Ivanhoe is a historical novel by the Scottish writer Walter Scott, published in 1819 and set in twelfth-century England during the reign of Richard the Lionheart, following the Saxon knight Wilfred of Ivanhoe, disinherited by his father Cedric for supporting the Norman-aligned Richard and for his love of Cedric's ward Rowena. Returning in disguise from the Crusades, Ivanhoe competes anonymously in a tournament, becomes entangled with the outlaw Robin Hood's band, and helps rescue Rowena and the Jewish moneylender's daughter Rebecca, who has fallen in love with him, from the Norman knight Brian de Bois-Guilbert, before Richard's return restores order and Ivanhoe marries Rowena. Scott used the novel to dramatize the centuries-long tension between Saxon and Norman England as a vehicle for exploring chivalry, religious prejudice and national identity, and its version of Robin Hood, King Richard and Norman-Saxon conflict shaped most later popular retellings of medieval England. Enormously popular on publication and translated widely, Ivanhoe is credited with reviving broad public interest in the Middle Ages and medieval romance across nineteenth-century Europe and remains Scott's most widely read novel.
Facts
Classification
Original Language Composed, From (Year) FAQs
Why did Scott set Ivanhoe in the reign of Richard I?
Scott chose Richard I's reign for its famous names and for the contrast between Saxons who worked the land and Normans who ruled as conquerors.
In his introduction to the novel, Scott says he chose the reign of Richard I not only because it abounded with characters whose very names were sure to attract general attention, but also because it afforded a striking contrast between the Saxons, by whom the soil was cultivated, and the Normans, who still reigned in it as conquerors, reluctant to mix with the vanquished or to acknowledge themselves of the same stock. He adds that the idea of this contrast was taken from Logan's tragedy of Runnamede, in which he had seen Saxon and Norman barons opposed to each other on different sides of the stage.
Was Laurence Templeton a real person?
No. Scott says he never meant the supposed Mr Templeton of the Dedicatory Epistle to pass as a real person.
No. In the introduction Scott writes that there was no idea or wish to pass off the supposed Mr Templeton as a real person. He explains that a kind of continuation of the Tales of my Landlord had recently been attempted by a stranger, and that the Dedicatory Epistle was expected to pass for an imitation of the same kind, putting enquirers on a false scent and leading them to believe they had before them the work of some new candidate for their favour.
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Source Wikipedia: Ivanhoe
In Genre
Source Wikipedia: Ivanhoe
Source Wikipedia: Ivanhoe
In the Other Atlases
Original Language
Also in Language Atlas: the original language of this subject.
Originated In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.
Source Wikipedia: Ivanhoetier 2
Sources
1. Open Library: Ivanhoe
2. Wikipedia: Ivanhoe
WikipediaLead
Ivanhoe: A Romance ( EYE-vən-hoh) by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in December 1819, as one of the Waverley novels.
Lead paragraph
Ivanhoe: A Romance ( EYE-vən-hoh) by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in December 1819, as one of the Waverley novels. The Waverley novels are considered seminal to the genre of historical fiction, and Ivanhoe became by far the best-known entry in the whole cycle of nearly thirty books.
In Genre: Historical Fiction, Infobox, genre field
Genre: Historical novel, chivalric romance
In Genre: Chivalric Romance, Infobox, genre field
Genre: Historical novel, chivalric romance
Authored By: Walter Scott, Infobox, author field
Author: Walter Scott
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