Eyewitness Knight Book

"After the Battle of Hastings, Duke William brought the knight, the castle, and the feudal system to England."

From some troublesome Vikings paid off with Normandy, to the high philosophical ideals of mercy and devotion to the needs of the physically weak, it's hard not to be fascinated by the history and traditions surrounding Medieval knights. These Eyewitness Books are an innovative combination of authentic museum artefacts from around the world presented in high-quality illustrations with captions that can be browsed in any order. When I was a child I was enraptured by the Minerals and Gemstones Eyewitness book that my dad gave me. So a volume on knights could not disappoint!
"The rules of chivalry dictated that knights should show courtesy to defeated enemies, but this code was not always observed."
Despite a long-term obsession with all things Arthurian (let's be honest, that means Sir Lancelot), I still managed to learn new things from this book. The technical terms were helpful, for example, I can finally say I now know what is going on when fantasy characters get hit in battle and can't fight back because their vambrace has been warped (part of a suit of armour which protects the biceps). I know that early spiked maces were known as "nobblers", and that when plate armour superceded coats of mail, the weapon of choice changed from the double-edged slicing blade to a pointed piercing sword. I saw an amazing shaffron (armour for a horse's head) with a sharp unicorn's horn mounted on the forehead. In addition to some fun esoterica, such as the swan badge for the princes of Wales dating back to the House of Lancaster, foot jousts being carried out over a barrier, or even crazier, from two colliding row boats, that gold can never be used on silver in heraldry, and I also appreciated the inclusion of Japanese samuri.
"Heavily armed squadrons of knights could not break the disciplined ranks of infantry."
Sadly, all things must come to an end. Even the great era of battling knights which has never lost its romanticism in 600 years. At times the artefact style left this book impersonal and lacking in a sense of time or historical narrative, so Horrible Histories will always be needed in conjunction with these books for getting children interested in history. I will also briefly complain that the main reason for heraldic seals was to avoid forgery not compensate for illiteracy, the objects on a coat-of-arms should be named in English in conventional heraldry, and that the actor dressed as the knight could have been more handsome. But then again, maybe I'm just grumpy because the great age of chivalry has come to an end.
Thank you for going to an Eyewitness virtual museum quest with me, Adam! We even managed to read it before the due date of November 6th! (after about six extensions ...) I hope that we can enjoy many more children's books from the library soon.