Brilliant swordfights, marvelous schemes and beautiful damsels abound in this fascinating tale of a condottiere or mercenary in 15th century Italy.This is one of my favorite books by Rafael Sabatini next only to Scaramouche.
A little history
At the time of this story Italy was composed of a set of warring city states.The rulers of this city states employed mercenary companies in their war.These companies were only loyal to their captains and owed no loyalty to the particular city state which employed them.And the captains were loyal to the highest bidder.
Plot
As the story unfolds, Bellarion, a convent bred orphan youth is on the way to Padua for higher studies. He gets entangled in the affairs of Princess Valeria of Montferrat.And immediately takes up her cause.He acquits himself marvelously in the court intrigues at Montferrat.However the situation proved to be too hot and he escapes to Milan.In Milan he passes himself off as the son of Facino Cane, the great mercenary captain, to escape the clutches of Gian Maria Visconti the bloodthirsty Duke of Milan.The real Facino Cane was amused at Bellarion’s deviousness and adopts him as his son.Under Facino Cane’s tutelage Bellarion emerges as one of the greatest mercenary captains of that age.
His convent education and quick mind gives him an edge and he proves to be a natural at the intrigues and conspiracies of that period.He double-crosses and triple-crosses and is so devious that no-one knows his true plans till he executes them.However his real loyalty lies with the beautiful Princess Valeria and he does all he can to advance her cause.However the Princess is suspicious of Bellarion and does not trust him an inch.
What I think
Bellarion the central character is sneaky, devious and uses his tongue to escape from the most perilous circumstances.He reminds me a little of Captain Jack Sparrow of Pirates of the Caribbean in this regard.Before judging him harshly take into account the period and the people of that age.Those who like shades of gray in their heroes will truly love Bellarion.
This novel is presented as the author’s study of the history of Bellarion by Fra Serafino.Needless to say, both Serafino and Bellarion are fictional characters brought into reality by Rafael Sabatini’s brilliant prose.However many of the characters such as Gian Maria Visconti, Facino are real personages from the 15th century.