"Ivanhoe" is the story of one of the remaining Saxon noble families at a time when the English nobility was overwhelmingly Norman. It follows the Saxon protagonist, Wilfred of Ivanhoe, who is out of favour with his father for his allegiance to the Norman king, Richard I of England. The story is set in 1194, after the failure of the Third Crusade, when many of the Crusaders were still returning to Europe. King Richard, who had been captured by the Duke of Austria on his way back, was believed to still be in the arms of his captors. The legendary Robin Hood, initially under the name of Locksley, is also a character in the story, as are his "merry men". The character that Scott gave to Robin Hood in Ivanhoe helped shape the modern notion of this figure as a cheery noble outlaw. The novel is sometimes credited for increasing interest in romance and medievalism; John Henry Newman claimed Scott "had first turned men's minds in the direction of the middle ages," while Carlyle and Ruskin made similar assertions of Scott's overwhelming influence over the revival based primarily on the publication of this novel. THE AUTHOR Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 - 21 September 1832) was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time. Deriving most of his material from his native Scotland, its history and its legends, Scott invented and mastered what we know today as the historical novel. ABOUT THE BOOK SERIES The ApeBook Classics (ABC) bring to life famous and lesser known masterpieces of world literature in digital format. This means that even works that have almost been forgotten are preserved for cultural memory. apebook adheres to the highest standards in eBook production and offers you high quality, aesthetically pleasing classics at a fair price. Don't settle for cheap and loveless versions if you love good literature, instead choose low-priced but beautiful editions from a real publisher. With the ApeBook Classics you get professionally created eBooks that appreciate the literary value of their content through an appropriate design. Search for more ApeBook Classics titles to build your digital library by typing "apebook" in the browse field. By the way, apebook also offers selected titles as paperback editions. And last but not least: apebook supports the environmental organization "Save the rainforest". You can find a complete overview of the publishing programme at: www.apebook.de