The Greatest Of All Knights And The World Of The Middle Ages.

Treat yourself to the greatest of all knights and the world of the Middle Ages.

The greatest of all knights and of the world of the Middle Ages

By Thomas Asbridge

Thomas Asbridge paints a magnificent portrait of the greatest of all knights: Guillaume le Maréchal was the true Lancelot of his time, the epitome of the knight. His spectacular life is a testimony to splendor and grandeur.

In moving scenes, Thomas Asbridge tells of the birth of the knightly class, the culture, and the way of life of the chivalrous world. Like no other, Guillaume le Maréchal (c. 1147–1219; William Marshal) embodied the ideals of his age. He was staunchly committed to the chivalric code of honor, and, driven by insatiable ambition, achieved unique fame and reputation. He was a friend of the greats of his time, from Richard the Lionheart to the infamous King John. At the same time, the depiction of this life provides a clear insight into the beastly reality of medieval warfare, the machinations at the royal court, and places us right in the middle of a crucial phase in our history as the West made its way from the dark ages to the threshold of modernity.

The author:
Thomas Asbridge, born in Britain in 1969, teaches medieval history at Queen Mary College, University of London. The author, who presented a comprehensive history of the First Crusade in England in 2004, is not only one of the world's leading experts on sources. He also knows the geographical conditions from personal experience: he himself travelled more than 500 kilometres of the ancient Crusade route from Turkey to Jerusalem.

478 pages, bound with dust jacket, maps and a colored blackboard section. and ribbon bookmark.