The Knight

By Alan Baker

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471251356
• ISBN13: 9780471251354
• Release Date: February 2003
• Publisher: Trade Paper Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

The M1-A1 Abrams of His Time

By Bill Marsano. In a time of J-DAMS, MOABs and other expressions of remote-control super-power warfare, the notion of the medieval knight will seem quaint at best to many readers. On the other hand, the knight the decisive weapon on the battlefields of his time. Through generations of movies, comic books and fairy tale the knight has come down to us as a purely romantic figure. Alan Baker is here with this small book to rescue these great warriors from their bubblegum image.This is a brief book, really no more than an essay for the entry-level history student, but enjoyable and informative nonetheless. Bakers gives us a clear-eyed view of how knights developed into an elite warrior class; how they trained and were armed; how they staged elaborate mock-combats--just as the Romans did in the Colosseum--to keep their skills sharp and their reputations high. For a taste of real warfare, Baker takes us through a well-organized history of the First Crusade.This book is designed to whet your appetite, not satisfy it. It does the job well: Most readers will, I think, be eager to go deeper into the day of old when knights were bold.--Bill Marsano is a long-time enthusiast of military affairs.