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Sir Hugh of Taranto trilogy #1
Durandal: A Crusader in the Horde
Durandal -- one of the greatest epics of heroic fiction ever written -- has been an influence upon and model for a score or more tales of swordplay and adventure. Durandal, the fabled sword of history and legend, somehow found its way into the Near-East after the death of Roland, knight of Charlemagne.The tale of two Crusaders whose band of 800 has been betrayed by the Christian Emperor Theodore and butchered by the Turks.
370 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1931
20 people are currently reading
90 people want to read
About the author
Harold Lamb
133 books161 followersHarold Albert Lamb was an American historian, screenwriter, short story writer, and novelist.
Born in Alpine, New Jersey, he attended Columbia University, where his interest in the peoples and history of Asia began. Lamb built a career with his writing from an early age. He got his start in the pulp magazines, quickly moving to the prestigious Adventure magazine, his primary fiction outlet for nineteen years. In 1927 he wrote a biography of Genghis Khan, and following on its success turned more and more to the writing of non-fiction, penning numerous biographies and popular history books until his death in 1962. The success of Lamb's two volume history of the Crusades led to his discovery by Cecil B. DeMille, who employed Lamb as a technical advisor on a related movie, The Crusades, and used him as a screenwriter on many other DeMille movies thereafter. Lamb spoke French, Latin, Persian, and Arabic, and, by his own account, a smattering of Manchu-Tartar.
From Wikipedia
Born in Alpine, New Jersey, he attended Columbia University, where his interest in the peoples and history of Asia began. Lamb built a career with his writing from an early age. He got his start in the pulp magazines, quickly moving to the prestigious Adventure magazine, his primary fiction outlet for nineteen years. In 1927 he wrote a biography of Genghis Khan, and following on its success turned more and more to the writing of non-fiction, penning numerous biographies and popular history books until his death in 1962. The success of Lamb's two volume history of the Crusades led to his discovery by Cecil B. DeMille, who employed Lamb as a technical advisor on a related movie, The Crusades, and used him as a screenwriter on many other DeMille movies thereafter. Lamb spoke French, Latin, Persian, and Arabic, and, by his own account, a smattering of Manchu-Tartar.
From Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 1, 2018
The Song of Roland meets Ghengis Khan's Mongol Horde! Epic!
Starts off kind of Tolkienesque, with a crusader and an astrologer helping Bedouins sneak through the mountains to loot Antioch during the Battle of Antioch on the Meander. He acquires the legendary sword Durendal (I prefer this spelling) and leaves for parts east.
The crusader ends up joining the Mongols and befriending Subutai (!), and helps the Mongols hunt down Ala ad-Din Muhammad I, the last shah of the Khwarezmid Empire. Afterwards they head to the Caucasus and the crusader is sent to Tbilsi to act as an envoy to seek Mongol passage. There's a whole bunch of intrigue with Queen Rusudan and the Mongols end up stomping the Georgians.
The final part of the book has the crusader and some of his Mongol pals getting involved in the events surrounding the death of Theodore Lascaris. I think this part borrows a lot from Anna Komnena's Alexiad, which remains happily unread on my bookshelf.
Lamb has great fun displaying his knowledge of all the different tribes, for example, he gets that the Mongols were great at assimilating conquered tribes, and the horde has Chinese and Uighur scribes, Almalyk scouts, and Arab advisors. My only complaint is that the attempts at old timey language come off as stilted and ridiculous.
Starts off kind of Tolkienesque, with a crusader and an astrologer helping Bedouins sneak through the mountains to loot Antioch during the Battle of Antioch on the Meander. He acquires the legendary sword Durendal (I prefer this spelling) and leaves for parts east.
The crusader ends up joining the Mongols and befriending Subutai (!), and helps the Mongols hunt down Ala ad-Din Muhammad I, the last shah of the Khwarezmid Empire. Afterwards they head to the Caucasus and the crusader is sent to Tbilsi to act as an envoy to seek Mongol passage. There's a whole bunch of intrigue with Queen Rusudan and the Mongols end up stomping the Georgians.
The final part of the book has the crusader and some of his Mongol pals getting involved in the events surrounding the death of Theodore Lascaris. I think this part borrows a lot from Anna Komnena's Alexiad, which remains happily unread on my bookshelf.
