David Pilling

Author Information
David Pilling's Latest Book

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  • Bibliography:
    49 Books (6 Series)
  • First Book:
    April 2012
  • Latest Book:
    June 2022
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Full Series List in Order

The Bloody Hand Saga

1 - The Northman (Jun-2022)

Caesar's Sword

1 - The Red Death (Jun-2013)
2 - Siege of Rome (Aug-2014)
3 - Flame of the West (Aug-2014)

The John Swale Chronicles

1 - Folville's Law (Jun-2012)
2 - The King Stag (Jun-2012)
3 - Exiles (Jul-2012)
4 - Royal Favour (Jul-2012)
5 - The Black Lion of Forbes (Jun-2012)
6 - A Company of Thieves (Jul-2012)
7 - The Pretender (Jul-2012)
8 - The Wild Hunt (Aug-2012)
9 - John Crabbe (Aug-2012)
10 - The Mercy of God (Sep-2012)
11 - Dupplin Moor (Oct-2012)
12 - The Lady of the Forest (Jan-2018)
13 - The Wolf of Fairburn (Mar-2014)

Leader of Battles

1 - Ambrosius (Jun-2014)
2 - Artorius (Sep-2014)
3 - Gwenhwyfar (Feb-2015)
4 - Drystan (Dec-2015)

Soldier of Fortune

1 - The Wolf Cub (Jul-2015)
2 - The Heretic (Apr-2016)

The White Hawk

1 - Revenge (Nov-2012)
2 - Loyalty (Feb-2015)
3 - Sacrifice (Jul-2015)

Book List in Order: 49 titles

  • The Best Weapon by Martin Bolton and David Pilling

  • The Black Lion of Forbes

    The John Swale Chronicles - 5

    Winter 1331, and the survivors of Sir John Swale's butchered family must confront their past and decide where their loyalties lie: in Scotland, Margaret Swale has married the son of the Scottish knight who murdered her kin, and now faces the prospect...

  • Folville's Law

    The John Swale Chronicles - 1

    England in 1326 stands on the brink of civil war. Due to the incompetence of Edward II's government, the north is virtually overrun by the Scots, while an invasion fleet is massing across the channel, led by Edward's estranged queen, Isabella, the 'S...

  • The King Stag

    The John Swale Chronicles - 2

    The year is 1331, five years on from the events in Folville's Law. Sir John Swale and Elizabeth Clinton have forged a new life in exile, but Swale longs to return home. Meanwhile, trouble is brewing in England as rival factions threaten a renewal of ...

  • A Company of Thieves

    The John Swale Chronicles - 6

    Life has not been kind to Eustace Folville since the fall from power of his patrons, Mortimer and Isabella. Ambushed and almost murdered in his home, he decides the time has come to gather together the most dangerous outlaws in England and strike at ...

  • Exiles

    The John Swale Chronicles - 3

    Spring 1331: Swale and his wife Elizabeth are living as exiles in the English-held province of Gascony, but war with France is gathering on the horizon and their marriage is unhappy. Their only child, a daughter, appears to be hopelessly disabled, a ...

  • The Pretender

    The John Swale Chronicles - 7

  • Royal Favour

    The John Swale Chronicles - 4

    With a young, aggressive new king on the throne, England seems to have recovered from the dark days of Edward II..however, the shadow of the previous reign still lingers. Sir John Swale finds himself caught up in the scramble for royal favour, even a...

  • John Crabbe

    The John Swale Chronicles - 9

    The notorious Flemish pirate, John Crabbe, has achieved fame and fortune preying on English merchant shipping on behalf of the beleaguered Scots. Now settled as a respectable burgess in the border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, he is approached by a you...



  • The Wild Hunt

    The John Swale Chronicles - 8

    Ordered by King Edward to hunt down Eustace Folville and his ilk, Sir John Swale rides into Leicestershire at the head of a small army, determined to put an end to the outlaws once and for all, and avenge a long-standing insult to his honour....

  • The Mercy of God

    The John Swale Chronicles - 10

    Summer, 1331, and Edward Balliol's plans for the invasion of Scotland are coming to fruition. His small army of adventurers and mercenaries is mustering in the North, and one of their number is Sir John Swale, intent on going into Scotland on his own...

  • Dupplin Moor

    The John Swale Chronicles - 11

    The wheel of fortune turns full circle as Sir John Swale and Sir Malcolm Forbes face each other across a battleground at Dupplin Moor. As the hugely outnumbered army of the pretender to the Scottish throne, Edward Balliol, engages the royal Scottish ...

  • The Half-Hanged Man

    In the year 1395 the famous French chronicler, Jean Froissart, comes to England in search of tales of chivalry and warfare to complete his life's work, the Great Chronicle of England, France, Spain and Adjoining Countries. Disappointed by the decayed...

  • Revenge

    The White Hawk - 1

    "God for Lancaster! God for King Henry!” England, 1459: the rival factions of Lancaster and York have plunged the kingdom into civil war. The meek and feeble King Henry VI presides over the chaos, unable to prevent his ambitious, bloodthirsty noble...

  • The Red Death

    Caesar's Sword - 1

    It is the year 568 AD. From his monastic refuge in Brittany, King Arthur’s aged grandson, Coel, begins to write the incredible story of his life. Now a monk, he is determined to complete his chronicle before death overtakes him. His tale begins sho...

  • Nowhere Was There Peace

    England, 1266 AD. Simon de Montfort is dead, butchered at the slaughter of Evesham, and England lies in ruins after years of civil war. Eager for revenge on his barons, King Henry III has disinherited all of de Montfort's surviving followers. The war...

