The Knight: A Portrait of Europe's Warrior Elite

From Booklist The life of a medieval knight was shaped by a complex relationship with his liege, a rigid code of honor, and training that began in childhood. The armored knight is, perhaps, the most enduring icon of the Middle Ages and has since been romanticized and idealized in lore and film. Baker's latest book takes a closer look at the knight and the environment in which he served. Each chapter covers a different topic, such as castle sieges, jousting tournaments, the weapons used by medieval warriors, and the Crusades. Every chapter touches more widely on the history of the period, be it important figures, specific battles, or generalities that would affect the institutions of knighthood and feudalism. Although there is undoubtedly more exhaustive research available on the topics presented, Baker offers a good starting point for students or those with a casual interest in the knights of yore. Unfortunately, he perpetuates a myth about the origin of an offensive hand gesture; however, the rest of the book is informative and worthwhile. Gavin QuinnCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Product Description An up-close introduction to the most admired warriors in history""They mounted their horses, grasped the lances made of fine Bordeaux Steel, closed the visors of their helmets, and made their way to their stations for the first course. Spurring their horses on, they advanced toward each other at full gallop, lowering their lances as they approached. The tip of Clifford's lance caught Boucmel high on his breastplate and was deflected off . . . directly into the young squire's mail hood, piercing his neck clean through.""This tragic account of an ambitious young Frenchman's senseless death during a ""friendly"" joust with an English knight underscores the ever-present danger that stalked the flower of European youth in the Middle Ages. In The Knight, you'll meet John Boucmel, Nicholas Clifford, and scores of other warriors who risked their lives to fill the medieval lists and battlefields in a relentless quest for fame, glory, and victory.This vivid, fast-paced narrative whisks you from the blood-soaked fields of Normandy in the Hundred Years' War to the battered walls of Jerusalem in the first Crusade, from a sumptuous feast in an English castle to the pomp and pageantry of a spectacular thirty-day jousting tournament. You'll discover how knights were trained; how they paid for their expensive weapons, armor, and horses; and how the solemn vows they took influenced their behavior both on and off the battlefield. Discover the truth behind the countless legends of the Age of Chivalry in The Knight. From Publishers Weekly Attempting to cover the entire history of the horseback fighter from the late Dark Ages to the Renaissance, Alan Baker (The Gladiator: The Secret History of Rome's Warrior Slaves) is forced to limit itself to selected high points in The Knight: A Portrait of Europe's Warrior Elite. A good part of the chapter on castles and siegecraft, for example, is devoted to a somewhat Anglocentric history of fortification in the British Isles, before providing a solid account of the classic siege of Chateau Gaillard in 1204. Similarly, the chapter called "The Fall of Jerusalem" does not go beyond the First Crusade-though the account is useful, as is the biography of Godfrey of Bouillion. The chapter on the knight's equipment is oversimplified (although many of the controversies covered could not be resolved in a six-volume work), but balancing this is the fine account of the tournament at St. Inglevert, in which most of those weapons were called into play without anyone being killed. Indeed, the real strength of the book is its rummaging out anecdotes about knightly prowess from chronicles not available in most libraries. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. Review &of interest to the researcher and casual reader alike& -- M2 Best Books, 6 May 2003"...br