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    Ivanhoe
    Ivanhoe
    Ivanhoe
    Ebook733 pages11 hours

    Ivanhoe

    By Walter Scott

    3.5/5

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    One of Sir Walter Scott’s most popular and influential works, “Ivanhoe” is the story of one of the last remaining Saxon noble families. At the beginning of the novel we find its titular character, Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, who has been disinherited by his father for his allegiance to the Norman king, Richard the Lionheart, and for falling in love with the Lady Rowena, returning from the Third Crusade. Wilfred’s father, Cedric, had planned to marry Lady Rowena to the powerful Lord Athelstane, in order to bolster the position of the Saxon nobility, whose power is being surpassed by the Normans. Wilfred is coaxed into participation in a tournament attended by Lady Rowena with whom he hopes to reunite. He quickly finds himself embroiled in a power struggle between Prince John, who oversees the tournament and is scheming with the help of knights of the Templar Order to control the throne, and the noble and rightful King Richard. “Ivanhoe”, which provides us with one of the most popular literary depictions of Robin Hood and his merry men, is a classic tale of the middle ages, filled with chivalry, adventure, and romance. This edition includes an introduction by Porter Lander MacClintock and a biographical afterword.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDigireads.com Publishing
    Release dateSep 21, 2020
    ISBN9781420977431
    Author

    Walter Scott

    Sir Walter Scott was born in Scotland in 1771 and achieved international fame with his work. In 1813 he was offered the position of Poet Laureate, but turned it down. Scott mainly wrote poetry before trying his hand at novels. His first novel, Waverley, was published anonymously, as were many novels that he wrote later, despite the fact that his identity became widely known.

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    Reviews for Ivanhoe

    3.5/5

    1,669 ratings60 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Great story......epic in fact. The cultural, ideological and racial tensions come together for a well written story that boils down to trust, love and friendship.
    • 4/5
      And here I was thinking I going to read another dusty old poem from the middle-ages written by some anonymous nobody. NOPE! This is in fact a historical fiction novel written in the early 19th century by Sir Walter Scott. One of those classics I clearly didn't really look into until later in my life.

      For the most part I really liked Ivanhoe. Good writing, adventurous, and even a page turner. The main reason I wanted to read this book was Robin Hood. Even though he appears in a few chapters, my inner child loved his parts. As I've grown up though I've become interested in King Richard and Prince John as well.

      My only negative thought on this book was the way it was written. As I said it well written, but it's difficult. It took me awhile to get into the langue. There are phrases and world that we don't use today and I wasn't use to as well. Penguin's edition has a ton of notes to make it a little easier. It's probably a good thing I recently read Robin Hood earlier this year too, which as a similar style of English.

      I'm really glad I read this though. I'll admit knights and the middle-ages can get a little boring for me because I kind of think it's an overdone genre. Yet here I am reading and liking a book that takes place during the Crusades, then again I like Robin Hood.
    • 2/5
      That was unexpected very little about Ivanhoe. U would think that he is the main character in the book.
    • 2/5
      I can't believe that this was written for pleasure reading.

      I think this was written for decently well-off families with a lot of time to kill in the evenings. Read it aloud to the children to teach them. There is enough romance to keep the daughters listening and enough adventure for the sons. There are so many lessons:

      * English history (Prince John, Richard the Lion-Hearted)
      * English culture (Normans v Saxons)
      * The French are untrustworthy scum
      * The Catholic church is corrupt
      * Serfs and servants, even fools, are loyal
      * The right clothes for the occasion are very important, a full page of description important
      * There is always time to express yourself clearly, with correct grammar, and at great length
      * Father-murderers will burn in hell and burn before they go to hell, unshriven
      * Drinking and eating copious amounts is appropriate unless you are being chased by Normans
      * Honorable behavior leads to victory, even over skilled opponents (sometimes they just drop dead)
      * Jews are not like us, not English at all, and only care about money, but you should be nice to them anyway
      * Always pay detailed attention to English architecture
      * Robin Hood is awesome

      If you already know those things, there is a ripping yarn buried somewhere beneath all the words. The book is over-wordy at a fractal level. Sometimes you need to skip pages, sometimes just phrases. I got better at it.

      It is hard to believe that eight years before this tripe, we have Sense and Sensibility. Then afterwards we have Frankenstein, then Barchester Towers, then Middlemarch.
    • 2/5
      Slow, difficult read.
    • 4/5
      A tale as the Saxons and Normans were beginning to compete for control of England. Yet, if aware a more profound and controversial secondary commentary also clearly comes through.