  • The Sack of Hasan

  • The Eagle's Slumber

  • The Best Weapon

    Two young men, born on the same day on opposite ends of the world and into two vastly different cultures, are inexorably drawn together by forces outside their control or understanding. As they come of age and face their own personal trials, they beg...



  • The Burned Earth

  • The City of Eagles

  • The Crooked Man

  • The Field of the White Bull

  • The Gelded Wolf

  • The Gray Man

  • The High Bloods

  • The House of Unkindness

    An uneasy peace has descended over the World Apparent. The Winter Realm and the Old Kingdom are recovering from the cataclysmic events of the Twelfth Reconquest, while in the south, the Djanki and the Sharib retreat to lick their wounds from the batt...

  • The Last King of Ghor

  • The Maker of Pain



  • The Prophet's Dreams

  • The Ring of Steel

  • The Wolf of Fairburn

    The John Swale Chronicles - 13

    The end looms for Sir John Swale as he deserts Balliol's doomed campaign in Scotland and races home to try and rescue his family from the Folville Brotherhood. Time and fate, however, are not on his side......

  • Son of the Stars

  • Ambrosius

    Leader of Battles - 1

    "My father was a warrior. He bade me fight..." Britain, 427 AD. Rome has abandoned the province, leaving it exposed to waves of barbarian invasions. To the west, savage pirates from Hibernia ravage the coastline. In the north, the crumbling defences ...

  • Robin Hood

    "Robin Hood in Barnsdale stood..." England, 1224 AD. The north of the country is wild and lawless, plagued by bands of outlaws and robbers and broken men. There is little justice and less order, and the King's officers struggle to impose their royal ...

  • Flame of the West

    Caesar's Sword - 3

    “Caesar’s Sword was nothing but a bane, sent by the Devil to drag all the men of my blood to ruin…” Amorica, 571 AD. From his cell in the Abbey of Rhuys, the dying Coel ap Ahmar writes the final chapter of his chronicle, describing his last y...

  • Siege of Rome

    Caesar's Sword - 2

    After centuries of being on the defensive, the Roman Empire is on the march once again… Constantinople, 537 AD: after the successful reconquest of North Africa, the Emperor Justinian starts to entertain grand dreams of restoring the shattered Weste...

  • Artorius

    Leader of Battles - 2

    "Beware the shadow, and the storm in the north..." Britain, 470 AD. Ambrosius Aurelanius, the defender of Britannia, is dead, murdered by the son of his greatest enemy. His successor, the heroic General Artorius, is meant to take the crown his predec...

  • Gwenhwyfar

    Leader of Battles - 3

    “Gwenhwyfar, daughter of Ogyrfan Gawr, Bad when little, worse when great...” Britannia, 481 AD. Artorius has reigned as High King for two years. After his shattering victory at Mount Badon, an uneasy peace reigns over the land. The squabbling Bri...



  • Loyalty

    The White Hawk - 2

    “A Warwick! A Warwick!” England, 1470. The Earl of Warwick has fled England and the wrath of his former friend, King Edward of York. Barred from entering Calais, he turns to piracy and attacking merchant ships in the Channel. The surviving member...

  • Sorrow

    “A song of hope and sorrow, born on the coming storm.” After the cataclysmic events of The Best Weapon, an uneasy calm has descended over the world. The Winter Realm and the Old Kingdom are ruined by war, while the people of the southlands have r...

  • Sacrifice

    The White Hawk - 3

    The dynastic wars are over. The House of York reigns supreme after the shattering victories of Barnet and Tewkesbury, and King Edward IV can look forward to a long and happy reign. For Lancastrian loyalists such as the Boltons, there is no peace or h...

  • The Wolf Cub

    Soldier of Fortune - 1

    1453 AD. The great city of Constantinople, last remnant of the once-mighty Roman Empire, falls to the Ottoman armies of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror. An English knight named Sir John Page is taken prisoner by the Ottomans, and forced to entertain the ...

  • Drystan

    Leader of Battles - 4

    Britannia, 491 AD. Twelve years have passed since the British victory at Mount Badon. For the first time since the departure of the legions, Britannia is at peace. The Saxons are quiet in the east, towns and villages once again flourish, and Artorius...

  • The Heretic

    Soldier of Fortune - 2

    “Ye who are God’s warriors and of His law...” Constantinople, 1453 AD. Sir John Page, English knight and mercenary captain, has been taken prisoner by the Ottoman Turks. To avoid execution, Page is forced to entertain the Sultan with stories of...

  • Reiver

    A page-turning historical action novel in the tradition of Bernard Cornwell, Simon Scarrow and George MacDonald Fraser, Reiver is an adventure on the war-torn borderlands of 16th century England and Scotland.‘If Jesus Christ was amongst them, they ...

  • The Lady of the Forest

    The John Swale Chronicles - 12

    Unable to return to England to protect his family, Sir John Swale finds his life at risk as he seeks to protect the self-proclaimed King of Scots, Edward Balliol. Meanwhile, his wife is taken hostage by the outlaw chief James Coterel and a ransom dem...

  • The Wrath of God

    Robin Hood: Book Two'A fast, engaging read with a likeable scoundrel in the lead role.' J.A. Ironside, The King's Knight1225.Robin Hood is now an outlaw in Sherwood.Tales of his exploits quickly spread. All over northern England, common people si...

  • The Northman

    The Bloody Hand Saga - 1

    “William came over the sea, with bloody hand came he...”1069 AD. Three years after the Battle of Hastings, William of Normandy had yet to crush resistance in England. To the north, the people of the Danelaw refused to bow to the Norman yo...



Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

David Pilling has published 49 books.

David Pilling does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, The Northman, was published in June 2022.

The first book by David Pilling, The Best Weapon by Martin Bolton and David Pilling, was published in April 2012.

Yes. David Pilling has 6 series.
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