"Ivanhoe" by Walter Scott (1819)

This has been on my to-read list forever and with some embarrassment I must admit that I don't recall ever actually reading Scott before. What I do remember is borrowing his "The Heart of Mid-Lothian" from my local public library as a teenager and bringing it back unread, so my initial introduction to this writer was not very impressive. Who knows was it a clumsy translation or simply the fact that I might have been too young for flowery and long-winded style of this author, but it left me a bit intimidated all these years until now. And since I decided that 2026 will be year of reading only writers I never read before, it came as completely spontaneous decision. Truth to be told, I always had soft spot for old classics and this year I already pushed myself trough experience of 1902 western "The Virginian" which was wonderful, though initially hard nut to crack - the more I persevered, the more I loved it. So perhaps unconsciously, I hoped for a similar experience. And I was 100% right.

First, a few words about Walter Scott - he was already a famous writer when he published "Ivanhoe" in 1819. He had enormous success with a series of historical novels set in 17th and 18th century Scotland, but with this next novel he decided to move plot in medieval England and there was something about the change of pace or perhaps he was simply inspired, in any case "Ivanhoe" became the biggest success of his professional life and turned thousands of readers to medieval history. This particular novel is the reason why they call Walter Scott "the father of historical fiction". Interestingly enough, everything we later accepted as a part of Robin Hood/Richard the Lionheart lore comes from this novel - all those legendary characters (Prince John, Friar Tuck, etc) they are all here and although they are supportive characters, they left such a strong impression on the readers that subsequent writers all use Scott as a inspiration. Another thing I must mention is Scott's writing style which is very, very old fashioned + he created his own version of old English language which is somewhere between poetic and annoying - first two chapters were incredibly hard to crack but as I continued, the magic happened and I started to actually enjoy the rhythm and the flow of the sentences. It felt as I am reading this forever but actually it was only 3 weeks. With all my proclaimed "suffering", when the end came I was sad to let the book go. Exactly like with above mentioned "The Virginian", it was at first difficult to read but than I got totally into it and at the end I loved it with all my heart. 

The novel itself is a curios combination of medieval knights adventure story and a highly researched historical novel, with some occasional moralising and a tons of sidetracking and detours that stop the plot dead in its tracks but also bring a real sense of author's thinking and his personality. Scott might not be really the first but he was certainly the first really widely read writer of historical fiction and very often this particular novel transport the reader into a completely different, medieval world - I was as enchanted as everybody else. From top of my head, I recall the description of funeral party after the passing of Saxon nobleman Athelstane and how all sorts of medieval folks crowded the Castle of Coningsburgh: 

" Numerous parties, therefore, were seen ascending and descending the hill on which the castle was situated; and when the King and his attendants entered the open and unguarded gates of the external barrier, the space within presented a scene not easily reconciled with the cause of the assemblage. In one place cooks were toiling to roast huge oxen and fat sheep; in another, hogsheads of ale were set abroach, to be drained at the freedom of all comers. Groups of every description were to be seen devouring the food and swallowing the liquor thus abandoned to their discretion. The naked Saxon serf was drowning the sense of his half-year’s hunger and thirst in one day of gluttony and drunkenness; the more pampered burgess and guild-brother was eating his morsel with gust, or curiously criticising the quantity of the malt and the skill of the brewer. Some few of the poorer Norman gentry might also be seen, distinguished by their shaven chins and short cloaks, and not less so by their keeping together, and looking with great scorn on the whole solemnity, even while condescending to avail themselves of the good cheer which was so liberally supplied.

Mendicants were, of course, assembled by the score, together with strolling soldiers returned from Palestine (according to their own account at least); pedlars were displaying their wares; travelling mechanics were inquiring after employment; and wandering palmers, hedge-priests, Saxon minstrels, and Welsh bards, were muttering prayers, and extracting mistuned dirges from their harps, crowds, and rotes. One sent forth the praises of Athelstane in a doleful panegyric; another, in a Saxon genealogical poem, rehearsed the uncouth and harsh names of his noble ancestry. Jesters and jugglers were not awanting, nor was the occasion of the assembly supposed to render the exercise of their profession indecorous or improper. Indeed, the ideas of the Saxons on these occasions were as natural as they were rude. If sorrow was thirsty, there was drink; if hungry, there was food; if it sunk down upon and saddened the heart, here were the means supplied of mirth, or at least of amusement. Nor did the assistants scorn to avail themselves of those means of consolation, although, every now and then, as if suddenly recollecting the cause which had brought them together, the men groaned in unison, while the females, of whom many were present, raised up their voices and shrieked for very woe." 

There is of course a story itself - about disinherited young knight Wilfred of Ivanhoe who is back from the crusade together with his lord Richard the Lionheart and how they had to fight back trough all the enemies surrounding the evil usurper Prince John, plus numerous complications concerning ladies (pretty but bland Saxon princess Rowena, who epitomises than current ideal of decorative and helpless beauty, the Jewish healer Rebecca who is far more interesting character), Robin Hood and his outlaws, countless servants, knights, abbots, etc. The novel is really a masterpiece and even though it was difficult to get into it, it gave me hours of joy and bliss.