      Scott’s used Ivanhoe to make a not-so-subtle criticism of the medieval church. Bois-Guilbert, aTemplar Knight, kidnaps Rebecca and threatens to defile her. A clergyman, Prior Aymer, who's reputation of worldly acts such as cavorting with women, and drinks excessively. The church, highly political and hostile to the Jewish race. Anti-Semitism plays into Bois-Guilbert’s decision to put Rebecca on trial. Rebecca, a Jew, proves to be the most genuinely faithful and God-fearing character in the book.
    • 3/5
      Daring! Intrigue! Damsels in distress! And yet it felt two-dimensional and slow. I valued pieces of the book as historical insight, but found that it lacked entertainment value.
    • 5/5
      Leather-bound edition badly worn and repaired by me. Wonderful classic story of romance and adventure.
    • 3/5
      The tenth book in Scott's series of historical novels. Anthony Trollope rates Ivanhoe as one of the greatest ever novels, up there with Pride and Prejudice and others. I'm afraid I don't agree. It is an enjoyable read, but the plot is a frequently implausible, the characters are more caricatures than believable people, and the historical "background" tends to become didactic at times. But, as a rollicking good yarn in the Biggles or Indiana Jones style, the reader should settle down and enjoy.
    • 4/5
      Wilfred of Ivanhoe is a secondary character in his titular novel, which does more to provide a basis for the modern Robin Hood myth than anything else. It is slow to start (the setup drags on for what seems like ever), but once the action begins, this is a cracking good read. There are several storylines which split off and weave their way back together by the end of the narrative.

      It was definitely enraging to read Rebecca's storyline, as she's basically kidnapped against her will and taken to a priory, where she's then tried as a sorceress for "tempting" the man who kidnapped her. Rage-inducing does not even begin to cover it! At least Rebecca had some backbone and continually threw off the Templar's advances. She'd rather die than go anywhere willingly with him. Go Rebecca!

      You could only class this as a (small-r) romance if you squint reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally hard at the penultimate chapters. Otherwise, this is more about chivalry and courtly devotion than anything else. Read it for the adventure and to learn more about Robin Hood, not because you're looking for the star-crossed lovers promised in the book blurb.
    • 4/5
      In some ways this is a hard read 'Children's Literature': In my childhood the required standard of English was such that this book's text was the reading level for junior school, I suspect now the content would challenge many at Secondary education: Nevertheless, a really great Historical 'Romance' story set in 12th Century England by one of Britain's foremost 19th century storytellers. Scott conjures up a gallant knight, Ivanhoe battling for his honour and the virtue of lovely Jewess, Rowena & Isaac, her father all occurring within the national struggle for power between assumed 'good' King Richard I & assumed 'baddie' brother, Prince John.
      A must read in any serious collection of the evolution of English Literature.
      There is within the text a substantial 'racist' & 'bigoted' element that fits well with the era in which it is set and offers an opportunity for the adults in the house to raise those topics with any off-spring.
    • 5/5
      Sir Walter Scott’s 1819 novel, Ivanhoe, tells the story of Wilfred of Ivanhoe, a Saxon knight in the twelfth century. Ivanhoe was disinherited by his father, Cedric of Rotherwood, for supporting the Norman King Richard Cœur-de-Lion and falling in love with Rowena, Cedric’s ward. Cedric had hoped to wed Rowena to Athelstane, the descendant of the great Saxon kings, in order to restore the Saxon nobility.

      King John holds a tournament at Ashby-de-la-Zouch Castle, at which a disguised Ivanhoe bests the Norman champion and Templar knight, Brian de Bois-Guilbert, and where Robin of Locksley splits a willow reed with his arrow as well as his competitor’s arrow, a scene that first entered the Robin Hood legend in this novel. A Black Knight also performs admirably, but departs when besieged during the melee. A major subplot focuses on the place of Isaac of York and his daughter, Rebecca, as Jews in Norman-conquered England. Scott describes how Isaac’s wealth allows him to interact with Norman society, though, as a non-Christian, the Normans hold him in the same contempt with which they view the conquered Saxons. Rebecca’s intelligence and beauty, however, attract would-be Norman suitors.

      After the tournament, Bois-Guilbert and Reginald Front-de-Bœuf, a fellow Norman Templar, capture Cedric and his party along with Isaac and Rebecca. In his fortress Torquilstone, Front-de-Bœuf demands an impossible ransom from Isaac in exchange for his daughter. Meanwhile, the Black Knight meets the Holy Clerk of Copmanhurst, Friar Tuck, and joins in the siege of Torquilstone with Locksley’s men. Front-de-Bœuf dies during the siege along with Athelstane, though Bois-Guilbert escapes with Rebecca as a prisoner. The Black Knight rescues Ivanhoe from the burning castle and reveals himself to be King Richard.

