The picturesque countryside of old England, where the River Don flows, and in ancient times there grew a large forest that covered most of the mountains and valleys between Sheffield and the town of Doncaster, is the setting for the tale of the knight of Ivanhoe.

The situation in the country was difficult. Conquered by the Normans, the Anglo-Saxons suffered from the oppression of foreign feudal lords and the troops subordinate to them. After the victory at Hastings, power passed to the Norman nobility, the Anglo-Saxons lost their privileges and even their language. The glorious king Richard the Lionheart, having gone to fight the Saracens in the Holy Land, was captured, from where he returned only for the time when the events described in this story took place.

King William the Conqueror, a passionate hunter, exterminated entire villages to spread forests and introduced new tyrant "forest laws". All these circumstances once again aggravated the wounds that the conquest of the country led to, and supported the fire of enmity and hatred between the victorious Normans and the defeated Saxons.

One day, in a forest clearing, the figures of two poorly dressed people with strange rings around their necks appeared, the inscriptions on which indicated that these people were the slaves of Cedric Roderwood Gurd the swineherd and Wamba, the beloved jester. They herded pigs, speaking to each other in the Anglo-Saxon language and repenting that there were no more knights left who could protect the poor Saxon, except their master Sir Cedric, who alone goes against the foreign invaders.

Suddenly men appeared in the clearing, one of them was in a monastic robe, and it was easy to recognize him as the abbot of Zhorvos Abbey, Prior Eimer, who loved feasts and other pleasures of life. His dark-skinned companion had a strange blackish, almost ovarian appearance, a deep scar on his forehead, which also damaged his eye and gave even greater sternness and savagery to his face. The outfit and weapons of his eastern companions were also unusual.

The prior asked the way to the castle of Cedric-Sax - Roderwood, and Wamba deliberately showed him the wrong way, because he did not want his master, Cedric, to quarrel with the uninvited guests, and they, in turn, saw the Sax's pupil - the beautiful Lady Rowena.

Leaving along the indicated path, the travelers discussed the hot-tempered character of the rich Cedric the Saxon and the beauty of Lady Rowena, and even made a bet: the prior should give his companion Brian de Bois-Guilbert, a knight-templar who had recently returned from Palestine, a golden chain if he recognizes the beauty of the Saxon.

Win it fairly,” said the prior, “and then wear it to good health.” Unfortunately, Cedric-Sax kicked his only son out of the house because he dared to look with loving eyes at this beauty.

The prior and the knight almost got lost, but an oncoming traveler, who introduced himself as a pilgrim from the Holy Land, led them to Roderwood, Cedric's home.

Roderwood Castle was a fortress, as required by those troubled times when the monastery could be plundered and burned every day. The castle was surrounded by a deep moat filled with water.

Before entering, the knight blew his horn loudly.

When the owner of the estate of Cedric-Sax was informed that the Prior of Zhvorsky and the knight of the Order of the Templars of Bois-Pilbert were asking for shelter in the midst of bad weather, he was not happy about this visit. The Templar became famous as a brave knight of his order, but at the same time he was known for his pride, arrogance and cruelty. Few of those who were lucky enough to return from Palestine said that he was a man with a merciless heart.

However, Cedric, although not satisfied with the visit of the uninvited guests, invited them to dinner. In the room, military and hunting weapons were hung on the walls, the entire interior bore the imprint of that rough simplicity of the Saxon era, which Cedric loved and was so proud of. It was clear from the face of the ruler of the castle that he had sincere, but incendiary and quick luck. He was a man of average height, broad-shouldered, with long arms and strong, like a man accustomed to the difficulties of a hunting life or to war.

The owner warned the later visitors that he would speak to them in the Saxon language, because he considered it his duty to communicate in the language of his ancestors. The appearance of Lady Rowena in the hall made a great impression on the knight Bois-Guilbert. Despite the warning of her guardian, Briand de Bois-Guilbert did not take his eyes off the charming Saxon.

Rowena was tall and extremely slender, had clear blue eyes under thick dark eyebrows and luxurious chestnut-blond hair that was intricately curled into numerous curls. As soon as Rowena noticed how passionately the knight was looking at her, she immediately covered her face with a haze.

The prior invited the beautiful girl and her guardian to a tournament that was to take place soon.

It hasn’t been decided yet,” Cedric answered, “whether we’ll go there at all.” I don't like these vain holidays, which were unknown to my ancestors during the times when England was free.

At least let me hope,” said the prior, “that together with us it will be easier for you to decide to go there; when the roads are now so dangerous, one should not refuse the company of Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert.

Priore,” answered the Saxon, “while traveling through our country so far, I have not resorted to outside help, relying only on my good sword and faithful servants.

The conversation was interrupted by the goalkeeper, who appeared to announce that some unfamiliar goal circle was begging to be let in and accepted.

This stranger was a Jew named Isaac from York; and although the abbot and the king-templar were outraged that they could find themselves in the same company with an infidel Jew, Cedric ordered the traveler to be admitted, as the custom of hospitality dictates.

Isaac turned out to be a tall, thin old man with regular facial features; an aquiline nose, sharp black eyes, a high, wrinkled forehead, long gray hair and beard made a good impression. However, none of the guests wanted to give up their seat for a long time, until one pilgrim offered to sit next to him.

The conversation gradually turned to the question of the military prowess of the Saxons, which they had discovered in the Holy Land, and the pilgrim remarked that the English knights were inferior to none of those who fought for the Holy Land. He himself saw how King Richard himself and five of his knights at the tournament after the conquest of Saint-Jean d'Acre challenged their opponents to battle and how that day each of those knights came out to duel three times and threw three opponents to the ground.

Sir Briand de Bois-Guilbert objected that only one knight threw him to the ground from his horse, and even then this supposedly happened through a simple accident and the rashness of his horse: it was the knight Ivanhoe. Of all the six knights, according to his age, he received the most glory in the tournament.

Defending the honor of Ivanhoe, the pilgrim offered a piece of the holy cross from the monastery of Mount Carmel as a pledge that when the knight of Ivanhoe returned from across the four seas to Britain, he would be obliged to accept the challenge of Brian de Bois-Guilbert. Everyone took off their hats in front of the relic. And the templar did not pay any attention to her. He took the gold chain from his neck and, throwing it on the table, said:

Let Prior Yeimer keep my pledge along with the pledge of this unknown passerby...

When dinner was over, the pilgrim was stopped in the hallway by Lady Rowena's maid, saying in an authoritative tone that her mistress wanted to speak to him. The pilgrim agreed silently, without objection, and soon he was telling the noble maiden everything he knew about the fate of her beloved knight Ivanhoe, who supposedly escaped the persecution of his enemies in Palestine and was returning to England. “God grant,” said Lady Rowena, “that he reaches us alive and well and can take up arms in the upcoming tournament, where all the knights of the country must show their military power and dexterity. If Adelstan Koniņzburzkiy receives the award, then Ivanhoe, returning to England, will hear unpleasant news.” Lady Rowena spoke of the man to whom she was betrothed by the will of her guardian and whom she did not love because her heart belonged to Ivanhoe.

The happily saved Jew Isaac wanted to thank the mysterious Prochaninov. He guessed that this was why a horse and weapons were needed, because under the appearance of the poor traveler there was hidden a knight’s chain and golden spurs that sparkled when he bent over the bed in the morning. Isaac told the prochaninov to turn to the rich Jew Kirjaf Jairem from Lombardy, who lived in the city of Leicester, and received weapons and a horse from him.

The situation of the English people during the times about which the story is being told was difficult. King Richard was captured by the treacherous and cruel Duke of Austria. Even Richard's place of imprisonment was not known; most of his subjects knew nothing about their king.

King Richard's brother Prince John, in alliance with Philip of France, Richard's mortal enemy, used all his influence with the Duke of Austria to continue this captivity, because he hoped to win the royal crown himself and become the rightful heir. Frivolous, depraved and treacherous, John managed to win over not only those who feared Richard's wrath for crimes committed during his absence, but also numerous adventurers who, having returned from the Crusades to their homeland, hoped to enrich themselves due to the disorder in state.

In addition, many robbers from the poorest strata of the population united in huge detachments and reigned in the forests and wastelands, punishing their exploiters with weapons for the insults they had caused. The barons themselves, having made each of their castles something like a fortress, became the heads of detachments that were no less lawless and just as dangerous as packs of the most inveterate robbers. And besides, a dangerous disease had spread in the country, which was gaining momentum due to the terrible living conditions of the poor.

Despite all this, almost the entire population took part in the tournament, which took place at Ashby, in the county of Leicester. The most glorious knights were supposed to come there; they thought that Prince John himself would be there. Huge crowds of people of various ranks hurried to the place of the knightly competition on the appointed morning. Here the name of the most favored woman, the queen of love and beauty, should be determined. But no one could yet guess the name of the one who was destined to be the queen.

Old Isaac and his daughter Rebecca also appeared at the tournament, and again no one wanted to give them their place. The dispute was noticed by Prince John, who, in a luxurious red robe embroidered with gold, with a falcon on his arm, led his merry company, riding around the arena on a dashing gray horse. He immediately recognized the Jew, and Rebecchina’s beauty aroused even greater interest in him.

