Rebel Sword

When Henry I dies in 1135, his nephew, Stephen seizes the throne. Most of the barons support him, despite the solemn oaths they swore to Henry's only legitimate heir, the Empress Matilda. It seems her cause is lost until her half-brother, the powerful Robert, Earl of Gloucester, falls out with King Stephen and decides to support Matilda.

While Robert plots treason, his bastard son, Thomas, sulks in a Bristol tavern. Though born of a Saxon mother, the youth is raised in his father's Norman ho...