      While Locksley hosts Richard Cœur-de-Lion, Bois-Guilbert’s Templar master, the zealot Lucas de Beaumanoir, believes that Rebecca has ensorcelled his knight and plans to execute her as a witch. She demands trial by combat and a call is sent for a champion. At Coningsburgh, while Cedric plans Athelstane’s funeral, the Saxon lord is discovered to have survived his wounds. Though Cedric still hopes to wed Athelstane to Rowena, Athelstane demurs and frees her to marry Ivanhoe. Rebecca’s message arrives, and Ivanhoe, Richard, and Cedric depart for the Templar Preceptory. There, Ivanhoe fights Bois-Guilbert, who dies of natural causes in the saddle. Rebecca, now free, makes plans for she and her father to leave England for Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain), where she believes they will be free from persecution. Before departing, Rebecca visits Rowena and gives her a gift on her wedding day to Ivanhoe.

      Scott wrote a fictionalized history, though he sought to give it verisimilitude with references to historical sources, including those he invented such as the Norman Wardour Manuscript, which first appeared in Scott’s 1816 novel, The Antiquary. Though Robin Hood is not the main character of Ivanhoe, Scott’s portrayal of the outlaw left a lasting mark on the character’s history. Future retellings of Robin Hood included the arrow-splitting and transposed elements of Ivanhoe’s narrative on to Robin. According to Hector Hugh Munro, Scott misspelled “Cerdic,” creating the name Cedric in the English language. Further, Scott helped popularize Robin Hood as Robin of Locksley. In addition to this, while Scott’s portrayal of Jewish characters was likely progressive and sympathetic for 1820 (much like Shakespeare’s portrayal of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice was for its time), his focus on Isaac’s avaricious nature resembles the worst stereotyping of the twentieth century and has not aged particularly well. Rebecca fares better, but only in comparison to Isaac. That said, the work is a must-read for those studying English literature or who enjoy historical fiction or fantasy. This Heritage Press edition contains illustrations from Edward A. Wilson, who brilliantly captures the spirit of Scott’s text.
    • 4/5
      Knights errant, jousting tournaments, a king in disguise and a plot against said king, fair damosels and their various distresses, a fool who is touchingly loyal to his gruff master, naughty templars and Robin of Locksley. What else could one possibly want or need in a story? Well, maybe just a smidge less anti-Semitism, to be honest. But otherwise, this one is a hoot.

      (Seriously, the way Isaac of York is treated across the board by 'good' and 'bad' guys alike bothered me enough to knock me right out of the story on several occasions. Product of the times and all, I suppose, but the cavalier nature of it all sets my teeth on edge.)
    • 5/5
      Great story......epic in fact. The cultural, ideological and racial tensions come together for a well written story that boils down to trust, love and friendship.
    • 4/5
      It's full of intrigue, adventure, and romance. The two women speak thoughtfully and articulately at various points, while the men speak with their swords and lances.
    • 3/5
      Surprised that I liked it, with the Knights and such and so forth, and then not surprised at all.
    • 5/5
      The iconic novel of knights in shining armor and damsels in distress, honor and glory in early Norman England. The language is a bit stilted but today's standard, but the book is good as the classic that it is.
    • 4/5
      IVANHOE, by Sir Walter Scott, is a great little story set in Medieval England. The title character is the disowned son of Cedric the Saxon and in the beginning of the story Ivanhoe is returning to his home ground, hiding his identity behind a knight’s helmet.
      There is plenty of action with lists (knights fighting each other as entertainment), kidnappings, rescues, damsels in distress, arson, feasting, and the storming of castles. In fact, the storming of the castle was one of the best parts.
      At first the style in which the characters speak took some getting used to. I liked the humor and wit of Wamba the Jester. I disliked the anti-climatic ending and think that the fate of Brian de Bois-Guilbert was a cop-out. Still, I would recommend this book for anyone interested in Medieval times.
    • 4/5
      An interesting read for me as Ivanhoe is often credited as the progenitor of the historical fiction genre, which I enjoy. I didn't love it, but was happy to have read it. Some of the issues I had were:

      Some, but not all, parts of the story were a little tame. I think this might be because in our era we've become inured to violence which is much more graphic and widely accepted in books, TV, movies and video games.

      I was glad to read this on my Kindle so I had instant access to a dictionary and Google. Many of the words I looked up were not found. I wasn't sure if this was because of the language during Scott's era or if he tried to use medieval language. My Googling ended up slowing down my reading as I became sidetracked learning about the Normans, Crusades, the Plantagents and many other interesting bits of research.

      The anti-semetism and role of women was very thought provoking and quite a contrast from our current era.

      I was unsure Scott's narrative method entirely worked for me:
      Example 1: using a third party to describe action (Rebecca's retelling of the assault on the castle)

      Example 2: slowing down the progress of the story to go back and fill in parts of prior events of some of the characters.