Who's sitting up there? - said the prince, looking at the gallery. - Saxon men? Down with them! Let them make room and give room to the Jew and his good daughter!

Those who were sitting in the gallery and to whom this offensive, rude speech was addressed were the family of Cedric-Sax and his friend and relative Adelstan of Koninzburz, who was of noble birth, but had an indecisive and sluggish character, and therefore did not immediately draw his weapon when de Bracy pointed his spear at him. But Mr. Cedric, as decisive as his comrade was sluggish, pulled out his short sword with lightning speed and with one blow cut off the tip of the spear. Prince John's face filled with anger, but he was forced to retreat. He leaned down from his horse, tore the bag from Isaac's belt, threw Wamby a few ducats and rode further around the arena to thunderous applause from the audience, who greeted him as if he had done an honest, noble deed.

The tournament has begun. According to the rules, the five knights who were called were obliged to fight all opponents. Each knight who wanted to fight was given the right to choose his opponent from among those summoned by touching his shield. In addition, when the assembled knights had fulfilled their duties, that is, each of them had broken five spears, the prince had the right to proclaim the winner of the first day of the tournament. Finally, it was announced that a general tournament would take place on the second day and all the assembled knights could take part in it. Then the knight, whom the prince will proclaim as the winner of this second day, will be crowned by the queen of beauty and love with a wreath of gold plates on the model of a laurel crown. On the second day, the knightly competition will end, then there will be a performance of archers, a bullfight and other folk entertainment.

The knights who were summoned came out of their tents, mounted their horses and, led by Brian de Bois-Guilbert and Malvoisin Front de Boeuf, rode towards them. They remained victorious in numerous fights. Cedric-Sax was especially outraged by this: in every victory of the Norman knights that were called, he saw an enemy triumph over the glory of England. Cedric wanted Adelstan to defend the Saxon honor, but he had too little luck and was so unambitious that he did not dare to make the attempt that Cedric expected of him.

No one broke pauses during the tournament; Only occasionally were the exclamations of the heralds heard:

Love to women! Write off death! Come out, brave knights! The eyes of beauties look at your exploits.

For quite a long time, no one dared to continue the fight, and the people had already begun to grumble about the spoiled holiday, suddenly from the north side the sound of a lonely trumpet was heard, which called for a fight. The new fighter, as could be judged by his fully armored figure, was slightly above average height and not very strong in build. He had steel armor heavily carved with gold, and for the motto on his shield was a young oak tree, torn out by its roots, with the inscription: “Disinherited.”

The knight hit Brian de Bois-Guilbert's shield with the tip of his spear. The blow sounded loudly. Everyone was surprised by this self-confidence, and most of all by the formidable knight himself, who was thus challenged to a mortal duel.

Have you atoned for your sins, my brother? - asked the templar, - and listened to mass this morning before so desperately risking your life?

“I am better prepared for death than you,” answered the knight.

As soon as the trumpets gave the signal, the knights met each other, their spears were split right up to the shafts, and the templar’s ​​saddle girth burst, and he flew off his horse to the ground. The enraged Bois-Guilbert pulled out his sword and rushed at the winner, but the tournament marshals separated the opponents.

“I hope,” said the templar, looking furiously at his opponent, that we will meet again where no one can stop us.

If we don’t meet,” replied the Disinherited One, “it won’t be my fault.” On foot or on horseback, with spears, axes or swords, I am always ready to fight with you.

Without getting off his horse, the winner asked for a glass of wine and, throwing back his visor, announced that he was drinking to the health of all true Englishmen, to the death of foreign tyrants.”

In the following fights, Disinherited defeated the giant Front de Boeuf, Sir Philip Malvoisin, Grand Mechiel and Ralph de Vipont.

William de Uyville and Stephen Matival, marshals of the tournament, were the first to greet the winner, asking him to remove his helmet, or at least raise his visor, before approaching Prince John, who was to crown him with the reward of victory. The Disinherited refused their request, saying that he could not show his face for the reason he had told the heralds before entering the arena. The answer fully satisfied the marshals, for among the bizarre vows of knighthood, the most common was the promise to remain unknown for some time or until a certain feat was accomplished.

John was quite interested in the mystery of the stranger; in addition, he was dissatisfied with the outcome of the tournament, where his beloved knights suffered defeats one after another from the same opponent.

“Our will is this,” John answered, “that the Disinherited One should wait until someone guesses his name and title, even if he has to sit until nightfall, then even then he won’t catch a cold after such labor.”

Many of those present whispered the opinion that perhaps this was the king, Richard the Lionheart himself.

“God forbid,” said the prince and turned pale like a dead man. He was terribly excited and frightened, but the Disinherited Knight did not utter a word in response to the prince’s greeting and limited himself to only a respectful bow.

Finally, slowly and deftly tilting the tip of the spear, he lowered the crown to the feet of the beautiful Rowena. Immediately the trumpets sounded, and the heralds proclaimed Lady Rowena the queen of beauty and love. However, both the winner of the tournament and his chosen beauty queen refused to attend Prince John’s feast, which also irritated him quite a lot.

After the end of the tournament, the Disinherited Knight took only half of the amount assigned to him. sum of money for the weapons and horses of the vanquished, distributing the rest. He asked Jourou Brian de Bois-Guilbert to tell his master that their fight was not over yet and would not end until they fought in mortal combat.

Next, he ordered Gurdov, who played the role of his squire, to take a bag of gold and take it to Ashby to pay the Jew Isaac from York for the horse and weapons borrowed. So, it became clear that the mysterious knight, deprived of his inheritance, and the pilgrim who asked for refuge in the house of Cedric-Saxe were one person.

Isaac, his daughter and servants lived with a wealthy friend in a house outside the city, near the village of Ashby. The old Jew took eighty zechin for the horse and weapons, and his daughter Rebecca, secretly calling Gourdo to her chambers, gave him another hundred zechin. However, the swineherd's joy over such unexpected luck was short-lived...

Gurd had just left the city when suddenly four men, two from each end of the road, pounced on him and grabbed him tightly.

Come on, what are you talking about! - exclaimed one of them. “We are benefactors, we free everyone from weight.”

The swineherd invited them to take his personal thirty sequins, leaving his master's money. When the robbers learned that he was serving the Disinherited Knight, who had covered himself with glory at the tournament in Ashby, they decided not to take his money. Taking advantage of the fact that the attackers were counting money, Gurd snatched a stick from one of them, knocked down the leader, who did not suspect his intention, and almost snatched the bag and his treasures. But the robbers, it turned out, were too clever - they again grabbed the bag and Gourdo. The leader ordered Gurdova to fight with one of the robbers to prove his dexterity.

Both fighters, equally armed with sticks, walked out into the middle of the clearing. For several minutes they showed the utmost strength, courage and dexterity, until Gurd struck his enemy on the head with all his might, so that he was stretched out in full height on the grass...

“Well, now go where you want, guy,” said the leader, turning to Gurdo with everyone’s consent. “I’ll give you two comrades, they will lead you to your master’s tent and protect you from night wanderers, but don’t try to find out who we are.” , otherwise you will not escape trouble.

The next day the next fights were to take place. According to the charter, the knight Disinherited was to become the head of one party, and Briand de Bois-Guilbert, recognized on the eve of the second warrior after the winner, was to be at the other head.

Prince John arrived with his retinue, and at the same time Cedric-Saxe arrived with Lady Rowena, but without Adelstan, who decided to participate in the competition and, to Cedric’s amazement, joined the templar’s ​​party.

Adelstan hid the main reason that forced him to join the party of Brian de Bois-Guilbert. He had too little luck to woo Lady Rowena himself, and yet he felt the charms of her beauty and considered their marriage a settled matter, just as Cedric and his friends would have been glad if it had happened. Therefore, he was hostile to the winner that the day before he had honored Lady Rowena by choosing her as queen.

According to the tournament rules of this day, the battle must take place with sharp, sharp swords and spears. Despite this, knights were forbidden to stab with swords; they only had the right to strike. It was allowed to use maces or an ax at will, but the dagger was prohibited. The opponents fought equally fiercely, and happiness passed first to one side and then to the other. The leaders fought surprisingly fearlessly. Neither Briand de Bois-Guilbert nor the Disinherited Knight could find among their opponents a warrior equal in strength to each of them. Inflamed by mutual enmity, they constantly tried to collide with each other, well aware that when one of them was overcome, it would mean victory.

In the end, the detachment of the Knight of the Disinherited began to lose the case. The huge Front-where-Befov's hand on one side and Adelstanov's heavy blows on the second destroyed and swept away all the obstacles that appeared in front of them. Instantly turning their horses, they rushed towards the Knight of the Disinherited - the Norman on one side, the Saxon on the second. The Disinherited Knight was saved by the unanimous warning cry of the spectators:

Beware, beware, Disinherited Knight! - was heard from everywhere.

But at this time an unexpected event happened - a knight in black armor, on a huge black horse, strong and powerful in appearance, who until now had almost not taken part in the battle, for which he received the nickname “Black Lazy” from the audience, suddenly intervened in the battle .

