Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

Ivanhoe is a novel by Sir Walter Scott. It was written in 1819 and set in 12th century England, an example of historical fiction. Ivanhoe is sometimes given credit for helping to increase popular interest in the middle ages in 19th century Europe and America (see Romanticism). Ivanhoe is the story of one of the remaining Saxon noble families at a time when the nobility was overwhelmingly Norman. It follows the Saxon protagonist, Wilfred of Ivanhoe, who is out of favour with his father owing to his courting of the Lady Rowena (promised to another man) and his allegiance to the Norman king Richard I of England, who is returning from the Crusades incognito amidst the plotting of Richards brother, Prince John of England. The legendary Robin Hood, initially under the name of Locksley, is also a character in the story, as are his merry men, including Friar Tuck and, less so, Alan-a-Dale. (Little John is merely mentioned). The character that Scott gave to Robin Hood in Ivanhoe helped shape the modern notion of this figure as a cheery noble outlaw.

Other major characters include Ivanhoes intractable Saxon father, a descendant of the Saxon King Harold Godwinson; various Knights Templar and churchmen; the loyal serfs Gurth the swineherd and the jester or fool Wamba, whose not-so-foolish observations punctuate much of the action; and the Jewish moneylender, Isaac, who is torn between love of money and love of his beautiful and heroic daughter Rebecca, who, in turn, steals the story (and probably Scotts heart) from Ivanhoe and Rowena.

The book was written and published during a period of increasing struggle for Emancipation of the Jews in England, and there are frequent references to injustice against them.

Ivanhoe was thrown out of his fathers home when he fell in love with the Lady Rowena (the ward of his father Cedric), who his father had planned to marry off to the powerful Lord Athelstane, cementing a Saxon political alliance. He goes off to war with King Richard, and as the book opens, his whereabouts are unknown, and the author follows a series of characters, including Cedric and Rowena, as they attend a tournament.

The victor of the tournament, a mysterious masked knight, is soon revealed to be Ivanhoe himself, returned from the Crusades. He is wounded in the competition and, still estranged from his father, is taken into the care of Isaac the Jew and his daughter Rebecca, a skilled healer.

A series of events follow that result in Rowena, Rebecca and the wounded Ivanhoe being captured by agents of Prince John, and King Richard, secretly returned to England with Ivanhoe and in disguise, solicits the aid of Robin Hood and Friar Tuck, along with Rowenas betrothed, Lord Athelstane, to free them.

Richards party is successful at rescuing Ivanhoe and Rowena, but Rebecca is carried away by Ivanhoes old nemesis, the Templar Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert, who lusts after her. In the fighting, Athelstane is killed defending Rebecca, who he ...