Customer Reviews

Knight with Armour

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Really only four stars but there is so little competition for historically accurate crusader fiction.

Be aware, I read this book over a year ago. The only reason I'm reviewing it is that no one else has. Knight with Armor is a fictitious chronicle of an idealistic, low ranking, second born knight who "takes up the cross" (i.e. goes on crusade) for the first crusade. The disadvantage of this tactic: at times the book does drag but it's really the inevitable consequence of focusing on a knight rather than a noble: parts of the three year trek were boring. However, I applaud that focus since it's more representative of what more people on the crusade experienced. All too often, authors focus on the leaders of an era which prevents readers from discovering what life was like for the masses. I'm quite the crusader buff and have read a great deal of the historical texts (even some translated primary texts) but didn't get my degree in crusader history. Having said that, I consider the text quite historically accurate: there are no painfully glaring errors and Duggan even includes several details less emphasized in most texts: the importance of San Simeon during the siege of Antioch, etc. Focusing on a lesser knight brings a more common (not commoner) perspective but risks missing the factions within the crusaders. Duggan uses two ploys to overcome this. First, the protagonist takes an ambitious noble wife who's original husband dies during the crusades: enter the higher level ranks of society and the realities of attrition and women. Second, the protagonist's cousin a Norman under Bohemond. Duggan is able to cover the political factions of the first crusade while not focusing on the nobles themselves. The ending is rather abrupt. SPOILER: Being rather familiar with the history, I was confused: I was nearing the end of the book and could tell Duggan didn't have enough time left to finish the conquest of Jerusalem... you figure it out.

Duggan's novel tracks the development of the second son of a minor Norman noble on the First Crusade from his home in England to the walls of Jerusalem. The hero is not trained as a knight, and his education at the hands of fellow Crusaders and his enemies.

The perspective of tracking the crusade from the viewpoint of a landless second son provides Duggan with two advantages. First, he's able to flesh out the details of life on the First Crusade that really don't come out in most books about the time. His portrayal appears entirely accurate to my amateur eye. Second, the young age of the knight enables him to structure the tale around the development of the knight. He matures from a young man who has no real appreciation for the impact of his feudal oath to a more mature figure who not only appreciates the cost of the oath but actively chooses to uphold the oath despite that cost.

Mr. Duggan was a popular author of Medieval and Roman history, and historical-fiction. "Knight With Armor" was his first novel. Mr. Duggan actually visited the sites of every battle in this tale.

This is the tale of Roger de Bodeham, a poor Norman knight from a minor noble family in southern England. Roger comes from Sussex, not far from Hastings, where his elderly father was part of the Norman invasion of 1066. Being the junior son, Roger's prospects are rather limited, as things stand in England of the late 1090s. When news of the First Crusade circulates to his obscure corner of Christendom, Roger decides to try his luck in this vast undertaking.

With only minimal training in mounted combat, and no battle-experience, Roger goes forth on a war-horse well past its prime, wearing his father's handed down mail-armor. A dismal, plodding campaign of three years awaits him, as the army of the Crusade treks across Europe, Asia Minor, and finally, The Holy Land. Roger's luck and prospects get worse as the years drag on, from one siege to another. He manages to find a wife along the way, ...who ultimately proves to be more throuble than she is worth.

Morale is abyssmal amongst the polyglot factions and nationalities who march to Jerusalem. For much of the journey, the army is in a constant state of near disintegration, as the various factions are tempted to defect and exploit better prosepects along the way. Illness claims more casualties than actual battle, as the muslim adversaries prove to be rather unimpressive combatants. The muslims are still a serious tactical and strategic threat, however, as they are fighting on home territory, ...and in much larger numbers with logistical support close at hand.

This is the tale of the average participant in the First Crusade. Those who had little or nothing at home, assembled what minor resources they could, and went forth on what was supposedly a Holy Misson. Whether they were nobility, or peasants who knew only stagnant misery and poverty in Europe, ...they all found starvation, disease, squalor and death along the way. Of those who survived the Crusade, some found the wealth and opportunity they had hoped for, but at the expense of the citizens of Jerusalem, who were ruthlessly slaughtered and looted. Most Crusaders, of all ranks, won very little for their suffering.

I find that I've no choice but to disagree with the other reviews of Mr. Duggan's work. I found the manuscript rife with errors in the minor details of eleventh century military affairs. Admittedly the overall timeline of the First Crusade is rigidly adhered to and the personalities of the historic figures encountered follow accepted ideas, but the passages describing training, arming and fighting fail to impress on either an historical or dramatic level. I have rarely read a less colourful novel. The rich, varied and exciting land and city scapes of the era and area are glossed over with little or no description. It feels rather like reading an old print of a silent picture fading into obscurity. The main character is unredemptive in almost every way imaginable and equally as colourless as the setting. SPOILER: And he had "walking corpse" stamped on his forehead from the very first page. Overall an unrewarding and somewhat difficult read.