Having fixed his spurs on his still very fresh horse, he rushed to the aid of the leader, crying out in a thunderous voice: “Deprived of the Inheritance, I am coming to the rescue!” He made it just in time - another minute, and it would have been too late, because while the Disinherited Knight was fighting with the Templar, Front de Boeuf was rushing at him with his sword raised. But Black Lazy Guy got ahead of him, hitting his opponent on the head, and Front de Boeuf fell to the ground. Then the Black Knight turned his horse towards Adelstan Koninzburzky, and since his sword had been chipped in the fight with Front de Boeuf, he tore the ax out of his velvet hands. He, as a man well acquainted with this weapon, outstripped Adelstan on the helmet so much that he fell unconscious into the arena.

Briand de Bois-Guilbert fell into the arena and became entangled in the stirrups, from which he could not free his legs. His opponent jumped from his horse to the ground, raised his formidable sword above his head and ordered him to surrender - but at that moment Prince John threw the staff and thus stopped the battle in order to save Brian de Bois-Guilbert from the shame of admitting himself defeated.

Prince John now had to name the knight who distinguished himself from everyone else, and he decided that the glory of this day belonged to the Black Lady. But, to the surprise of everyone present, this knight could not be found anywhere, as if he had fallen through the ground. Prince John, no longer having any reason to refuse the Disinherited Knight, declared him the hero of the day.

However, even during the award ceremony, the knight did not want to show his face. However, in a heavy battle he was wounded, and therefore could not resist when the marshals, despite his words, removed the helmet, cutting the straps and unfastening the armored collar. As soon as the helmet was removed, everyone saw the beautiful, although sun-tanned, features of a twenty-five-year-old youth with thick blond curls. His face was as pale as death, and stained with blood somewhere.

As soon as Lady Rowena glanced at him, she cried out quietly, but immediately regained control of herself and through her strength fulfilled her duty, although she was trembling all over, for she had suddenly become very agitated. She placed a sparkling crown on the winner’s bowed head and said loudly and clearly:

I crown you, knight, with this crown for courage, I give you this award awarded to the winner today.

Never has a knight's crown crowned a noble one!

The knight bowed his head and kissed the hand of the beautiful queen, who rewarded his courage, and then, bending forward, fell unconscious at his feet.

Everyone was confused by what had happened, Cedric, amazed at how his exiled son suddenly appeared before him, rushed to him, wanting to stand between him and Lady Rowena. But the tournament marshals have already done this. Having guessed why Ivanhoe fell unconscious, they hastened to remove his armor and saw that the tip of the spear, having pierced the breastplate, wounded him to the side.

No sooner had Ivanhoe's name been heard than it quickly passed from mouth to mouth. Soon it reached the prince, and his face darkened when he heard it.

Yes,” replied Waldemar Fitsurz, “it seems that this brave knight is ready to claim back the castle and estates that Richard gave him, and through the generosity of your Highness they came to Front-where-Befove.”

Front de Boeuf is a man,” said the prince, “who would rather seize three castles like Ivangive than agree to return at least one of them.”

The prince's entourage started talking about Lady Rowena's sums, which she tried to hide when she saw Avengo's motionless body at her feet.

“We will try to console her sadness,” said Prince John, “and provide her with the nobility of her family by marrying a Norman.” She seems to be underage, and therefore her marriage depends on our royal will. What do you say, de Bracy? Or is it not to your taste to obtain estates with all the income by marrying a Saxon, following the example of the Conqueror’s comrades?

If I like estates with income, my lord,” replied de Bracy, “then, really, why wouldn’t I like a bride?”

At the end of the day, a shooting competition took place, which was won by a peasant named Locksley. He did not agree to Prince John's offer to go into his service, because he swore never to enter into the service of anyone other than King Richard.

To mark the end of the tournament, Prince John ordered a sumptuous feast to be prepared at Ashby Castle. The castle and town of Ashby then belonged to Roger de Quincey, Earl of Winchester, who was in Palestine at that time. Prince John took possession of his castle and, without hesitation, ruled his possessions. The prince's servants, who acted in such cases on behalf of the king, completely ransacked the whole country around and took away everything that, in their opinion, was worthy of their master's table.

Cedric and Adelstan came to visit the prince, and he received them extremely politely, not at all, it seemed, annoyed when Cedric said that Rowena was not feeling well and therefore was not able to take advantage of the prince's affectionate invitation.

There was a lively conversation going on around the table filled with food. The guests talked about the details of the past tournament, about the unknown winner in crossbow shooting, about the Black Knight, who so selflessly avoided a well-deserved reward, and about the brave Ivanhoe, who bought himself victory at such a high price. Prince John looked gloomy - he seemed to be very worried about something. Suddenly he said:

We drink this glass to the health of Wilfried Ivanhoe, the winner of today's competition. We regret that his injury prevented him from being at our table. Drink, guests, especially you, Cedric Roderwood, the respected father of this outstanding knight.

“No, my lord,” Cedric answered, getting up and putting the undrinkable glass on the table. “I cannot call a naughty boy a son, he went against my will and forgot the customs of his ancestors.” He left my house against my will and my order - our ancestors called this disobedience, and they punished such actions as a grave crime.

It seems,” the prince said after a short silence, “his brother should transfer a rich mansion to his favorite.”

“He gave this estate to Ivanhoe,” Cedric answered, “this is precisely the main reason for my quarrel with my son.” He agreed to accept, as a feudal vassal, the very land that once belonged to his ancestors, as free and independent rulers.

So, you, dear Cedric, would you be willing to agree that this estate should go to a person whose dignity is not harmed by the fact that she takes this fief from the British crown? Reginald Front-where-Beufay,” the prince further added, addressing this baron. “I hope you will protect the beautiful barony of Ivangove, that Sir Wilfrid will not anger his father by receiving this fief a second time.”

After these contemptuous words of the prince, each courtier, in turn following his example, with a sly smile, tried to make some joke at Cedric’s address.

However, the proud Saxon took full revenge on his offenders, making a toast to the health of King Richard the Lionheart. After that, he left the hall with Adelstan. The rest of the guests began to leave, leaving Prince John irritated and frightened.

Waldemar Fitzurz tried to bring Prince John's conspirators back together, arguing that if Richard returned, he would be alone, without companions, without friends. The bones of his brave army whiten in the sands of Palestine. Few of his supporters who returned home, like Wilfrid Ivanhoe, wander the world as tattered beggars. Fitsurz argued that a king like Prince John would be more profitable for the nobility. This evidence did its job. Most of the nobility agreed to appear at the muster in York, where arrangements were to be made for the crown to be placed on John's head.

Late at night, Fitsurz returned to Ashby Castle - and met here with de Bracy, who concealed him in his plans to attack the Saxons and kidnap the beautiful Rowena from them.

“Well, okay, if you’re really impatient to find out,” said de Bracy, “templar Briand de Bois-Guilbert has conceived a plan to steal.” He will help me attack, and he, along with his companions, will play the role of a robber, and then I, in disguise, will free the beauty from the imaginary thieves.

The knight decided the fate of the tournament, Black Lazy, left the arena immediately after the victory was finally determined. When he was called to present the award, he could not be found anywhere. Bypassing wide roads, he made his way through forest paths and soon reached the western Yorkshire district.

Soon he entered a small clearing. Under the rock, leaning against it, stood a simple hut, built here in the forest. The cracks were lined with moss and clay in order to somehow protect the home from bad weather.

There the knight met a hermit, who was called the Copeman-Herst cleric. The monk offered him a modest dinner, and then a barrel of wine. When the “holy” father showed the guest a weapon hidden in the closet, he became convinced that its owner was not exactly who he said he was.

So the Black Lazy Man and the hermit were hanging out, playing the harp and singing not entirely pious songs, becoming more and more cheerful and unsatisfied, when suddenly someone interrupted their feast by knocking hard on the door of the house...

As soon as Cedric Sax saw that his son had fallen unconscious in the arena in Ashby, his first desire was to order his servants to help Ivanhoe and keep an eye on him, but the words did not come out of his mouth: after all, he had disowned his disobedient son and deprived him of his inheritance , Cedric did not dare to publicly fulfill his first impulse. He only ordered Oswald to look after his son, and then, accompanied by two servants, to deliver Ivanhoe, when the crowd had dispersed, to Ashby. However, Oswald was ahead of them: the crowd, however, dispersed, and the knight disappeared with it.

While searching for Ivanhoe, Oswald only learned from those he met that the knight was picked up by well-dressed servants, placed on a stretcher by one of the ladies present, and immediately carried out of the cramped space.

Let him go wherever he wants! - said Cedric. - Let those through whom he was wounded heal his wounds!

Later, after an impolite reception at Prince John's, the Saxon gentlemen went to dinner with Abbot Wilthof, who, himself from an old Saxon family, received the guests very kindly, and they sat at the table until late, or rather until the morning, - and the next In the morning we left the house of our hospitable host only after a good breakfast.

When the horsemen were riding out of the monastery courtyard, a minor adventure occurred, and she greatly embarrassed the Saxons, who are very superstitious and superstitious: a thin black dog, sitting on hind legs, howled pitifully when the front riders rode out of the fence, and then, barking wildly and jumping in all directions, ran after the travelers.