      I didn't think the "Merry Men" were adequately identified and Richard the Lion Heart was too saintly.

      On the plus side:
      The Tournament and battle scenes were very well written and engaging.
      The twisty resurrection was innovative.
      It's quite a complex plot, and understandable in spite of the archaic language.

      All in all, it deserves its place in classic literature, but perhaps not a "wow" for me.
    • 4/5
      Gurth and Wamba son of Witless. How can one forget adventures with characters like these. Add in a few damsels in distress, saving England from a tyrant, knights that will not compromise right, and some cool jousting make this a rousing and fun medieval tale.
    • 4/5
      Sir Walter Scott is credited with having invented the historical novel, and his Waverley series of books were the first critical and commercially successful stories to feature fictional characters alongside historical figures, and participating in actual events.

      In Ivanhoe he revisited that formula, featuring a vivid cast of fictional characters interacting with King John and his Norman barons in England in 1194. The basic story is fairly straightforward, almost to the point of being predictable (though that might not have been the case in 1820): having been disowned and disinherited by his ferociously Saxon father for pledging loyalty to the Norman king, Richard I (of Lionheart fame), Wilfred of Ivanhoe leaves England to join the ill-fated Third Crusade where he covers himself in glory, battling valiantly against the Saracen. He returns to England, travelling in disguise to a major tournament in Ashby de la Zouch where, fighting incognito under the alias The Disinherited Knight, he emerges victorious on the first day after humiliating a host of proud but ineffectual Norman Barons. On the second day he fares almost as well, though the show is stolen by another anonymous knight clad in black armour who, having vanquished more Norman barons, disappears into the crowd, rather like the Lone Rnager leaving confusion in his wake as people ask, 'Who was that masked man?'

      There are, however, a host of other complications to the plot, and Scott manages to keep the reader's attention firmly riveted to the book. He captures the feel of the Middle Ages, and even the plethora of details about the technicalities of armour, horseback warfare and estate management in the twelfth century fail to deflect the reader's interest. Given that this was published very early on in the history of the novel as a popular art form it seems surprisingly up to date. I had started reading it with a certain trepidation, and perhaps more from a sense of duty than with the expectation of much enjoyment, but it proved to be most entertaining.
    • 4/5
      One of my favorite periods of time is when King Arthur ruled in England, so it wasn't hard for me to admire this tale of chivalry and valiant characters. And the characters that held those qualities, I thought, were more the outlaws than some of the knights in the story. With the humor of Wamba and the uncertain love triangles, Ivanhoe was a wonderfully fanciful story to step into.
    • 4/5
      Another wonderful work by Scott. Ivanhoe, the last of a Saxon noble family splits with his father by his allegiance to the Norman Richard the Lion Hearted. The events take place after Ivanhoe's return to England where he confronts a conspiracy keeping Richard prisoner in Europe. This work is considered not only the revitalization of England's love of things medieval but of the modern rendition of Robin Hood. The characters are believable and the story captivating. Too bad it is often considered a young adult novel.
    • 4/5
      This classic historical romance (pretty much the inspiration for the whole genre of medieval historical fiction) is extremely well written and, from a linguistic point of view, an excellent example of the complex sentence structure often used in 19th century novels and not often today, demanding much of the reader; it is as a consequence, a challenge to read, and it took me a fortnight to get through, though this edition was only some 350 pages, and it did get a bit dull and somewhat confusing in places. Ivanhoe himself is actually a fairly minor character throughout most of the novel, and is overshadowed by a number of other characters. For much of it, the novel is actually about oppression - the oppression suffered by the Jewish characters, Isaac of York and his daughter Rebecca at the hands and tongues of Norman and Saxon alike (though the author clearly disapproves of this anti-Semitism, an opposition which is a refreshing attitude for an author of this period, it does get quite dispiriting to read when this prejudice is displayed even by characters with whom the reader is supposed to sympathise); and the oppression suffered by Saxons at the hands of their Norman conquerors (though, given that the events take place some 130 years after the Norman Conquest, the starkness of this conflict was much less clear in reality than depicted in the novel). The novel is also famous, of course, for popularising the legend of Robin Hood and coining the epithet, Robin of Locksley. Good stuff, though it drags in places.
    • 5/5
      Who wouldn't love the story of the Disinherited Knight? I love adventure stories that are also about love. This one is great!
    • 4/5
      When I was a youngster, one of our favorite family activities was to play the then-familiar card game called Authors, which was basically "Go Fish" with the likes of Hawthorne, Tennyson, Longfellow, and Dickens in sets of four instead of numeric rank within suit. (Where else would you find James Fenimore Cooper on a peer footing with William Shakespeare?) Thus the face of Sir Walter Scott was more familiar to me than that of my own deceased grandmother.

