Andrea Hopkins
Chartwell Books
Nonfiction, History
****
Knights: The Complete Story of the Age of Chivalry, from Historical Fact to Tales of Romance and Poetry
Knights
Andrea Hopkins
Chartwell Books
Nonfiction, History
****
Knights: The Complete Story of the Age of Chivalry, from Historical Fact to Tales of Romance and Poetry
DESCRIPTION: One of history's most readily-recognized figures, knights are often misunderstood by modern minds. Some scholars say they were the epitome of their moralistic code of chivalry, while others consider knights to have been greedy, power-hungry warmongers who profited from looting the very people they should have been protecting. Andrea Hopkins sifts through the conflicting tales in an attempt to shine the light of truth on what the knights of medieval times were really like.
REVIEW: This is a good book on the subject of real-life knights, showing how both the good and the bad images of them came to be. Not all of them were hypocrites, but not all were pious to their vows, either; like much of humanity through the ages, the truth lies somewhere in the middle, with the occasional extreme example on one end or the other. In places, the text wandered distractingly, only touching on points I though could have been elaborated upon and waxing lengthy about things that I wasn't sure needed the word count. Overall, it was an interesting look at the much-romanticized subject of knights, and worth reading if you're at all interested in them.
You might also enjoy:
Arms and Armor of the Medieval Knight (David Edge & John Miles Paddock, Nonfiction - The history of armor and armed warriors)
Arms and Armor in the Art Institute of Chicago (Walter J. Karcheski, Jr., Nonfiction - A museum's collection of medieval armor)
An Introduction to Heraldry (Stephan Oliver, Nonfiction - The origins, nomenclature, and rules of coats-of-arms and heraldic devices)
The Song of the Lioness quartet and The Protector of the Small quartet (Tamora Pierce, YA Fiction - Girls training to be knights in a magical kingdom; their training draws on real-world knighthood skills)
The Art of War (Sun Tzu, Nonfiction - The original classic treatise on warfare and strategy)
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