Cedric recognized Gourdo's dog, Fangs, and threw a dart at him. This outraged the swineherd, who was already out of favor with his master for running away from the castle to help Knight Ivanhoe in the tournament. Gurd even told Vambi that he refused to serve Sedrikova from now on.

“Let him throw it at me,” Gurd was indignant, “I don’t care!” Yesterday he left Wilfried, my young master, lying in blood, and today he wanted to kill the only living creature before my eyes, when he fawned on me. I swear I will never forgive him for this.

The offended swineherd fell gloomily silent again, and no matter how hard the jester tried to speak to him, all his attempts were in vain.

Having reached the forest, the travelers entered its thicket, which was very dangerous for those times, through numerous detachments of freemen, consisting of people of the lower class. Driving through the forest, the travelers suddenly heard cries for help. Having arrived at the place from which they could hear, they were surprised to see a film stretcher thrown down; a young girl was sitting next to them, dressed much like a Jew, and some old Jew was running back and forth, begging for help.

Having recovered from his horror, Isaac from York (it was he) told Adelstanov and Sedrikov that he had hired six people in Ashby for guards and donkeys to transport his sick friend. The guides agreed to accompany him to Doncaster. They reached this place safe and sound, but being frightened by the freemen, the guides not only ran away, but also took the donkeys, leaving the Jew and his daughter to the mercy of fate, under the threat of being robbed and killed by the robber gang. Adelstan wanted to refuse help to those they met, but Rebecca convinced Lady Rowena to help not so much themselves, but the wounded man they were taking with them, without, however, indicating who the wounded man was.

When they all moved on together and found themselves in the gorge, they were unexpectedly attacked and captured. Only Gurdov, who had earlier fled into the thicket of the forest, and Vambi, who tore the sword from the hands of one of the attackers, managed to avoid this. Having met in the forest, the two of them decided to move together to save Sedrikova and the others, when suddenly a third person ordered them to stop. Wamba recognized the stranger as Locksley, a peasant who, under unfavorable conditions, received the winner's award in crossbow shooting. Locksley promised to assemble a detachment to visit Mr. Cedric and the rest of the prisoners.

Arriving at the forest brethren, Loxley ordered to begin surveillance of the attackers, who were leading the prisoners to Torquilston, the castle of Front de Boeuf, and he, together with Gurd and Wamba, went further to the Coppengherst chapel. Merry songs came from the hermit's cell. Locksley and the servants of Thane Cedric told the clerics and the knight about the unfortunate incident, and they assured that they would help save the prisoners

It is unlikely that you will find anyone,” said the knight, “to whom England and the life of every Englishman would be as dear as to me.”

While measures were being taken to save Cedric and his companions, the armed men who had captured them hastened to carry off the prisoners to a safe place and keep them there as prisoners. The Templar agreed with de Bracy that he should play the role of Lady Rowena's liberator, and admitted that he liked the beautiful Jewish Rebecca much more.

During this conversation, Cedric made attempts to find out from his guards who took them captive and for what purpose, but these attempts were in vain. They drove on hastily, until at the end of the alley, from the tall trees, Torquilston appeared before them, the ancient castle of Reginald Front de Boeuf, covered with gray moss. It was a small fortress, consisting of a huge high tower, surrounded by buildings, below it, with a round courtyard inside.

Lady Rowena was separated from her retinue and escorted politely, without asking, she agreed, to a distant part of the castle. They did the same with Rebecca, despite all the pleas of her father, who even offered money just to leave them together.

The butler didn't say a word, he just shook his head.

“Tell Sir Reginald’s Front-where-Befov,” added Adelstan, “that I challenge him to a duel to the death and invite him to fight me.”

“I will convey your challenge to the knight,” answered the butler. Everyone's attention was attracted by the sound of a horn heard at the castle gates.

In addition to the Saxon gentlemen, Isaac from York was also in the castle. Serdeshny was immediately thrown into one of the underground prisons. He sat like that for a good three hours when he suddenly heard someone walking down the stairs to the dungeon. The bolts rattled, the curtains creaked, and Reginald Front de Boeuf entered the prison, accompanied by two Saracens, prisoners of the templar. The baron began to threaten the Jew with death if he did not lend him a thousand pounds in silver.

Isaac had almost agreed to this when Front de Boeuf, with a feigned look of surprise, said that he had given his daughter Rebecca as a maid to Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert.

Robber, murderer! - Isaac exclaimed, returning the images to his oppressor with a ferocity that he could no longer calm down. “I won’t pay you anything, I won’t pay even a single silver penny, until you give me my daughter whole and untouched!”

Isaac was saved from immediate torture only by the sound of a horn, which came from the courtyard and forced his tormentor to leave the dungeon.

Around noon, de Bracy came to Lady Rowena's room to fulfill his intention - to ask for her hand, and at the same time to receive the estates of Mr. Cedric. However, the proud girl reacted disdainfully to the advances, reproaching him for behavior unworthy of a knight. Out of frustration, de Bracy had to resort to blackmail: telling Lady Roveni that the unknown wounded man whom Isaac and Rebecca were carrying with them was Ivanhoe, he invited her to agree to his proposal, saving the life of her beloved.

In response to this, Rowena burst into tears so hard that she even touched the cruel heart of de Bracy. Excited by these thoughts, he could only ask the kind-hearted Rowena to calm down and assured that she had no reason to kill herself like that, but his words were interrupted by the sharp sound of a horn, which worried the other inhabitants of the castle along with him.

While the described scenes were taking place in other parts of the castle, Isaac's daughter Rebecca waited in a distant lonely tower to see how her fate would be decided. There she saw some old woman muttering a Saxon song to herself.

The old woman, who called herself Urfrida, told the girl her sad story. She was young and beautiful when Front de Boeuf, Reginald's father, besieged this castle, which belonged to her father. A father and his seven sons defended their legacy floor by floor, room by room. There was not a single place on the floor, not a single step on the stairs that they did not sprinkle with their blood. Every last one of them died, and the girl became the prey of the winner. The Rebbezzi also predicted the same fate for Urfrida.

How Rebecca prepared herself to calmly face danger, however, she trembled all over when the Knight Templar Briand de Bois-Guilbert entered the room. Swearing by the cross, he began to confess his love to the girl, saying that once betrayed by a woman, he gave his life to serving in the order. However, Rebecca's beauty and luck struck him so much that he saw in her a close soul for his ambitious plans. The knight’s words greatly outraged Rebecca: although she was of a different religion, she considered such an attitude towards the shrine and sacred vows disgusting.

“I will proclaim your crime, templar, to all of Europe,” said the proud girl. “I will take advantage of your brothers’ concern if they refuse me their condolences.” All the people of your order will know that you have sinned with a Jewish woman.

Saying this, she opened the lattice window wide that looked out onto the watchtower, and in an instant stood on the very edge of the rampart: nothing separated her from the terrible abyss. She was determined to carry out her decision to commit suicide, but not to give in to Bois-Guilbert's persuasion.

“I’ll believe you, but only this much,” Rebecca said and walked off the edge of the shaft and pressed herself against one of the loopholes. “Here I’ll stay, and you stay in your place...

Fearing that the girl would commit suicide, Briand de Bois-Guilbert left the room, and Rebecca began to pray for her salvation and the name of the wounded Christian sounded in her prayer.

When the templar Jesus entered the castle hall, de Bracy was already there.

“You, probably, just like me, received a refusal from a Jewish woman,” said de Bracy, “all this for the mess of these calls.”

Soon Front de Boeuf appeared to them, which forced him to stop torturing Isaac. On the way, he hesitated a little because he had to give orders.

Let’s see what the cause of this damned noise is,” he said, “here is a letter and, if I’m not mistaken, written in Saxon.”

The letter, signed by Wamba, Gurd, Locksley and the Black Knight, demanded the immediate release of Mr. Cedric, Adelstan, Lady Rowena and other Saxons captured with them: “If you do not fulfill these demands, we will declare you robbers and traitors and summon you to fight in an open field, in a siege or in some other way, and we will make every effort to ruin and destroy you.”

To this the noble gentlemen replied that they had decided to execute the prisoners, and therefore the only way their friends could serve them was to send a priest to the castle for a final confession.

A huge crowd of people gathered near the castle, which consisted of forest freemen, Saxon residents of the neighboring district and Cedric's vassals and slaves, who agreed to free their master. Only a few of them had real weapons - the majority were armed with rural weapons, which only for lack of something best used in war.

“I would like,” said the Black Knight, “for one of us to sneak into the castle and find out how the besieged are doing there.” And when they demand a confessor, then, in my opinion, our holy hermit could at the same time fulfill his pious duty and get us all the information we need.

However, the hermit refused to take on this role, and therefore Wamba had to disguise himself as the priest, although he knew almost nothing in either Latin or Norman.

When the jester, in a hooded tunic and flowing robe, belted with a knotted rope, approached the gates of the Front-where-Boeuf castle, the guard asked him who he was and what he wanted.

Peace to you! - answered the jester. “I am a beggar brother of the Order of St. Francis and came here to guide the heartfelt prisoners now imprisoned in the castle.”

