About the book: 2001 / The adventure-historical novel by Lawrence Schoonover "The Burnished Blade" was published in 1948 in New York by the famous publishing house Macmillan. The novel takes place in the 15th century in France, Constantinople and Trebizond and covers the period from the spring of 1431 in Rouen (the time and place of the execution of Joan of Arc, the execution and its historical background are described in detail in the book) to the autumn of 1444 in Constantinople and Trebizond (nine years before the fall of Byzantium and 17 years before the conquest of the Trebizond Empire by the Ottoman Turks). The main character, who grew up in the house of one of the best gunsmiths in France, a specialist in knightly armor (hence the title of the book), receives the task of revealing the source smuggling jewelry and drugs into France and for this purpose sails to the East.