      Scott was, in fact, an icon of classic entertainment, an author whose works were among the staples of childhood and young adult reading, with their jousting knights in armor, their chivalrous deeds and dark intrigues, their acts of high valor and foul treachery, their political allegiances and divided loyalties, their spirited damsels and their swashbuckling heroes.

      In ninth grade, when my classmates and I were assigned to read Ivanhoe, I met Scott like an old family friend. The affectionate greeting, however, was not returned with equal warmth. In fact, the language and substance of this novel were both so alien to me that I honestly don't know how I managed to read it at all.

      In those days, meaning the end of the Eisenhower administration, Ivanhoe was required reading in public schools across the U.S. I can't imagine why. I didn't hate it--I never hated anything we read in school. I was a straight-A English student throughout my scholastic career and later made language the basis of my profession. But the necessary knowledge of British history and traditional social structure, command of an archaic vocabulary, and ability to parse the convoluted style and grammar of the early nineteenth century in another culture all seem like formidable obstacles to comprehension for young teenagers, even without the adult themes and conflicts, the violence, and the very disturbing vein of institutionalized antisemitism that prevail throughout the novel.

      How many 14-year-olds could have been expected to get much of anything out of this? All else aside, how much knowledge of medieval England and its politics was any American highschooler expected to have? I'm amazed that there weren't dozens of more recent, more generally readable, and more culturally apt choices that were considered to be essential to the education of American young people. I got through it somehow, along with the rest of my ninth-grade class, but I missed all the adventure in a sea of confusing language, lost context, and bewildering names. What a shame that curriculum requirements, both then and now, should serve to foster lifelong antipathy toward certain works and toward reading in general when, now more than ever, literacy is an essential skill and severely weakened cultural bonds could use reinforcement.

      In intervening years I have read quantities of British literature and older literature and older British literature, and I feel very much at home with it. I'm comfortable with both a nineteenth-century prose style and a medieval setting. Archaic vocabulary does not trip me up, and I don't mind protracted descriptions, windy commentary, or so-called author intrusion. Still, it took me a long while to come back around to Scott.

      A couple of years ago I enjoyed The Bride of Lammermoor, followed by The Heart of Midlothian. After that it seemed to be time to revisit Ivanhoe. I finished it a week ago.

      From my present perspective, Ivanhoe is a relic, not so much of the historical period of its setting (with which Scott admitted to having taken considerable liberties) or even of the literary era in which it was written (early nineteenth century) as of a period in our European-American cultural and educational history in which youngsters read romances such as Ivanhoe voluntarily and for pleasure. Those same audiences these days would be viewing action movies for which you don't actually need a vocabulary at all.

      Or maybe those aren't the kids avidly watching car chases and explosions and splattering pixels of gore in first-person-shooter video games. Maybe they're among the considerably smaller number who play chess and Magic: The Gathering and Sodoku: a relatively privileged, nerdy set (privileged if only with the motive, means, and opportunity to do those things) who don't gravitate toward the lowest common denominator. In any event, their path to imaginative excitement and adventure is not via such printed words as these:

      =====(Excerpt begins)

      "I am indeed bound to vengeance," murmured Cedric; "Saint Withold knows my heart."

      Front-de-Boeuf, in the meanwhile, led the way to a postern, where, passing the moat on a single plank, they reached a small barbican, or exterior defence, which communicated with the open field by a well-fortified sallyport.

      "Begone, then; and if thou wilt do mine errand, and if thou return hither when it is done, thou shalt see Saxon flesh cheap as ever was hog's in the shambles of Sheffield. And, hark thee, thou seemest to be a jolly confessor---come hither after the onslaught, and thou shalt have as much Malvoisie as would drench thy whole convent."

      "Assuredly we shall meet again," answered Cedric.

      "Something in hand the whilst," continued the Norman; and, as they parted at the postern door, he thrust into Cedric's reluctant hand a gold byzant, adding, "Remember, I will flay off both cowl and skin, if thou failest in thy purpose."

      "And full leave will I give thee to do both," answered Cedric, leaving the postern, and striding forth over the free field with a joyful step, "if, when we meet next, I deserve not better at thine hand."---Turning then back towards the castle, he threw the piece of gold towards the donor, exclaiming at the same time, "False Norman, thy money perish with thee!"