Once among the prisoners, he invited Sedrikova to change into his clothes and leave the castle. Cedric and Adelstan argue for a long time about who he should give his clothes to in order to escape from prison, but the more decisive Cedric finally agreed to the jester's proposal. After changing clothes, he met Rebecca in the corridor, who tried to persuade him to visit the sick Ivanhoe. However, Cedric, forced to swim by the priest, quickly left the girl when unexpectedly old Urfrida called him to her room.

Urfrida immediately recognized that the imaginary priest was a Saxon. She began to tell him her story, and Cedric was surprised to learn that this old, ugly woman was Ulrika, the daughter of a noble Saxon, a friend and comrade-in-arms of his father, Torquil Wolfganger. Forced to live among the enemies and murderers of her family, she hated them with furious hatred and tried to harm them all her life. She managed to make enemies of old Front de Boeuf and his son, Reginald, and incite this enmity until the tyrant died at the hands of his own son.

Sedrikov, disguised as a priest, managed to leave the castle unrecognized, although he spoke with Front de Boeuf himself, who ordered him to hold off the advance of the “Saxon pigs” who were besieging the castle.

Only after Cedric had happily escaped was the deception exposed. Front de Boeuf began to demand a ransom from the Saxons, and Adelstan promised to pay a ransom of a thousand marks for himself and his comrades. However, the barons and the templar wanted to leave Isaac and his daughter, the jester and Lady Rowena in the castle.

“Lady Rowena,” Adelstan answered firmly, “is my betrothed bride, and wild horses would sooner tear me to pieces than I would agree to leave her.” The same can be said about the slave Wambu.

The Saxon prisoners were being taken out when the monk Ambrosius was brought in, who reported that the Zhorvosky prior had been taken prisoner. Despite the besiegers who were crowding under the castle walls, de Bracy noticed that at the head of the crowd was the one they called the Black Knight.

When Ivanhoe fell and everyone seemed to have abandoned him, Rebecca, stubbornly pleading with her father, managed to persuade him to carry the brave young man from the arena to a house in the suburb of Ashby, where Jews temporarily settled.

Beautiful Rebecca knew how to heal well. She received her medical knowledge from an old Jewish woman, the daughter of a famous doctor, who fell in love with Rebecca as if she were her own child. The teacher herself was burned alive, but she secret knowledge remained to live in the mind of her skilled student. She nursed the wounded Ivanhoe, although she realized that he loved Rowena. The beautiful Jewess admired the courage of the young knight and his desire to champion the cause of King Richard and the ancestral rights of the Saxons.

It was Ivanhoe who was on a stretcher when Cedric and his servants met Isaac and his daughter, abandoned by the guides. Together with the Saxon Panamas and his saviors, Ivanhoe was captured at the castle of Front de Beuf. His name became known to de Bracy, and his knightly honor did not allow him to expose the presence of Ivanhoe Front-where-Befovi - then, undoubtedly, without any hesitation he would have killed the wounded man, tempted by the opportunity to get rid of the one whose lineage he had encroached on. In case they were asked, de Bracy ordered that they answer that they had used Lady Rowena's empty litter to transport one of their comrades, who had been wounded in the battle. The warriors hurried to the battlefield and thus Urfrida began to court Ivanhoe. But Urfrida, overwhelmed by memories of past grievances and dreaming of revenge, willingly transferred her duty to look after the sick Rebbezzi.

As soon as Rebecca saw Ivanhoe again, she was surprised to feel how warmly her heart rejoiced - while everything around them threatened them with danger, even death. Since the battle had already unfolded under the walls of the castle, the girl, worried that the knight would not be harmed, stood at the window herself to retell everything that was happening outside.

The arrows rained down like heavy hail, but each of them was exactly intended and did not hit. The Black Knight fought as if the strength of as many as twenty people had passed into his hand. He defeated the giant Front-where-Beuf, and Ivanhoe joyfully exclaimed, referring to King Richard:

And I thought that only one hand in England was capable of such feats!

Finally, the captors smashed the castle gates, although they were unable to take the bridge that leads to the castle.

While, after the first success of the besiegers, one side was preparing to use its favorable position, and the other to strengthen its defenses, Bois-Guilbert and de Bracy met for a short meeting in the castle hall.

They realized that Front de Boeuf was dying, and they were left without his support and superhuman strength, and therefore they agreed that de Bracy would take over the defense of the gate, and about twenty people would remain in reserve with the templar, ready to strike where there was great danger.

Meanwhile, the owner of the besieged castle lay dying on his bed. Through his agony, he heard a mysterious voice, and the figure of the one who had spoken to Front de Boeuf appeared at his bedside. It was Ulrika, who sought revenge for her murdered father and brothers and for her mutilated life. She set fire to the castle, leaving the terrible knight, abandoned by everyone, to die a painful death.

Cedric did not really rely on Ulrichina’s promise to help the besiegers, and yet he reported her to the Black Knight and Locksley. They were glad that they had found a friend who, in bad times, could make it easier for them to get into the castle.

The Black Knight agreed to rest - he managed to use it to build a kind of floating bridge or a long raft, with the help of which he hoped to get across the ditch, despite the resistance of his enemies. This had to take some time, and the leaders were not worried, because this gave Ulritsa the opportunity to fulfill her promise of help, no matter what it was.

The guards opened the gate, and Cedric and the Black Knight, under a cloud of stones and arrows, tried to launch the raft. At this moment, the guards noticed on the corner of the tower the red flag that Ulrika had told Sedrikov about. The brave Locksley was the first to see him.

The enemies also noticed that the castle was on fire. The battle continued, and the besiegers managed to advance further and further, despite the stones that flew from the walls. A bloody duel broke out between de Bracy and the Black Knight, and the Norman surrendered to the mercy of the winner. He warned that Wilfrid Ivanhoe was wounded and would die in the burning castle if he was not rescued immediately.

The fire continued to spread, and soon there were signs of a fire in the room where Ivanhoe lay under the close care of the Rebecchi. Everything was darkened by thick, suffocating smoke. The door of the room swung wide open, and a templar appeared in a shiny shell covered in blood. He grabbed Rebecca and carried her out of the room - Ivanhoe could not stop him. Hearing Ivanhoe's loud screams, the Black Knight found his room and saved the young prisoner.

Most of the garrisons resisted with all their might, only a few asked for mercy - and no one got it. The air was filled with screams and the clang of weapons, and the floor was red with the blood of the dead and dying.

In the midst of all this horror, Cedric searched for Rowena, and the faithful Gurd followed him, making every effort to repel the blows aimed at his master. Saksovi was lucky to get to the room of her pupil at that very moment when she, despairing of her salvation, was sitting, awaiting inevitable death in horror. He instructed Gurdova to lead her, safe and sound, to the front tower.

The proud templar fought bravely, not taking his eyes off Rebecca, who was mounted on the horse of one of the Saracen slaves. Adelstan, who, having noticed female figure and thinking that it was Rowena and that the knight was carrying her by force, he entered into battle with Bois de Guilbert, but the templar turned out to be stronger and, having overcome his rival, accompanied by his people, left the scene of the battle. Those who remained, even after the templar disappeared, continued to fight desperately, not because they hoped for salvation, but because they had no hope of the mercy of the victors.

Overcome with the joy of revenge, Ulrika found herself on the mountain of the tower, where she stood, waving her arms in mad delight. Finally the tower collapsed with a terrible crash, and Ulrika died in the flames, which also devoured her enemy and executioner.

The forest freemen gathered near their tree in the Gertgil forest. Here they stayed overnight, strengthening their forces after a difficult siege; some were drinking wine, some were sleeping, others were talking about the events they had experienced and counting the spoils. No one saw the Coppengherst cleric.

Cedric yearned for the noble Adelstan Koniņzburzki. He also released his faithful servant Gurdo, giving him a plot of land in his Valbergem possessions.

Then the tramp of horses in a hurry was heard, and soon Lady Rowena appeared on horseback, tired and pale, but on her face there was, however, a noticeable hope for a better future; she knew that Ivanhoe was in a safe place, and also that Adelstan was dead.

Before setting off, Cedric expressed his special gratitude to the Black Knight and persistently asked him to go with him to Roderwood.

“Cedric has already enriched me,” the knight answered, “he taught me to value Saxon virtue.” I will be in Roderwood, brave Saxon, and I will be quickly, but now urgent matters do not give me the opportunity to go to you.

The knight also released the captive de Bracy, and Locksley assured him that if he did not need help, he could get it under the forest brethren.

The Black Knight was quite surprised to notice the discipline and fairness in the division of the spoils, as well as the fact that the part intended for charitable causes remained untouched.

Later, a hermit joined the group, who freed the Jew Isaac from the burning castle, and even later they brought the captive prior Eimer Zhorvosky.

The community began to demand money from Isaac and the prior for their release, and the Jew was forced to promise to pay a ransom for both of them. The old man was indifferent to everything, because he thought that he had lost his beloved daughter Rebecca forever. But one of the freemen informed that the beautiful Jewish woman was in the hands of Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert, and therefore the father must hasten to negotiate with the templar, who loves the shine of chervonets no less than the fire of black eyes. The prior promised to write a letter to the knight-templar asking him to give the girl for a ransom, which old Isaac was ready to pay.

