Knights: In History and Legend
The medieval world of the knight unfolds in this munificently illustrated volume collaboratively written by 17 scholars of history and literature. They texture the historical knight more complexly than he appears in his role—mentioned throughout this work—as a legendary, painted, sculpted, fictional, or movie character. As a social order, European knighthood arose from a world of violence and incremental political consolidation, acquiring only over centuries the refinements of chivalry. Alongside explaining the evolution of courtly etiquette, the authors sharpen understanding of knighthood’s historical development with visual emphasis on its material associations, such as armor, weapons, heraldry, and castles. This military essence of being a knight moves to the narrative center when the authors recount his part in the Crusades, the Christian reconquest of Iberia, and the Hundred Years’ War. If by Chaucer’s time the knight was already a satirical subject, his afterimage then and since retains an aspiration to a set of ideals with wide-ranging popular resonance. This visually transfixing work embodies that resonance, and it will loyally serve its (library) patron. --Gilbert Taylor