Lamb has great fun displaying his knowledge of all the different tribes, for example, he gets that the Mongols were great at assimilating conquered tribes, and the horde has Chinese and Uighur scribes, Almalyk scouts, and Arab advisors. My only complaint is that the attempts at old timey language come off as stilted and ridiculous.
January 25, 2017
Originally published in 1931, this fantasy still reads well. One of the first of the medieval fantasies, the story evolves through the Crusades and a sword called Durandai. Fascinating and fun to read.
February 23, 2022
It took me awhile to figure out when this story was set. I would say roughly about the 1220’s. However, this history is considerably different than our own. At the start of the story Antioch is in the hands of the Muslims (though in our actual history it still had about another 70 years of life in the principality) and Byzantine Empire was still notably strong and apparently the 4th Crusade and the sacking of Constantinople never seemed to happen. Once I figured out the time period and that this was a rather alternative history I enjoyed reading it and wanted to flip to the next page and it was enjoyable and clear to see how Lamb was an influence on Robert E. Howard (through whom I found Lamb).
Yet as enjoyable as it was to read I have several complaints about the story. And I will have spoilers for a 90 year old book from here on.
First of all the novel was named after the sword, Durandal, yet Sir Hugh really only uses it twice and those two moments are far apart, even through there were other sections with action enough for him to do so.
My second complaint is the lack of Sir Hugh ever actually avenging himself. In the beginning he leads 500 Franks into battle but is betrayed by the Greek Emperor and all but him and one other die in the battle. He is then taken as captive by Bedouin who mistakes Sir Hugh as the Emperor because of his armor. He helps the Bedouin win a mass treasure and the Bedouin doesn’t just free him but promises to aid Sir Hugh getting back to Christian lands for the Emperor is looking to silence the knight and has his imperial agents looking for him and blocking the tradition ways. In their travels they eventually come across the fleeing Khwarazmians, who were repelled by the Mongols. Their Shah travels with them and they are desperate for horses, so much so that when the Bedouin refuses to sell his horse an Emir of the Shah kills the Bedouin for it. The Bedouin’s dying wish is to for Sir Hugh to take his horse and keep it safe, which the knight does. In time Sir Hugh joins up with the Mongols and he is with them when the chase the Shah to one of his last cities. Here you think, ah now Sir Hugh will have his revenge, but no. The Emir is shot dead by an arrow to the throat at the front gates by some nameless archer and the Shah doing his best Padme impression dies of the sads, no stabbing required.
Later when Sir Hugh goes to rescue a kidnap Queen it brings him back to the Greek Emperor and you’re like, okay here Sir Hugh will have his revenge, but no. The Emperor dies by poisoning through court intrigues that had nothing to do with the knight. But oh! The man that poisoned the Emperor and kidnap his Queen has pronounced himself the new emperor. So here is where Sir Hugh’s revenge will play out, but no. He’s just driven out of the palace. Sir Hugh saves the Queen but does absolutely nothing to avenge 498 dead and betrayed Franks or his Bedouin friend who died just trying to get Sir Hugh home and those inactions just rob the ending of the book of satisfaction so much so that in the last few sentences as Sir Hugh walks out with the Queen in his arms I was screaming internally, “Where is the Bedouin’s horse? Is it safe?” So it’s a shame that something that was rather fun to read lacked such satisfaction.
However, with all my complaints vented, I still mostly liked the book.
Yet as enjoyable as it was to read I have several complaints about the story. And I will have spoilers for a 90 year old book from here on.
First of all the novel was named after the sword, Durandal, yet Sir Hugh really only uses it twice and those two moments are far apart, even through there were other sections with action enough for him to do so.
My second complaint is the lack of Sir Hugh ever actually avenging himself. In the beginning he leads 500 Franks into battle but is betrayed by the Greek Emperor and all but him and one other die in the battle. He is then taken as captive by Bedouin who mistakes Sir Hugh as the Emperor because of his armor. He helps the Bedouin win a mass treasure and the Bedouin doesn’t just free him but promises to aid Sir Hugh getting back to Christian lands for the Emperor is looking to silence the knight and has his imperial agents looking for him and blocking the tradition ways. In their travels they eventually come across the fleeing Khwarazmians, who were repelled by the Mongols. Their Shah travels with them and they are desperate for horses, so much so that when the Bedouin refuses to sell his horse an Emir of the Shah kills the Bedouin for it. The Bedouin’s dying wish is to for Sir Hugh to take his horse and keep it safe, which the knight does. In time Sir Hugh joins up with the Mongols and he is with them when the chase the Shah to one of his last cities. Here you think, ah now Sir Hugh will have his revenge, but no. The Emir is shot dead by an arrow to the throat at the front gates by some nameless archer and the Shah doing his best Padme impression dies of the sads, no stabbing required.