The Black Knight, who had been watching all these scenes with great interest, also said goodbye to the leader. He involuntarily expressed his surprise to him that he had found such a good harmony among the free forest people.

Here’s my hand to you as a sign that I respect you,” he said to Loksleyeva.

There was a great feast at York Castle. Prince John invited to it those barons, prelates and leaders, with the help of whom he hoped to realize his ambitious plans for the brother of the throne. The day after Torquilston was conquered, deaf news sounded in York that de Bracy and Bois-Guilbert, together with their accomplice Front de Boeuf, were captured or killed. Prince John was threatening to take revenge on the Saxons when de Bracy appeared in the hall, stained with the blood of a horse beaten by spurs, and inflamed by a fast ride. He reported that the templar had escaped, and Front de Boeuf had died in the fire, and the worst thing was that Richard in England and de Bracy saw him with his own eyes. He was referring to the Black Knight who revealed his true name to him.

Prince John realized that the only way to save himself was to waylay his brother. Fitsurz took up this matter. In turn, Prince John ordered a vigilant watch over de Bracy, whom he did not trust completely.

Isaac from York moved to Templest Preceptory to free his daughter. And four miles before Templestowe he became completely exhausted and stopped with his friend, a Jewish rabbi, the very famous Dr. Nathan Ben Israel. He informed Isaac that Luca de Beaumanoir himself, the head of the Order of the Templars, who is called the Grand Master, was in Templestowe.

He came to England unexpectedly for the crusaders and appeared among them, ready to correct and punish them with his strong, decisive hand; he is full of indignation against all who have violated the vows of the order. Luca de Beaumanoir was known as a strict and fair monk and at the same time a ruthless destroyer of the Saracens and a cruel tyrant of the Jews.

Go, said Nathan Ben Israel, and may everything you desire in your heart come true. But avoid meeting the Grand Master as much as you can. If you are lucky enough to see Bois-Guilbert alone, you will quickly get him.

Isaac gave Luke de Beaumanoir letters from the Zhorvosky Prior, in which he told the story of Brian de Bois-Guilbert’s abduction of the daughter of an old Jew and asked for help in freeing the girl for a ransom. The Grand Master was outraged that one of the best knights of his order had become a victim of the temptation of love for an unfaithful Jewish woman, and his anger fell on the head of the girl, who was known as a doctor who gained her knowledge from the sorceress Mariam, who was burned at the stake.

The head of the Order of the Temple ordered the old Jew to be pushed out of the gate, threatening him that he would deal with the girl according to Christian laws, which are ordered to punish sorceresses. Old Isaac, beside himself with grief, went to his friend Ben Israel, having no idea from whom to seek help.

Albert Malvoisin, president or preceptor of Templeston, was the brother of Philip Malvoisin; like this baron, he was sincerely friends with Brian de Bois-Guilbert. Meanwhile, he knew how to please the Grand Master and hoped that he would be able to save the life of the Rebbezzi. The preceptor was initially on the girl’s side, because there were several Jewish doctors in the city, whom no one called wizards, although they amazingly healed people.

However, the Grand Master undertook to destroy the Jewess so that her death would be a cleansing sacrifice sufficient to redeem all the love affairs of the knights of the order, and neither the preceptor nor Bois-Guilbert managed to convince him.

Finally, Malvoisin decided that it would be better for this pitiful girl to die than for Briand de Bois-Guilbert to die for the brotherhood.

Before the start of the trial, Rebbezzi, as she entered the courtroom, was thrust into her hand with a piece of paper. She took it almost unconsciously and held it in her hands without reading what was in it. But the confidence that she had a friend in this terrible place gave her courage in a difficult situation.

The court convened to condemn Rebecca was located on the porch at the end of the hall, just opposite the entrance. The gathering was very solemn and frightening.

The Grand Master accused Rebecca of clouding the mind of the best knight of the Templar Order. Turning to those present with the question of what they could say about the life and actions of the accused, he called the peasant whom the girl was treating. However, his testimony was of no help.

So, Guy, Snell’s son,” said the Grand Master, “I tell you, it is better to remain a paralytic than to use medicine from the hands of infidels and through them to get out of bed and walk.”

Other witnesses claimed that Rebecca, while in the castle with Bois-Gulbert, turned to a swan white as milk and in this form flew around Torquilston Castle three times, and then sat down on the tower again, turning to the woman.

Although the appearance of the girl and her gentle behavior pleasantly struck everyone present and aroused their sympathy, there was nothing to object to these remarks.

Even Bois-Guilbert could not say anything, he only said, looking at Rebecca:

Bundle... Bundle...

Rebecca, looking down at the strip of parchment that remained in her hand, read what was written on it in Arabic letters: “Demand a duel.” According to ancient laws, one of the knights could stand up for the girl’s honor by accepting a challenge to a duel, and in this way save her life.

It cannot be, said Rebecca, that in cheerful England - hospitable, noble, free, where so many people are ready to risk their lives in the name of honor, there would not be anyone who would come out to fight for justice. But it is enough that I demand a trial by combat: here is my bail.

And the girl, taking off the embroidered glove from her hand, threw it at the master’s feet with such an arrogant expression on her face that it caused everyone’s regret and surprise.

Even Luca Beaumanoir was touched by the sight of Rebecca.

He instructed Bois-Guilbert to bravely go out into battle, and gave Rebbezzi three days to find the fighter. The girl had to find a messenger who would announce her father's difficult situation. Snell's son, Gig, who was being treated by a Jewish woman, volunteered to carry out her instructions. He gave Isaac a letter from his daughter, in which she asked that the knight Ivanhoe defend her life in the duel, and the old Jew, without hesitation, went in search of Cedric’s son.

On the evening of the day when the trial ended, someone knocked lightly on the door of the room where Rebecca was imprisoned.

It was Briand de Bois-Guilbert, who did not lose hope of explaining himself to the girl for the last time. He convinced her that no matter what knight old Isaac managed to find, he would still be defeated by him, Bois-Guilbert, and then Rebecca would die a slow and cruel death in agony. If he himself refuses to fight with the defender of the Jewish woman, he will be declared a dishonored and illustrious knight, convicted of witchcraft and conspiracy with infidels. However, he is ready to lose his glorious name if She agrees to be with him. Then they could flee to Palestine and there fulfill the ambitious plans of the templar. However, the girl rejected all of Bois-Guilbert’s proposals, forcing him to leave, full of the sum and at the same time determined to show up for the duel.

The Black Knight, having parted with the noble Locksley, moved in a simple way to the priory of St. Botolph, one neighboring monastery, with insignificant territory and income. After the castle was taken, Ivanhoe was moved there under the guard of Gourdo and Vambi. The meeting between Ivanhoe and his savior was very touching. But the Black Knight apparently had no opportunity to hesitate.

Suddenly three arrows flew out of the forest thicket, and a battle broke out, in which Locksley and his yeomen took the greatest part. They quickly dealt with the bullies. All of them died on the spot, killed or mortally wounded. The Black Knight thanked his saviors with such greatness, which had never before been noticeable in his behavior: then he behaved like an ordinary brave warrior, and not like a person of the highest rank.

Having removed the helmet from one of the attackers, he was surprised to recognize Waldemar Fitsurz, who was carrying out the shameful assignment of Prince John. However, the Black Knight gave Fitsurzov his life, ordering him to leave England within three days and never remember that the king’s brother had ordered him to be captured by treacherous means. Here the knight revealed his real name to all the brethren, admitting that he was King Richard of England.

In response, Locksley also revealed that he was the king of the forest freemen - Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest.

The appearance of new riders attracted the attention of everyone present.

It was Wilfried Ivanhoe who arrived on the horse of the Botolff prior and Gourd, who was accompanied by him on the war horse of the knight himself. Ivanhoe was immensely surprised to see in the small meadow where the battle had previously continued, his owner, stained with blood, and around him six or seven corpses.

A feast was held in the clearing, which was stopped only when Robin Hood ordered the blowing of a horn, which Richard mistook for the Malvoisins. He did this to put an end to the revelry that was taking away the king's hours; more serious matters were needed.

And although at first Richard was angry, then he admitted that the king of the forest freemen was right and set off on his journey. The king, accompanied by Ivanhoe, Gourdo and Vambi, without any hindrance, reached the Koningzburz castle before the sun hid below the horizon. Everything was going well in the castle until the funeral dinner for the departed Sir Adelstan.

Cedric, seeing Richard (whom he knew only as the brave Black Knight), stood up, maintaining his dignity, and, according to custom, greeted him with the words: “How are you?” raising his glass at the same time. The king was familiar with the customs of his English subjects; in response to the greeting, he said: “I drink to your health” and drank from the glass handed to him by the butler.

Ivanhoe was greeted in the same polite manner; he silently responded to his father’s greeting with a bow, replacing his words on this occasion so that he would not be recognized by his voice.

In another room they saw about twenty Saxon girls, led by Rowena, who were embroidering and weaving wreaths.

