When Knights Were Bold

by Eva March Tappan

This book is in no degree an attempt to relate the involved and intricate history of the Middle Ages. Its plan is, rather, to present pictures of the manner of life and habits of thought of the people who lived between the eighth and fifteenth centuries. Our writings and our everyday conversation are full of their phrases and of allusions to their ideas. Many of our thoughts and feelings and instincts, of our very follies and superstitions, have descended to us from them. To become better acquainted with them is to explain ourselves. In selecting from the enormous amount of material, I have sought to choose those customs which were most characteristic of the times and which have made the strongest impression upon the life of to-day, describing each custom when at its height, rather than tracing its development and history. I hope that the volume will be found sufficiently full to serve as a work of reference, and sufficiently interesting to win its way as a book of general reading.


EVA MARCH TAPPAN.

Genres: History, Medieval

139 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1911

About the author

Eva March Tappan was a teacher and American author born in Blackstone, Massachusetts, the only child of Reverend Edmund March Tappan and Lucretia Logée. Eva graduated from Vassar College in 1875. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and an editor of the Vassar Miscellany. After leaving Vassar she began teaching at Wheaton College where she taught Latin and German from 1875 until 1880. From 1884–94 she was the Associate Principal at the Raymond Academy in Camden, New Jersey. She received graduate degrees in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania. Tappan was the head of the English department at the English High School at Worcester, Massachusetts. She began her literary career writing about famous characters in history and developed an interest in writing children books. Tappan never married.

Reviews

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is full of fascinating information about life in the middle ages. It's very readable and entertaining. This is not a dry history book. As a former science teacher, I was particularly interested in the science and medicine chapter.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly interesting look at medieval life, from pages and knights to monks and kings.

[Lucy-Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting exploration of medieval life, focussing heavily on Knights & Monks but with plenty of interesting information about daily life, trade, the customs & rituals of knights/pages/squires, merchant guilds, education and much more.
The discussion of pages, squires, knights and their lieges was interesting, as was the in depth look at how the merchant & craftsmans guilds operated.
I liked the section focussing on the The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller, and the way their focus changed & adapted from purely aiding sick & injured pilgrims to the Holy Land, to providing pilgrims with an armed escort before eventually becoming a significant military force.

This book was originally published in 1911 and whilst it does show its age at time, it remains a very readable and informative book that gave me new information in an enjoyable way.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved how antiquated this book is. The writing was a bit hard to read but I loved how it gave insight into Medieval times. I especially liked the chapter about chivalry. A fun read for anyone interested in knights, castles and life way back then.

[Sophie Jagau · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved it. a bit dull at times, but overall, it's very nice.

[Phil Syphe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The narrative is engaging, not dry, which in my opinion is always a plus point in non-fiction.

Despite the title, the subject focuses on all aspects of the middle ages, and except for two chapters, all proved interesting to read. I like best the opening chapters that are specifically about a knight’s life and how a man rose from being a humble page to knighthood.

[Isaac F · Rating 2 out of 5]

I learned alot about the medieval times. The book also was very hard to follow but it did explain alot in a short amount of time. It did acount much to the lifestyle of knights it basically focused on everything else.

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty good- and deserves props for several understated sarcastic commentaries on the facts being imparted- but overall, the agenda seemed to be making the Middle Ages sound as much like the early 20th century as it could.

[Laura Quilter]

When knights were bold by Eva March Tappan (1911)