      Front-de-Boeuf heard the words imperfectly, but the action was suspicious---"Archers," he called to the warders on the outward battlements, "send me an arrow through yon monk's frock!---yet stay," he said, as his retainers were bending their bows, "it avails not--we must thus far trust him since we have no better shift. I think he dares not betray me---at the worst I can but treat with these Saxon dogs whom I have safe in kennel. Ho! Giles gaoler, let them bring Cedric of Rotherwood before me, and the other churl, his companion---him I mean of Coningsburgh ---Athelstane there, or what call they him? Their very names are an encumbrance to a Norman knight's mouth, and have, as it were, a flavour of bacon. Give me a stoup of wine, as jolly Prince John said, that I may wash away the relish---place it in the armoury, and thither lead the prisoners."

      His commands were obeyed; and, upon entering that Gothic apartment, hung with many spoils won by his own valour and that of his father, he found a flagon of wine on the massive oaken table, and the two Saxon captives under the guard of four of his dependents. Front-de-Boeuf took a long drought of wine, and then addressed his prisoners---for the manner in which Wamba drew the cap over his face, the change of dress, the gloomy and broken light, and the Baron's imperfect acquaintance with the features of Cedric (who avoided his Norman neighbours, and seldom stirred beyond his own domains) prevented him from discovering that the most important of his captives had made his escape.

      =====(Excerpt ends)

      That lengthy and randomly chosen passage depicting a tense, suspenseful escape is adequately representative of the flavor of the whole. I would be willing to wager that no reader in 2013, no matter how widely read and how well versed in older literature, would have difficulty understanding how daunting four hundred pages of the same would be to today's young reader.

      Did I enjoy the book? I did. I was sorry when it ended. And naturally it is no fault of the author and no criticism of his literary tradition to anticipate that the present generation of readers will have little appetite for this work. Whether that should be so is irrelevant; the truth is that it is.

      I wonder how much longer there will be readers outside of academe who can read it at all.
    • 3/5
      In this novel we see warriors returning from the Crusades, a love story, and the trial of a young Jewess for witchcraft. This book's dated wording does not make it a particularly fun read for 21st century readers. Lady Rowena is supposed to be the leading lady of the book, but Rebecca, the Jewess, is a far more interesting character. Richard the Lionhearted plays a role in the book as well. I wanted to abandon this lengthy tome in many places, but I forced myself to keep plugging along.
    • 2/5
      This book was far too slow for me. The story is good, but the language is too old for me. I had trouble finishing it. Eventually I did.
    • 4/5
      If you let yourself go with the flow and read this as a romance, not a history, it works really well. Scott has some scintillating characters in here: Rebecca with her grand ideals and moral stance, Brian de Bois-Guilbert who is so conflicted that he knows what he'd doing makes no sense - but continues to do it anyway, Ulrica and her troubled past, emeshed with Front-du-Boeuf and faithful fool Wamba - was ever a fool so wise? Compared to this multi-faceted cast, the romantic lead of Ivanhoe & Rowena are, to be honest, a bit wet. Ivanhoe is so terribly good, loyal, honest, caring etc that he doesn't seem to have any colour at all, while Rowena has one moment of crisis which she starts OK with defiance, but then goes entirely to pieces when she's not treated as the little princess.
      It all gets a little odd when we have King Richard meeting Robin Hood, (clearly the source of numerous film ideas - it really didn't happen!) and the disguises are of the literary "lets put glasses on & hide in plain sight" style - they somehow fool the occupants of the novel, but the reader has a pretty good idea who they really are.
      There's a lot to complain of in this - the way that history is slightly distorted to make a good tale (the joust described is later than setting, the clothing earlier), but somehow it does all work together to make a vivid scene. It's got enough action and interesting happenings to keep you reading on and I had a whale of a time reading it.
    • 3/5
      This historical fiction adventure story may have been sensational in the early 19th century but history has been told far better in the 20th century so the book doesn't really hold up well.

      This tale of Normans vs. Saxons in the reign of Richard the Lionheart also showed the social division of the Christians vs. Jews. Broken into three sections, we see Ivanhoe at the tournament as a disinherited knight, the captivity of the major characters and the trial of the Jewess, Rebecca, for sorcery. The story was entertaining but not sensational.

    Book preview

    Ivanhoe - Walter Scott

    Chapter II

    A Monk there was, a fayre for the maistrie,

    An outrider that loved venerie;

    A manly man, to be an Abbot able,

    Full many a daintie horse had he in stable:

    And when he rode, men might his bridle hear

    Gingeling in a whistling wind as clear,

    And eke as loud, as doth the chapell bell,

    There as this lord was keeper of the cell.

    CHAUCER

    Notwithstanding the occasional exhortation and chiding of his companion, the noise of the horsemen’s feet continuing to approach, Wamba could not be prevented from lingering occasionally on the road, upon every pretence which occurred; now catching from the hazel a cluster of half-ripe nuts, and now turning his head to leer after a cottage maiden who crossed their path. The horsemen, therefore, soon overtook them on the road.

