The Knight in History

(Paperback, New edition)

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Description

A magisterial history of the origins, reality, and legend of the knight

Born out of the chaos of the early Middle Ages, the armored and highly mobile knight revolutionized warfare and quickly became a mythic figure in history. From the Knights Templars and English knighthood to the crusades and chivalry, The Knight in History, by acclaimed medievalist Frances Gies, bestselling coauthor of Life in a Medieval Castle, paints a remarkable true picture of knighthoodexploring the knight's earliest appearance as an agent of lawless violence, his reemergence as a dynamic social entity, his eventual disappearance from the European stage, and his transformation into Western culture's most iconic hero.

Reviews

"Illuminates the evolution of knighthood" -- New York Times Book Review

"A carefully researched, concise, readable, and entertaining account of an institution that remains a part of the Western imagination." -- Los Angeles Times

"Splendid ... This detailed look, focusing as it often does on individual men, shows the knight in a new and more interesting light, whether Roland or Galahad." -- Washington Post

"Gies's writing is fresh and direct, her scholarship is exact, and she approaches her subject with excitement." -- The New Yorker

Author Bio

Frances and Joseph Gies have been writing books about medieval history for thirty years. Together and separately, they are the authors of more than twenty books, including Life in a Medieval City, Life in a Medieval Castle, Life in a Medieval Village, The Knight in History, and Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel. They live near Ann Arbor, Michigan.