Rowena greeted her savior with dignity and affection. The expression on her face was serious and unpretentious, and who would have thought if she didn’t miss Ivanhoe more, not knowing anything about his fate, than Adelstan, whom everyone considered dead.

King Richard turned to Cedric, asking him to make peace with his son Ivanhoe and return his parental love to him. As soon as the words were uttered, the door opened wide, and Adelstan, dressed in a shroud, appeared before them, pale, with a confused look, like a dead man who had emerged from the grave.

When those present came to their senses from his appearance, Adelstan told his amazing story: in a fierce battle, Bois-Guilbert's blade hit him flat and was repelled by the shaft of a good stick. When Adelstan woke up, he saw himself in a coffin - fortunately, open - in front of the altar of the Saintedmund church. The scoundrel monks put him in the prison of that damned monastery, but the knight managed to escape and get to his own funeral at Cedric’s castle.

“And my pupil, Rowena,” asked Cedric, “I hope you do not intend to leave her?”

“Father of Cedric,” answered Adelstan, “be prudent.” Lady Roveni is far from me... her little finger of Wilfrida is more valuable than the whole of my face. Here, brother Wilfried Ivanhoe, for you I refuse and say... Saint Denstane! And brother Wilfried disappeared!!!

Everyone looked around and asked about Ivanhoe, but no one saw him. In the end they learned that some Jew had come to him and that after a short conversation with him he found Gourdo, his weapons and armor and left the castle.

The hour that was to decide Rebecchin's fate was approaching. The condemned woman was pale, and even the most hardened hearts sank with sympathy for her. Malvoisin, as a witness to the fighter, came forward and laid the glove, which was the guarantee of the duel, at the feet of Grand Master Rebecchin.

He said that the good knight Briand de Bois-Guilbert, who had undertaken to fight today to prove that this Jewess named Rebecca deserved the sentence of death for witchcraft. Even at that moment, Bois-Guilbert did not lose hope of gaining Rebecca’s love and invited her to join him on horseback and run away. And at that very moment, a knight appeared on the plain that bordered the arena. He urged his horse forward with all his might. Hundreds of voices shouted: - Defender! Defender!

This knight, who was not steady enough in the saddle given his recent serious wound, was Wilfrid Ivanhoe. He stated his name and purpose of appearance:

I am an honest and noble knight, I came here in order to bring justice and legality to the case of this girl, Rebecca, daughter of Isaac of York, with spear and sword, to free her from the sentence proclaimed over her, as false and reckless, and to go out to duel with Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert, as a traitor, murderer and liar.

Amazed, Bois-Guilbert wanted to abandon the duel given the wound of the young knight, but he reminded him of how he forced the golden chain against the sacred relic that he would fight with Wilfried Ivanhoe for his lost honor, and in the end, the templar began to fight.

The trumpets sounded and the knights ran with all their might. What everyone was waiting for happened: Ivanhoe’s exhausted horse and equally exhausted rider could not resist the well-aimed spear and the strong horse of the templar. Everyone assumed in advance how the fight would end, but even though Ivanhoe’s spear barely touched Bois-Guilbert’s shield, the templar, to the surprise of everyone present, swayed in the saddle, his legs slipped out of the stirrups, and he fell to the ground.

Ivanhoe, freed from under his horse, immediately jumped to his feet, hastening to correct his failure with his sword. But his opponent did not get up. When Bois-Guilbert's helmet was removed, it became obvious that he was suffering from a broken heart.

This is God's judgment! - said the Grand Master. “Thy will be done!”

At that moment, the Black Knight appeared in the arena, accompanied by a large detachment of warriors and several fully armed knights. He regretted that Bois-Guilbert, whom he had intended for himself, had already fallen on the battlefield, and accused Albert Malvoisin of treason.

The brothers of our order,” said the Grand Master, becoming the head of the detachment, “do not fight because of such vanity, and it is not with you, Richard of England, that the knight of the order will cross his spear for my presence. The Pope and the kings of Europe will decide our dispute, they will judge whether it is proper to do as you did today.

With these words, the master, without waiting for an answer, gave the signal to get underway.

During the confusion that occurred as the trek moved, Rebecca saw or heard nothing. He and his father furtively left the fatal place, while everyone's attention was focused on King Richard - the crowd greeted him with loud cries.

In a conversation, the Earl of Essex told Ivanhoe that the reckless king abandoned all his affairs, like a real adventurer, in order to personally resolve the dispute between a templar and a Jewess with his own hand, while not far from York, Prince John was gathering his supporters. However, when the rebels fled, Prince John himself came to notify King Richard, and he did not order him to be thrown into prison, but received him as he had met him after the hunt! It was precisely this, according to many contemporaries, that the magnanimous king prompted many of his close associates to treason.

According to the evidence of the trials of that time, it turns out that Maurice de Bracy went overseas and went into the service of Philip of France; Philippe de Malvoisin and his brother, Albert, the preceptor of Templest, were executed, although the punishment for the rebel Waldemar where Fitsurza was limited to exile. And Prince John, through whom this whole plot was conceived, did not even receive a reprimand from his good-natured brother. No one felt sorry for the Malvoisins: insidious, cruel oppressors, they fully deserved death.

After some time, Cedric Sax was summoned to the court of Richard, who was staying in York, reconciling the surrounding counties, where it was restless due to the previous intrigues of his brother. This was very unpleasant for Cedric, since Richard, having returned, thereby destroyed Cedric’s last hope for the possibility of restoring the Saxon dynasty in England.

In addition, Sedrikov had to be convinced, albeit against his own will, that his plan for the final unification of all the Saxons through the marriage of Rowena with Adelstan was a complete failure. Soon Cedric agreed to the marriage of his pupil and Ivanhoe. Richard was personally present at the wedding, and the way he treated the Saxons, hitherto humiliated and oppressed, aroused in them hopes of regaining their lost rights in a safer way than the unreliable path of strife.

The day after this happy wedding, El'gіta, Rovenina's maid, notified her in the morning that some girl wanted to see her and asked permission to talk with her face to face.

It was Rebecca who told Rowney that she was leaving England for good. The Jewish woman left her lucky rival a box set in silver with an extremely expensive diamond necklace and matching earrings.

Rebecca said that she wanted to devote her whole life to human causes, healing the sick, feeding the hungry and comforting the unfortunate. When Rowena told her husband about these visits and conversation with Rebecca, Ivanhoe fell into deep thought. Apparently, this made a great impression on him.

He lived long and happily with Rowena, but often remembered Rebecchina and the majestic beauty of her soul, perhaps more often than Rowena wanted.

Ivanhoe distinguished himself in Richard's service, and the king honored him with numerous manifestations of his favour. He would have been exalted much more if the heroic Richard the Lionheart had not died prematurely in France, in front of the Chaluze castle, Limoges circle. Together with the death of the magnanimous, but inflammatory and too romantic king, all his ambitious and noble plans perished. The lines written by the poet Johnson about Charles of Sweden are very suitable for his image, if you change them a little:

He found death in a foreign country -

He died there at the hands of a slave.

The whole world trembled when it heard the name of titan...

Morality for us is also a theme for a novel...

1 In feudal times, fief was the name given to that allotment (land and castles) that was inherited from father to son and provided to the vassal by his owner.

“Ivanhoe” is one of the first historical novels that describes the fascinating and, at times, incredibly dangerous adventures of the brave knight Ivanhoe.

Summary of “Ivanhoe” for a reader’s diary

Name: Ivanhoe

Number of pages: 272. Walter Scott. "Ivanhoe." Publishing house "ROSMEN". 1994

Genre: Novel

Year of writing: 1819

Time and place of the plot

The novel takes place in 1194, one hundred and thirty years after the Battle of Hastings, after which the Saxons were conquered by the Normans. At that time, Richard the Lionheart ruled England. There was an intense struggle in the country between the Saxons and Normans, as well as between feudal lords and landowners. Knights' castles became dens for robbers, and poor people were defenseless and powerless.

Main characters

Wilfred Ivanhoe is a brave knight, courageous, courageous, just and noble.

Cedric of Rotherwood- Father Ivanhoe, a noble but hot-tempered, arrogant lord.

Rowena is a pupil of Lord Cedric, a beautiful girl, gentle, honest.

Rebekah is the daughter of the Jew Isaac, a strong-willed and brave girl in love with Ivanhoe.

Richard the Lionheart- a courageous, fair king of England, prone to adventure.

Prince John is King Richard's sneaky younger brother.

Briand de Boisguilbert- Templar, Norman knight, Ivanhoe's main enemy.

Robin Hood is a legendary robber, a sharp shooter, and a noble man.

Plot

Returning to his homeland after a difficult crusade, the English king Richard the Lionheart was captured. Having learned about this, the king's brother, the treacherous Prince John, decided to take advantage of this and seize the royal throne. He began to sow confusion throughout the country, cleverly inciting old enmity between the Saxons and Normans.

Meanwhile, Lord Cedric of Rotherwood, who passionately dreamed of throwing off the Norman yoke, decided to put the dull and unenterprising descendant of the royal family of Athelstan at the head of the liberation movement. To strengthen his power, Cedric intended to marry him to his pupil, the beautiful Lady Rowena. However, the girl had long been in love with Lord Cedric’s son, Wilfred Ivanhoe, and the young man reciprocated her feelings. Having learned about this, the hot-tempered lord expelled his son from his parental home and deprived him of his inheritance.

