Eric's Blog About Books- Issue #2- Ivanhoe

Ivanhoe is a historical fiction novel by Sir Walter Scott, first published in 1819, and it is freakin' awesome. The plot is relatively straight forward- noble knight loves woman, hacks up a ton of bad guys to rescue her, and is generally a force for good and justice in a troubled land. And there's also a few subplots about a family of Jews getting screwed over constantly, and also about Robin Hood. Incidentally, all stories that connect the Legend of Robin Hood to Richard the Lionheart's return come directly to this book. That includes every movie every made about Robin Hood, including the Disney version. You may thank Sir Walter I'm-a-Kickass-Novelist Scott for all of them.

Ivanhoe takes place in 12th century England, where Norman overlords oppress and insult their Saxon peasants constantly. The divide between the crude yet noble Saxon underdogs and the the refined but despicable Normans drives most of the plot. (Also, this is one of the few historical novels where one could believably portray the English as a people oppressed by another group. See also Ireland, English Presence in, and India, Colonization of.) Ivanhoe, a young Saxon knight, pisses off his ultranationalist father Cedric by spending time in King Richard's court and learning Norman ways, and then pisses him off further by falling in love with his adopted sister, Rowena. They're not related by blood, so it's no problem to us or them, but Cedric plans to marry her off to a fellow Saxon warlord to create an alliance to throw off the Norman yoke. Cedric exiles his own son, who then goes off to the Crusades with Richard the Lionheart. Years later, he returns without arms, armour, a horse or any friends, determined to win Rowena and be restored to his father. Thus the plot begins.

I won't go into the plot here too much, because I want you to read the book, or watch one of the movie versions. But I will say, there's dastardly Templars, evil knights who get righteously shanked, jousting, torture, trial by combat for an innocent woman's life, and a much, much more. You've probably seen all the plot devices before, any time someone references knights or the Middle Ages, but never knew that many of the tropes were popularized by this book. It is a bloody great adventure, and as someone who grew up on Hollywood action flicks, that should tell you something.

It is somewhat hard to get into for the first couple of pages, because writing styles from the early 19th century are somewhat more, ah, opaque than what we in the early 21st century are used to. For instance, in the beginning Scott spends almost two whole pages describing in mind-numbing detail the exact clothes worn by two minor characters. I mean, gah. But once you break through the intial writing style, believe me, it's mustard.

Just one last note. One of the subplots, as I mentioned earlier, is of a Jewish moneylender named Isaac and his daughter Rebecca, and the various ways everyone hates them and can harm them with impunity. In fact, even the Ivanhoe, the Knight in Shining Armor, just after he saves Isaac from robbery and possible death, says this little gem:

" 'Our road,' said [Ivanhoe], 'should here seperate; for it beseems not men of my character and thine to travel together longer than needs be..."

And that's the good guy. Sort of a minor theme throughout the book is just how vulnerable Jews are to the predatations of Christians. One vivid example- Prince John and Cedric the Saxon are sitting in the top booth, about to watch the tourney. Prince John sees Isaac in the crowd below, and, thinking to mock Cedric, commands Isaac to take Cedric's place. Isaac naturally doesn't want to cause a scene that would put him in the spotlight, tries to beg off, but Prince John insists, because Prince John is a douche. Cedric looks like he's about to toss Isaac off the balcony.

Prince John says, "Let me see who dares stop him!"

Well, Cedric certainly looks like he dares. Isaac is screwed; if he goes up to take Cedric's place, he gets curb-stomped and possibly stabbed, as Cedric's temper is legendary, but if he refuses John's command, he gets horse whipped and robbed.

Isaac is saved by the timely intervention of the Court Jester, who jumps out at him and thrusts a chunk of pork in Isaac's face while brandishing a wooden sword at him, which startles Isaac so much he loses his footing and falls down the stairs. This amuses John so much he lets the whole thing drop. I really like the Jester, who later on joins up with Richard and cracks some jokes worthy of a Shakespearian comedy, so I choose to interpret that scene as him successfully saving Isaac and defusing a volatile situation, but, damn. When being humiliated, insulted, and slipping down the stairs is literally the best case scenario, you know you're in bad times.

To his credit, Sir Walter Scott does not portray this horrific antisemitism as being in any way good. Rebecca gets a fairly substantial subplot of her own later on, and all Jews present are shown sympathectically. Not to mention all the clearly bad guys specifically target the Jews.

Considering that antisemitism is still alive today, and was possibly even stronger in 1819 England, I'd say Scott is to be congratulated on his skillful weaving of the troubles that Jews faced into his romantic adventure.