Sword Brothers and Conrad’s Army of the Wolf save King Valdemar who lifts the blockade, thus saving Livonia. But Conrad has many enemies and an act of wickedness causes conflict to flare up on Livonia’s eastern borders that will threaten not only the crusader state but also the life of Conrad himself.
And south of the River Dvina, among the Lithuanian kingdoms, a great power arises that will have grave consequences for not only Conrad but also for the whole order of Sword Brothers.
This, the third volume of the Crusader Chronicles, continues the story of Conrad Wolff and the Baltic Crusade in the first quarter of the thirteenth century.
Maps of Livonia in the thirteenth century, the Lithuanian kingdoms and the tribal lands of Estonia can be found on the maps page.
