Squires, Knights, Romance, and Chivalry

books:

	• Men of Iron Howard Pyle BJU Press, 1994 average customer review:based on 22 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Great pace, good story, but archaic language

Men of Iron is a coming-of-age story targeted towards adolescent boys. Originally targeting this demographic in the 1890's, it seems a stretch to believe the same target can be hit now. However, there is enough action to keep the attention of the 12-16 year old set. This is a good thing, since the book is excellent at conveying a code which should never fall out of fashion: honor, friendship, loyalty, honesty, respect towards women, and the singular pursuit of a worthwhile goal.

The story itself concerns the rags-to-respectability transformation of Miles Falworth, a noble-minded young man who is tasked with repairing his family's unfairly tarnished reputation. The plot progression is three fights, all of which are distinguished from needless violence by being righteous endeavors which help Miles learn and accept the code of chivalry. The first fight is born out of stubbornness, and serves to end the tyranny of the upperclassmen while teaching Miles an important lesson about leadership and cooperation. The second fight is a joust born out of duty, and serves to give Miles an important sense of self-confidence while emphasizing the positive returns paid by loyalty to king, country, and code. The final fight is a duel born out of legality (trial by ordeal), and serves to restore Miles' family to its rightful place, establish him as a man of means, and provides him with permission to marry his one true love.

While the boyhood fight scenes drag on and the split prose technique (narrative is common, dialogue is archaic) can be awkward, the joust and final duel are compelling reads. What the book lacks in minor character development (it is not clear that his mortal enemy is 100% evil), it makes up in plot clarity and a succinct narrative.

This book is a pleasure to read. My only regret is that Howard Pyle did not write more books to chronicle the life and times of Myles Falworth.

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Squires, Knights, Romance, and Chivalry - Recommended!

"Men of Iron" is one of my favorite books from my preteen years. This well written story follow the story a young man (Myles) forced to leave his family and eventually attempt to right the wrongs evil men have visited on him and his family.

It is a story of castle life, boyhood dreams, chivalry, and coming of age in medieval England.

Highly recommended! Note that SCA'ers and fantasy gamers might also enjoy it.

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struggled through and came out victorious

It's a story about a young man named Myles Falworth. His father is blind and outlawed for a reason Myles finds out later in the book. It's about his growing up (he hates to be ordered about by his superiors) and becoming a knight and restoring his fathers honor. It's an interesting read, but sort of hard to understand as the characters speak in old English. (for sooth, thee, thou, methinks, ect.)

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A classic still worthy of being read

Howard Pyle's Men of Iron is a lesser-known classic, originally published in 1891. The style is reflective of both the time it was written in and the time the story takes place in, and so takes a bit of getting used to, but it flows well and soon you're immersed well into both periods: the later age of chivalry of the 14th century as well as the late 1800's when books for boys centering on rags-to-riches tales and offering moral examples to live up to were popular. Basically, think Horatio Alger and Mallory blended together in a single novel.

I liked the fact that Pyle gives shading to most of the characters in the book, making them believable in their motivations and not mere sterotypes cast in black and white. Myles Falworth, the young hero-to-be, has his noble side but is also quick-tempered and stubborn to a fault. The Earl of Mackworth, who takes him in and sees to his training, is something of a schemer and has his own agenda in which Myles is to play a part. And even the great wrong Myles' family suffered is cast in such a light that Myles can see that the King may have had good reason for acting as he did. Even the outright villain, the Earl of Alben, is shown as not being entirely without reason for his actions.

The best thing though about the novel is the way it immerses the reader in the life and training of a knight in a noble household in the late medieval era. The language used by the characters, their attitudes and their roles in society are all true to the time, and Pyle works in an enormous amount of factual detail into the descriptions of how they lived, what they wore, the rules by which they lived, and so on. The details on the ceremony in which Myles is knighted, the first tournament joust he participates in, and the final trial by combat in which he vindicates his father are truly worth the read for anyone who wants to know what these were like and for anyone who cherishes historical accuracy. As an example, this description of the field where the trial by combat was to take place:

"The lists were laid out in the usual form. The true or principal list in which the combatants were to engage was sixty yards long and forty yards wide; this rectangular space being surrounded by a fence about six feet high, painted vermilion. Between the fence and the stan where the King and the spectators sat, and surrounding the central space, was the outer or false list, also surrounded by a fence. In the false list the Constable and the Marshal and their followers and attendants were to be stationed at the time of battle to preserve the general peace during the contest between the principals."

Even a hundred-plus years after its original publication, Men of Iron still has much to offer to readers who enjoy tales of knights and the age of chivalry, and to readers who want to know what it was like for a boy of the time whose coming of age was to become one of those knights. Recommended.

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A great book for boys.

This is a book I first read in the ninth grade but is easily read by any good reader 5th grade up. An Adventure about a young boy taken from his family at a young age who learns to do what is right , to stand up against bullies , to organise others in a right cause. We follow him to young manhood and the righting of a terrible injustice. Boys will love it. Makes you want to make a shield and sword and be courageous and right wrongs your self. This book was written expressly for boys. My sons have read it and I hope my grandsons will too.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Young Myles Falworth wins a reputation for courage and independence while still in training at the castle of the great Earl of Mackworth. But one day he discovers that his blind father had been condemned for treason and is still being hunted by a powerful enemy who is close to the King. To challenge the King's champion means certain death. Does he dare to risk ordeal by battle to win back his family's honor?

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