Eagle (Saladin Trilogy 1)

Salah ad-Din, or Saladin as he is known to the Franks, was a Kurd, the son of a despised people, and yet he became Sultan of Egypt and Syria. He united the peoples of Allah, recaptured Jerusalem, and drove the Crusaders to the very edge of the sea. He battled, and in the end tamed King Richard the Lionheart, who well deserved his savage name. He was a great man, the greatest man that I ever knew, but when I first met him, he was only a skinny child...- The Chronicle of Yahya al-Dimashq But alongside the legend of Saladin there is another story. When the Crusader army is routed beneath the walls of Damascus in 1148, a young Saxon named John is captured and enslaved. He is bought by Yusuf, a slight, bookish boy, for the price of a pair of sandals. And so begins the story of two enemies brought together by fate and of a friendship that will change the face of the Holy Land. Timid Yusuf will grow up to become the warrior Saladin, nicknamed 'the Eagle'; John will first teach his young master the art of war, before returning west to serve first the King of Jerusalem and then King Richard himself. From spectacular set-piece battles to the political manoeuvrings of the corrupt Crusader court, from the brutality of single combat to the sophistication of Islamic life, this is the first in a remarkable trilogy that will chart the story of the greatest leader the Middle East has ever known. Salah ad-Din, or Saladin as he is known to the Franks, was a Kurd, the son of a despised people, and yet he became Sultan of Egypt and Syria. He united the peoples of Allah, recaptured Jerusalem, and drove the Crusaders to the very edge of the sea. He battled, and in the end tamed King Richard of England, who was called the Lionhearted and well deserved his savage name. He was a great man, the greatest man that I ever knew, but when I first met him, he was only a skinny child ~ The Chronicle of Yahya al-Dimashq So begins the Saladin Trilogy, the story of the famed sultan Saladin and the crusader John of Tatewic, two enemies brought together by fate, whose friendship changed the face of the Holy Land. The trilogy tells the story of the Second and Third Crusades through eyes of Saladin who grows from a bookish, shy child into the great leader who retakes Jerusalem from the Crusaders and John, a Crusader who comes to the Holy Land seeking redemption from the secrets of his past. The two become friends after John is captured in battle and then purchased as a slave by Saladins family. In time, they end up on opposite sides of the conflict. As secretary to first the King of Jerusalem and then Richard the Lion Hearted, John becomes embroiled in the conspiracies and treachery of the court of Jerusalem. Saladin, on the other hand, conquers Egypt alongside his uncle, and then unites all of Arabia to retake Jerusalem and defend it from King Richard. "Salah ad-Din, or Saladin as he is known to the Franks, was a Kurd, the son of a despised people, and yet he became Sultan of Egypt and Syria. He united the peoples of Allah, recaptured Jerusalem, and drove the Crusaders to the very edge of the sea ... But alongside the legend of Saladin there is another story. When the Crusader army is routed beneath the walls of Damascus in 1148, a young Saxon named John is captured and enslaved. He is bought by Yusuf, a slight, bookish boy, for the price of a pair of sandals. And so begins the story of two enemies brought together by fate and of a friendship that will change the face of the Holy Land. Timid Yusuf will grow up to become the warrior Saladin, nicknamed 'the Eagle'; John will first teach his young master the art of war, before returning west to serve first the King of Jerusalem and then King Richard himself."--Publisher description