Shadow of the Crown

The Knights of Saint John had been driven successively from Jerusalem, Acre, Cyprus, and Rhodes, and were now trying to defend their base on the island of Malta--without the aid promised by the kingdoms of Europe. They certainly did not consider the fourteen-year-old kinsman of King Phillip II of Spain to be aid, especially when the boy was foisted on them as a fully-vowed Knight Commander (who could not inherit the noble title that should have been his), rather than a novice.

Francis de Maderos, eager to serve Christ, found his unusual position in the Order lonely, as he strove valiantly to deal with both the resentment of many of the Knights and his own youth and inexperience.