Ambrose, Prince of Wessex; Emissary to Byzantium: Volume 2 (The Ambrose Sagas) - Softcover

Corbett, Bruce

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1481022474 ISBN 13: 9781481022477

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012

Synopsis

Ambrose, Prince of Wessex; Emissary to Byzantium, is a story set during the time of the Viking invasions of much of Europe and Russia. This story chronicles the life of Ambrose, a bastard Saxon prince of England, and elder brother to Alfred the Great. Forced to flee into the vast Russian wilderness, he helps to establish the Rus domination of the small town of Kiev. Phillip, once Ambrose's stern military tutor, is now his faithful companion and friend. Polonius is a former Byzantine slave who has joined forces with the two Saxons. As the story opens, the Pechenegs, a fierce tribe of nomads, have just been driven from the territory of Kiev by a federation of Swedish and Slav tribesmen. (See Ambrose, Prince of Wesssx; Trader of Kiev.) Soon after they win the desperate struggle against these invaders, the Viking trader-warriors are called to arms over an injustice done a Viking trader by officials in the Byzantine empire. Eager tribesmen join the expedition to attack the very center of the Byzantine Empire, the premier military power of the era! With incredibly good luck (the story is true), the Vikings and their Slav allies pour out from the Dnieper River, cross the Black Sea, and fall upon Constantinople, a city that has its powerful fleet away fighting in the Mediterranean, and its Emperor and army away in Cappadocia. The Vikings and Slavs are able to loot villas and monasteries at leisure, although their forces are not a serious threat against the immense fortifications of Constantinople itself. The raiders leave in the early fall so that they can ascend their northern rivers before winter arrives. A terrible storm destroys much of the fleet, however. Ambrose, Phillip, and Polonius all retrace their steps the following spring, but this time, instead of being part of a military force, they travel as traders and emissaries for Dir and Askold, the new Rus lords of Kiev. They succeed in coming to acceptable terms with the Emperor of the Byzantines, and travel hurriedly

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1481022474
• ISBN 13: 9781481022477
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 351