In a land torn by crusade and rebellion, honour is earned in blood.
1205. Richard Fitz Simon has fled England after his title was usurped, joining the Livonian Order of Swordbrothers – a German brotherhood of warrior-monks fighting to bring the word of God to the pagan frontier. After slaying the Lithuanian champion at the Battle of Rodenpois, Richard is celebrated by the Order and their Semigallian allies.
Yet his position remains precarious. Jealous rivals question his right to stand among the brotherhood, and his master, Knight-brother Rudolf, is enraged by Richard’s disobedience. When dark secrets from Lübeck resurface, Richard also finds himself at odds with Bishop Albert, head of the Christian mission in Livonia. As he struggles to reconcile faith, duty and identity, he is drawn into a brutal world of suspicion and bloodshed.
Sent on an expedition to build a castle deep in the wilderness, Richard soon sees tensions erupt – and the path he has chosen threatens to destroy everything he has fought to become.
Author Interview
1. What inspired you to write this story, and what drew you to this particular historical period?
I have always been fascinated in medieval history, but I became interested in this particular era after reading The Northern Crusades by Eric Christiansen and learning about the German Order of Swordbrothers (Schwertbrüderorden). What intrigued me was that they were a small order, not very pious or saintly. They were unorthodox and argued constantly with Bishop Albert, whose mission they were nominally there to support, and were a rough and ready lot, acting more like brigands than warrior monks. Over time, there was no crime they were not accused of.
2. How would you describe your book in a sentence to readers who haven’t discovered it yet?
A gritty, immersive tale of faith and survival, Soldiers of Christ follows an exiled knight into the brutal world of the Northern Crusades, where loyalty is fragile and honour is paid for in blood.
3. How much research went into the novel, and did you uncover anything surprising along the way?
Soldiers of Christ required thorough research that took many years to complete. I have built up a small library of books on the crusades in the Baltic and medieval life in general. Additionally, my book was kindly read for any historical errors by Prof. William Urban, a medieval historian from Monmouth College, IL, and the preeminent English-speaking expert on the Northern Crusades. He also took time to read and comment on the previous book in the series, Sword Brethren, for which I am grateful.
However, the principal first-hand source I used is The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, which was written by a priest, Henricus des Lettis. The chronicle deals with events in the eastern Baltic between 1180 and 1226. Written from the German point of view, it describes the role of the Latin Church in colonising and spreading Christianity to the local pagan tribes.
The part of the research that I probably enjoyed the most was visiting all of the places in the novel: Riga, Cēsis (Wenden), Sigulda (Segewold), etc. Latvia is a beautiful country that seems to fall beneath the radar for many tourists. But to see these settings in real life really helped me to get a better feel of how they might have been nearly 800 years ago.
One thing I did uncover on location that I was unaware of beforehand, was the original wooden hillfort of the Wends at Wenden (Cēsis) on Nut Hill that predated the much more famous stone castle – it lies just beneath the main hill in a park, and there is nothing remaining with little information about what existed beforehand.
4. How do you balance historical accuracy with creating an engaging story?
The story is the most critical part because if it is boring then the historical background doesn’t matter. Having said that, historical accuracy is incredibly important, and what actually happened is so interesting I wouldn’t want to change it anyway. I try to fit the scenes of the story into the historical events and I haven’t moved any dates or changed a battle to suit my own narrative. The Northern Crusades is a fascinating period of history that few people have even heard of and it is important for me to recount the history accurately.
There are also very few records on the people and places. In medieval Livonia, almost everything was built of wood and therefore nothing remains today. And there are huge gaps in what is known to have historically happened, allowing an author huge leeway to shape the story how they want.
5. Which character was the most interesting or challenging for you to write, and why?
To be honest I enjoyed writing all of the characters. Perhaps writing about historical people who actually lived is more challenging because I want to do them justice, despite them having lived so long ago.
6. Did the story or any characters evolve in unexpected ways while you were writing?
The story always goes in unexpected ways but writing Soldiers of Christ was much easier than the first in the series, Sword Brethren. The first book changed multiple times and took three times as long to write.
But with Soldiers of Christ, I followed the historical events, developing the story and characters in a more natural way. Because it is set entirely in Livonia (Latvia) I think it is more complete and ‘standalone’ than the first book which straddled England, Lübeck and Riga.
7. What does your writing process look like—are you a planner or do you prefer to write freely?
I am not much of a planner. I have the idea in my head and a few pages of written notes, but much of the work like character sheets, historical information, etc., were already done for Sword Brethren, so a lot of the groundwork has already been done. I try to look at each scene individually and think about what its role is in the greater book. Does it move the story on, develop character, show an historical event, or have any other good reason to be in the book? Every sentence should earn its place on the page.
8. What do you hope readers will feel or take away after finishing your book?
I just hope readers have a bloody good read – a little escapism in a time and place that they (probably) have no idea or knowledge about. It’s a fascinating and little-known period of history, and fans of Bernard Cornwell, Ben Kane, or people that enjoy a bit of action and adventure in their historical fiction, should enjoy it.
9. If you could step into the world of your novel for a day, what would you most want to experience?
Most of the remains from medieval times in Livonia were built after the events in my story, so I would love to be able to see the wooden hillforts, buildings, and people of the time – to see how it really was. Historians know a lot about everyday life in this period, but there are still plenty of assumptions and misconceptions on how the medieval world actually functioned. I would enjoy experiencing it with my own eyes, but only for a day.
10. Just for fun—if your book were adapted into a film, who would you love to see in the cast? 🎬
I really have no idea – I’m a little out of touch as I hardly watch films anymore. There would need to be two actors playing Richard, one of approximately sixteen to twenty years old for the younger youth in the main narration and another in his early fifties for the scenes as a prisoner of Prince Alexander of Novgorod in the frame, so perhaps a father and son combo?
Unfortunately, most of the time that books are turned into films, the writer gets no say in who plays who anyway. Sorry I can’t be more specific.
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