The Saracen

The Saracen is a two-part novel written by Robert Shea. The continuous tale has two separate portions: The Land of the Infidel and The Holy War. Basically ignored during its publication and then out of print although still enjoying strong reviews and a cult following by those who have read it, the novel is the portrayal of an English-born man, David, who is captured as a very young child and sold into slavery to Baibars, a Mamluk officer. He becomes a devout believer in Islam and takes the Arabic form of his name and the surname of a convert, Daoud ibn Abdullah. He develops into a gifted warrior and assassin. He is sent to the Papal Court in Orvieto in the 13th century as a spy, in order to foil an alliance between the Christian West and the Mongolian descendants of Genghis Khan to exterminate the Muslim faith and capture the Holy Land. Daoud was also trained by the Hashishyya, a heretical Islamic order. One of the many spellings of its name, Hashshashin, is the origin the modern word "assassin". Shea spends considerable time discussing its techniques and philosophy, which are major themes of the book. Many of the characters in the novel, such as Thomas Aquinas, Baibars, King Manfred of Sicily, Louis IX, and Charles of Anjou, are historical figures, who are woven into the fictional canvas Shea invented.