    Their numbers amounted to ten men, of whom the two who rode foremost seemed to be persons of considerable importance, and the others their attendants. It was not difficult to ascertain the condition and character of one of these personages. He was obviously an ecclesiastic of high rank; his dress was that of a Cistercian Monk, but composed of materials much finer than those which the rule of that order admitted. His mantle and hood were of the best Flanders cloth, and fell in ample, and not ungraceful folds, around a handsome, though somewhat corpulent person. His countenance bore as little the marks of self-denial, as his habit indicated contempt of worldly splendour. His features might have been called good, had there not lurked under the pent-house of his eye, that sly epicurean twinkle which indicates the cautious voluptuary. In other respects, his profession and situation had taught him a ready command over his countenance, which he could contract at pleasure into solemnity, although its natural expression was that of good-humoured social indulgence. In defiance of conventual rules, and the edicts of popes and councils, the sleeves of this dignitary were lined and turned up with rich furs, his mantle secured at the throat with a golden clasp, and the whole dress proper to his order as much refined upon and ornamented, as that of a quaker beauty of the present day, who, while she retains the garb and costume of her sect continues to give to its simplicity, by the choice of materials and the mode of disposing them, a certain air of coquettish attraction, savouring but too much of the vanities of the world.

    This worthy churchman rode upon a well-fed ambling mule, whose furniture was highly decorated, and whose bridle, according to the fashion of the day, was ornamented with silver bells. In his seat he had nothing of the awkwardness of the convent, but displayed the easy and habitual grace of a well-trained horseman. Indeed, it seemed that so humble a conveyance as a mule, in however good case, and however well broken to a pleasant and accommodating amble, was only used by the gallant monk for travelling on the road. A lay brother, one of those who followed in the train, had, for his use on other occasions, one of the most handsome Spanish jennets ever bred at Andalusia, which merchants used at that time to import, with great trouble and risk, for the use of persons of wealth and distinction. The saddle and housings of this superb palfrey were covered by a long foot-cloth, which reached nearly to the ground, and on which were richly embroidered, mitres, crosses, and other ecclesiastical emblems. Another lay brother led a sumpter mule, loaded probably with his superior’s baggage; and two monks of his own order, of inferior station, rode together in the rear, laughing and conversing with each other, without taking much notice of the other members of the cavalcade.

    The companion of the church dignitary was a man past forty, thin, strong, tall, and muscular; an athletic figure, which long fatigue and constant exercise seemed to have left none of the softer part of the human form, having reduced the whole to brawn, bones, and sinews, which had sustained a thousand toils, and were ready to dare a thousand more. His head was covered with a scarlet cap, faced with fur—of that kind which the French call mortier, from its resemblance to the shape of an inverted mortar. His countenance was therefore fully displayed, and its expression was calculated to impress a degree of awe, if not of fear, upon strangers. High features, naturally strong and powerfully expressive, had been burnt almost into Negro blackness by constant exposure to the tropical sun, and might, in their ordinary state, be said to slumber after the storm of passion had passed away; but the projection of the veins of the forehead, the readiness with which the upper lip and its thick black moustaches quivered upon the slightest emotion, plainly intimated that the tempest might be again and easily awakened. His keen, piercing, dark eyes, told in every glance a history of difficulties subdued, and dangers dared, and seemed to challenge opposition to his wishes, for the pleasure of sweeping it from his road by a determined exertion of courage and of will; a deep scar on his brow gave additional sternness to his countenance, and a sinister expression to one of his eyes, which had been slightly injured on the same occasion, and of which the vision, though perfect, was in a slight and partial degree distorted.

    The upper dress of this personage resembled that of his companion in shape, being a long monastic mantle; but the colour, being scarlet, showed that he did not belong to any of the four regular orders of monks. On the right shoulder of the mantle there was cut, in white cloth, a cross of a peculiar form. This upper robe concealed what at first view seemed rather inconsistent with its form, a shirt, namely, of linked mail, with sleeves and gloves of the same, curiously plaited and interwoven, as flexible to the body as those which are now wrought in the stocking-loom, out of less obdurate materials. The fore-part of his thighs, where the folds of his mantle permitted them to be seen, were also covered with linked mail; the knees and feet were defended by splints, or thin plates of steel, ingeniously jointed upon each other; and mail hose, reaching from the ankle to the knee, effectually protected the legs, and completed the rider’s defensive armour. In his girdle he wore a long and double-edged dagger, which was the only offensive weapon about his person.

