Men of Iron (1892), By Howard Pyle A NOVEL (Original Version) illustrated

Men of Iron is an 1891 novel by the American author Howard Pyle, who also illustrated it. Set in the 15th century, it is a juvenile "coming of age" work in which a young squire, Myles seeks not only to become a knight but to eventually redeem his father's honor. In Chapter 24 the knighthood ceremony is presented and described as it would be in a non-fiction work concerning knighthood and chivalry. Descriptions of training equipment are also given throughout. It comprises 68,334 words and is divided into 33 unnamed chapters, an introduction, and a conclusion. It was made into a movie in 1954, The Black Shield of Falworth. Plot--The story begins in 1400, the year after the deposition of Richard II of England by Henry of Bolingbrooke, thereafter Henry IV. Lord Gilbert Reginald Falworth is attainted for being King Richard's councilor, who strongly advised him to resist his cousin Henry's movement to seize the throne, and for protecting The Earl of Alban, a fictional conspirator against the succeeding King Henry. Falworth is blinded in a trial by combat with William Bushy Brookhurst, later created Earl of Alban, whom young Myles, son of Lord Falworth, remembers brutally killing Sir John Dale in the hall of Falworth castle where he lived with his parents. Lord Falworth, his wife, Myles, and Diccon Bowman go into hiding in Crosbey-Dale on the estates of the Priory of St. Mary, under the protection of the elderly Prior Edward. Most of the action of the novel is in, England; the ruins of a Castle actually exist on the west side of Derby. Bowman undertakes the physical training of young Myles, and Prior Edward performs the academic training. Lady Falworth teaches him the French language. Myles is a champion wrestler, defeating a man a head taller than he. Later in the novel the reader learns that Myles as a child took a dangerous ride on a country windmill. In 1408 when Myles is 16 years old he is taken to Devlen castle, the seat of the Earl of Mackworth, kinsman to Lord Falworth. There he is enrolled as a squire by Sir James Lee, an old friend of his father's and Bowman. Another squire, Francis, became Myles's good friend, who defended him in his struggle against the head-squires (the bachelors) led by Walter Blunt. There had been a pecking order established by which the bachelors forced the younger squires to serve them. Myles, Francis, and eighteen other lads formed what they called the "Twenty Knights of the Rose" as a fellowship to promote justice among the squires and end the hierarchy established by the bachelors. The "Knights of the Rose" met in a hideout discovered by Myles and Francis at the top of the oldest part of the castle, known as the "Brutus Tower," which they called their Eyry . After two fights with Walter Blunt, Myles and his "knights" win a skirmish with the bachelors in which Blunt is gravely wounded by Myles for the second time. The bachelor's routine is ended. Walter Blunt is made a gentleman-in-waiting by the Earl Mackworth, and he is no longer mentioned in the novel. When retrieving a ball he had used in play with his friends, Myles makes his way over a wall into the "privy garden" used by the Countess and her household, and meets Anne, the earl's daughter and Alice, the earl's niece. Anne is a few years older than Myles, but Alice is just his age so he begins to consider her his lady fair and a possible wife. Seven times he climbs over the wall to meet with the girls to tell them about his exploits. The last time Earl Mackworth himself sees him trespassing and puts a stop to it. ...