Ivanhoe
1819
England, 1194. King Richard the Lionheart rots in an Austrian dungeon while Prince John schemes to seize the throne. Into this cauldron of betrayal steps Wilfred of Ivanhoe, a Saxon knight disinherited by his own father for loving the wrong woman. Returning from the Crusades in disguise, Ivanhoe must win back his honor at the point of a lance, rescue the woman he loves from a kingdom that considers Saxons barely human, and navigate a world where every allegiance is suspect and every victory might be his last. Scott invented modern historical fiction here, transforming the dusty past into blood-soaked drama. The tournament at Ashby blazes across the page in steel and color. The siege of Torquilstone Castle crackles with tension. And then there is Rebecca, the Jewish healer whose courage and humanity cut through the novel's anti-Semitic landscape like a blade, leading to one of the most harrowing chapters in all of literature: her trial for witchcraft before a tribunal of fanatical knights. This is the book that taught the world to fall in love with the Middle Ages, that gave us our image of Robin Hood, of Richard the Lionheart, of chivalric romance as something both noble and dangerously false.
Editions
X-Ray
“For he that does good, having the unlimited power to do evil, deserves praise not only for the good which he performs, but for the evil which he forbears.””
— Walter Scott
“We are like the herb which flourisheth most when trampled upon””
— Walter Scott
“I have heard men talk about the blessings of freedom," he said to himself, "but I wish any wise man would teach me what use to make of it now that I have it.””
— Walter Scott
“Silence, maiden; thy tongue outruns thy discretion.””
— Walter Scott
“I envy thee not thy faith, which is ever in thy mouth but never in thy heart nor in thy practice””
— Walter Scott
“Chivalry!---why, maiden, she is the nurse of pure and high affection---the stay of the oppressed, the redresser of grievances, the curb of the power of the tyrant ---Nobility were but an empty name without her, and liberty finds the best protection in her lance and her sword.””
— Walter Scott
“I will tear this folly from my heart, though every fibre bleed as I rend it away!””
— Walter Scott
“I have sought but a kindred spirit to share it, and I have found such in thee.””
— Walter Scott
“I forgive you, Sir Knight," said Rowena, "as a Christian.""That means," said Wamba, "that she does not forgive him at all.””
— Walter Scott