    He rode, not a mule, like his companion, but a strong hackney for the road, to save his gallant war-horse, which a squire led behind, fully accoutred for battle, with a chamfron or plaited head-piece upon his head, having a short spike projecting from the front. On one side of the saddle hung a short battle-axe, richly inlaid with Damascene carving; on the other the rider’s plumed head-piece and hood of mail, with a long two-handed sword, used by the chivalry of the period. A second squire held aloft his master’s lance, from the extremity of which fluttered a small banderole, or streamer, bearing a cross of the same form with that embroidered upon his cloak. He also carried his small triangular shield, broad enough at the top to protect the breast, and from thence diminishing to a point. It was covered with a scarlet cloth, which prevented the device from being seen.

    These two squires were followed by two attendants, whose dark visages, white turbans, and the Oriental form of their garments, showed them to be natives of some distant Eastern country.{21} The whole appearance of this warrior and his retinue was wild and outlandish; the dress of his squires was gorgeous, and his Eastern attendants wore silver collars round their throats, and bracelets of the same metal upon their swarthy arms and legs, of which the former were naked from the elbow, and the latter from mid-leg to ankle. Silk and embroidery distinguished their dresses, and marked the wealth and importance of their master; forming, at the same time, a striking contrast with the martial simplicity of his own attire. They were armed with crooked sabres, having the hilt and baldric inlaid with gold, and matched with Turkish daggers of yet more costly workmanship. Each of them bore at his saddle-bow a bundle of darts or javelins, about four feet in length, having sharp steel heads, a weapon much in use among the Saracens, and of which the memory is yet preserved in the martial exercise called el jerrid, still practised in the Eastern countries.

    The steeds of these attendants were in appearance as foreign as their riders. They were of Saracen origin, and consequently of Arabian descent; and their fine slender limbs, small fetlocks, thin manes, and easy springy motion, formed a marked contrast with the large-jointed, heavy horses, of which the race was cultivated in Flanders and in Normandy, for mounting the men-at-arms of the period in all the panoply of plate and mail; and which, placed by the side of those Eastern coursers, might have passed for a personification of substance and of shadow.

    The singular appearance of this cavalcade not only attracted the curiosity of Wamba, but excited even that of his less volatile companion. The monk he instantly knew to be the Prior of Jorvaulx Abbey, well known for many miles around as a lover of the chase, of the banquet, and, if fame did him not wrong, of other worldly pleasures still more inconsistent with his monastic vows.

    Yet so loose were the ideas of the times respecting the conduct of the clergy, whether secular or regular, that the Prior Aymer maintained a fair character in the neighbourhood of his abbey. His free and jovial temper, and the readiness with which he granted absolution from all ordinary delinquencies, rendered him a favourite among the nobility and principal gentry, to several of whom he was allied by birth, being of a distinguished Norman family. The ladies, in particular, were not disposed to scan too nicely the morals of a man who was a professed admirer of their sex, and who possessed many means of dispelling the ennui which was too apt to intrude upon the halls and bowers of an ancient feudal castle. The Prior mingled in the sports of the field with more than due eagerness, and was allowed to possess the best-trained hawks, and the fleetest greyhounds in the North Riding; circumstances which strongly recommended him to the youthful gentry. With the old, he had another part to play, which, when needful, he could sustain with great decorum. His knowledge of books, however superficial, was sufficient to impress upon their ignorance respect for his supposed learning; and the gravity of his deportment and language, with the high tone which he exerted in setting forth the authority of the church and of the priesthood, impressed them no less with an opinion of his sanctity. Even the common people, the severest critics of the conduct of their betters, had commiseration with the follies of Prior Aymer. He was generous; and charity, as it is well known, covereth a multitude of sins, in another sense than that in which it is said to do so in Scripture. The revenues of the monastery, of which a large part was at his disposal, while they gave him the means of supplying his own very considerable expenses, afforded also those largesses which he bestowed among the peasantry, and with which he frequently relieved the distresses of the oppressed. If Prior Aymer rode hard in the chase, or remained long at the banquet,—if Prior Aymer was seen, at the early peep of dawn, to enter the postern of the abbey, as he glided home from some rendezvous which had occupied the hours of darkness, men only shrugged up their shoulders, and reconciled themselves to his irregularities, by recollecting that the same were practised by many of his brethren who had no redeeming qualities whatsoever to atone for them. Prior Aymer, therefore, and his character, were well known to our Saxon serfs, who made their rude obeisance, and received his "Benedicite, mes filz," in return.

    But the singular appearance of his companion and his attendants, arrested their attention and excited their wonder, and they could scarcely attend to the Prior of Jorvaulx’ question, when he demanded if they knew of any place of harbourage in the vicinity; so much were they surprised at the half monastic, half military appearance of the swarthy stranger, and at the uncouth dress and arms of his Eastern attendants. It is probable, too, that the language in which the benediction was conferred, and the information asked, sounded ungracious, though not probably unintelligible, in the ears of the Saxon

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