Later when Sir Hugh goes to rescue a kidnap Queen it brings him back to the Greek Emperor and you’re like, okay here Sir Hugh will have his revenge, but no. The Emperor dies by poisoning through court intrigues that had nothing to do with the knight. But oh! The man that poisoned the Emperor and kidnap his Queen has pronounced himself the new emperor. So here is where Sir Hugh’s revenge will play out, but no. He’s just driven out of the palace. Sir Hugh saves the Queen but does absolutely nothing to avenge 498 dead and betrayed Franks or his Bedouin friend who died just trying to get Sir Hugh home and those inactions just rob the ending of the book of satisfaction so much so that in the last few sentences as Sir Hugh walks out with the Queen in his arms I was screaming internally, “Where is the Bedouin’s horse? Is it safe?” So it’s a shame that something that was rather fun to read lacked such satisfaction.
However, with all my complaints vented, I still mostly liked the book.
December 29, 2023
Currently reading the original novelettes of this 'fix-up' novel as published in Adventure Magazine in the Sept 23, 1926, Jan 15, 1927 & May 1, 1927 issues. PDFs for the issues are available a various sites (archive.org & luminist.org (wikisource.org should have it but doesn't)) on the Web.
I read the final novelette (Rusudan) before finding out that it was the third part of the novel. And I have just completed the first (Durandal) and will be starting the Sea of Ravens next. I love Harold Lamb both as a top-notch historical adventure writer and for his historical insights. And while reading his work, I often stray into reading up on the various histories and archaic language & practices they touch upon.
The Durandal novelette starts with the historic 1211 Battle of Antioch at the Meander, positing that a crusader replaced the Nicaean Emperor in the battle as a 'mock king' used as a cat's paw sacrifice to draw in the enemy. While Rusudan fictionalizes the invasion of Georgia by the Mongols and involves the historic reigning Georgian Queen of the time.
I read the final novelette (Rusudan) before finding out that it was the third part of the novel. And I have just completed the first (Durandal) and will be starting the Sea of Ravens next. I love Harold Lamb both as a top-notch historical adventure writer and for his historical insights. And while reading his work, I often stray into reading up on the various histories and archaic language & practices they touch upon.
The Durandal novelette starts with the historic 1211 Battle of Antioch at the Meander, positing that a crusader replaced the Nicaean Emperor in the battle as a 'mock king' used as a cat's paw sacrifice to draw in the enemy. While Rusudan fictionalizes the invasion of Georgia by the Mongols and involves the historic reigning Georgian Queen of the time.
June 28, 2021
A tale of a crusader and his adventures in the near east written for the adventure pulps in the early 1930's. While still using a lot of stock characters, Lamb, unlike many of his contemporaries, doesn't denigrate the non Europeans reflexively. Many of his Christian characters are anything but. He doesn't have but one female character, but she's a real character and not a cardboard cutout.
This was written in three parts, and doesn't really hang together as a whole. Also, as with a lot of pulp tales, the stakes aren't as high as you would expect in modern fiction. By the end, an empire is at risk, but the main character is more of an observer in a lot of this, his part, his goals, are much smaller.
The first was muddy. The action and movement felt unclear. Did it get better, or did my ability to read older styles of fiction come back as I went? I can't say. There are a lot of places where my modern sense of story are subverted, and I enjoyed that a lot.
This was written in three parts, and doesn't really hang together as a whole. Also, as with a lot of pulp tales, the stakes aren't as high as you would expect in modern fiction. By the end, an empire is at risk, but the main character is more of an observer in a lot of this, his part, his goals, are much smaller.
The first was muddy. The action and movement felt unclear. Did it get better, or did my ability to read older styles of fiction come back as I went? I can't say. There are a lot of places where my modern sense of story are subverted, and I enjoyed that a lot.
June 7, 2021
Ignoring some non-culturally-sensitive anachronisms, this is a decent adventure story about a lone Crusader trying to find his home. In the end he gets everything a man wants: an exotic woman and a 5-foot long sword
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews