Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Cardinal’s Sword | 2024 | Simon Fairfax | Buy |
| 2 | The Fight for Florence | 2025 | Simon Fairfax | Buy |
Condotierri is Simon Fairfax’s Italian-set historical series, following mercenary soldiers through the factional warfare of Renaissance Italy. The Cardinal’s Sword (2024) opens the series, and The Fight for Florence (2025) continues it. The condottieri — hired commanders who led mercenary armies — occupied a specific and morally complex position in Italian city-state politics, which gives the series a rich backdrop.
The series sits alongside Fairfax’s medieval English fiction in tone and approach, with the same focus on combat, strategy, and men whose survival depends on reading political situations accurately.