"Florence, 1342. A city on the brink of chaos. Restored to favour at court, King's Messenger Simon Merrivale accompanies an English delegation to Florence, the powerful centre of European finance, to negotiate a loan to offset King Edward III’s chronic debt. A top secret plot, one to decide the fate of European control. But the delegation has another purpose: to set up an Englishman, Henry Stapledon, Bishop of Dorchester, as an anti-pope in Rome. If they can succeed, they will undermine the papacy and strike a hammer blow to French support across Europe."