And now Ivanhoe, dressed as a pilgrim, secretly returned home from the crusade. Under the pseudonym “Disinherited,” the valiant knight brilliantly entered the tournament, defeating all his rivals one after another. Being the winner, he chose the queen of love and beauty - Lady Rowena.

The next day, a general knightly tournament was held, in which the party of the knight of the Disinherited was to oppose the party of the arrogant Briand de Boisguilbert. Ivanhoe found himself in a difficult situation, and if not for the help of the mysterious Black Knight, he would have been defeated. When Lady Rowena was about to place a crown on the head of the winner, Ivanhoe took off his helmet and thereby revealed his secret. Bleeding, he fell at the feet of his beloved.

The wounded knight was given to the care of the beautiful Rebekah, the daughter of Isaac from York. She loved him with all her heart. Soon Isaac and Rebekah were forced to leave, and took the knight with them. On the way, they joined Cedric's procession, but were captured. The mysterious Black Knight, who turned out to be King Richard, came to the rescue again, as did the sharpshooter Robin Hood. Having recovered from his wounds, Ivanhoe followed his ruler. Meanwhile, Briand, who was in love with Rebekah, having been refused, accused the girl of witchcraft. Ivanhoe managed to save her from a painful death at the stake.

King Richard took his rightful place on the throne, forgiving his brother's betrayal. After suffering hardships and difficult trials, Ivanhoe and Rowena got married, and for many years the brave knight faithfully served King Richard.

Conclusion and your opinion

In his work, the author depicted many brave, courageous, worthy people, regardless of their origin and the thickness of their wallet. They are worthy role models, since such human qualities as kindness, the ability to keep one’s word, honor, courage, and loyalty never lose their value

the main idea

A person's strength is in friendship, and his happiness is in love. It was this motto that was chosen by the knight Ivanhoe, who proved from his own experience that only an honest, noble and generous person is able to find true happiness.

Author's aphorisms

“...Whoever does good, having an unlimited opportunity to do evil, is worthy of praise not only for the good he has done, but also for all the evil that he does not do...”

“...People often blame fate on what is a direct consequence of their own violent passions...”

“...The trial is always carried out very quickly if the judge has made a verdict in advance...”

“...The more obstacles and difficulties, the more glory lies ahead...”

Interpretation of unclear words

Real- An old Spanish silver coin.

Templars- members of the Order of the Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon - the first religious military order to be founded.

Preceptory- the local governing body for the affairs of the Templar Order.

New words

Pilgrim- pilgrim, wanderer, traveler, wanderer in different countries.

Druids- priests of the ancient Celts, who inhabited the territory of Britain before the Anglo-Saxon conquest (5th century).

Tower- a medieval castle in London, which was a state prison for many centuries.

Chancellor- one of the highest officials in medieval England.

Novel test

Reader's diary rating

Average rating: 4.5. Total ratings received: 90.

« Ivanhoe" - one of the first historical novels. Published in 1820 as the work of the author of "Waverley" (as it later turned out, Walter Scott). In the 19th century it was recognized as a classic of adventure literature.

It cannot fully reveal the spirit of events, but will cover events only superficially, without delving into the details of images and actions.

Summary of “Ivanhoe” by chapter

Summary of “Ivanhoe” Chapter 1

The picturesque surroundings of old England, where the River Den flows, and in ancient times there was a large forest that covered most of the mountains and valleys between Sheffield and the town of Doncaster, is the setting for the tale of the knight of Ivanhoe.

The situation in the country was difficult. Conquered by the Normans, the Anglo-Saxons suffered from the oppression of foreign feudal lords and the troops subordinate to them. After the victory at Hastings, power passed to the Norman nobility, the Anglo-Saxons lost their privileges and even their language. The famous king Richard the Lionheart, having gone to fight the Saracens in the Holy Land, was captured, from where he returned only for the time when the events described in this story took place.

King William the Conqueror, an ardent hunter, exterminated entire villages to spread forests, and introduced new Tirana "forest laws". All these circumstances repeatedly reopened the wounds that the conquest of the country led to, and supported the fire of enmity and hatred between the Normans - the victors and the defeated Saxons.

One day, in a forest clearing, the figures of two poorly dressed people with strange rings around their necks appeared, the inscriptions on which said that these people were the slaves of Cedric Roderwood Gourde, the swineherd, and Wamba, the beloved jester. They herded pigs, talking among themselves in Anglo-Saxon and complaining that there were no more knights left who could defend poor Saxon, except their master Sir Cedric, who alone goes against the foreign invaders.

Summary of “Ivanhoe” Chapter 2

Suddenly men appeared in the clearing, one of them was in a monastic robe, and it was easy to recognize him as the abbot of Zhorvos Abbey, Prior Aimery, who loved feasts and other sweets of life. His dark-skinned companion had a strange, semi-monastic, drunken military appearance, a deep scar on his forehead, which also damaged his eye, lending more severity and recklessness to his face. The decoration and weapons of his eastern companions were also unusual.

The prior asked the way to the castle of Cedric - Sax - Roderwood and Wamba deliberately showed him the wrong way, because he did not want his master, Cedric, to quarrel with the uninvited guests, and they, in turn, saw Sax's pupil - the beautiful lady Rowena.

Leaving along the indicated path, the travelers once discussed the temper of the rich Sax Cedric and the beauty of Lady Rowena, and even argued: the prior was supposed to give his companion Briand where Boisguilbert, a knight of the Templars who had recently returned from Palestine, a golden chain if he recognized the beauty of the Saxon woman .

“Win it fairly,” said the prior, “and then be in good health.” Kalsut, Cedric - Sax kicked his only son out of the house because he dared to look with loving eyes at this beauty.

The prior and the knight almost got lost, but an oncoming traveler, introducing himself as a pilgrim from the Holy Land, led them to Roderwood, Cedric's home.

Roderwood Castle was a fortress, as required by those troubled times when the house could be robbed and burned every day. The castle was surrounded by a deep moat filled with water.

Before entering, the knight blew his horn loudly.

Summary of “Ivanhoe” Chapter 3

When the owner of the estate, Cedric-Sax, was informed that the Prior of Zhvorsky and the knight of the Order of the Templars, Bois-Plber, were asking for shelter in the midst of bad weather, he was not happy about this visit. Khramovikov became famous as a brave knight of his order, but at the same time his pride, vanity and cruelty were known. Few of those who were fortunate enough to return from Palestine said that he was a man with a merciless heart.

However, Cedric, although not satisfied with the visit of the uninvited guests, invited them to dinner. In the room, military and hunting weapons were hung on the walls; the entire interior should bear the imprint of that rough simplicity of the Saxon era, which Cedric loved and was so proud of. It was clear from the face of the owner of the castle that he was sincere, but incendiary and quick luck. He was a man of average height, broad-shouldered, with long arms and strong, like a man accustomed to the difficulties of a hunting life or to war.

Summary of “Ivanhoe” Chapter 4

The owner warned the later visitors that he should speak Saxon with them, because he considered it his duty to communicate in the language of his ancestors. The appearance of Lady Rowena in the hall made a great impression on the knight Boisguillebert. Despite the warning of his guardian, Briand, where Boisguillebert, did not take his eyes off the magical Saxon.

Rowena was tall and very slender, had clear blue eyes under thick dark eyebrows and luxurious chestnut-brown hair, which was intricately curled into numerous bouccles. As soon as Rowena noticed how hotly the knight was looking at her, she immediately covered her face with a veil.

The prior invited the beautiful girl and her guardian to a tournament that was to take place soon.

“It hasn’t been decided yet,” Cedric answered, “whether we’ll go there at all.” I don't like these vain holidays, which were unknown to my ancestors in those days when England was free.

“At least let me hope,” said the prior, “that together with us it will be easier for you to decide to go there, and when the roads are now so dangerous, you should not refuse the company of Sir Brian where Boisguillebert is.”

“Priore,” answered Sax, “while still traveling through our country, I did not resort to outside help, relying only on my good sword of faithful servants.”

The conversation was interrupted by the goalkeeper, who appeared to say that some stranger at the gate was asking to be let in and accepted.

Summary of “Ivanhoe” Chapter 5

This stranger was a Jew named Isaac from York, and although the abbot and the king-templar were outraged that they could find themselves in the same company with an infidel Jew, Cedric ordered the traveler to be admitted, as the custom of hospitality dictates.

Isaac turned out to be a tall, thin old man with regular facial features; an aquiline nose, sharp black eyes, a tall, wrinkled forehead, long gray hair and beard made a good impression. However, none of the guests wanted to give up their seat for a long time, until one pilgrim offered to sit next to him.

The conversation gradually turned to questions of the military prowess of the Saxons, which they had discovered in the Holy Land, and the pilgrim noted that the English knights were inferior to none of those who fought for the Holy Land. He saw how King Richard himself and his five knights at the tournament after the conquest of Saint-Jean-d'Acre challenged their opponents to battle, and how on that day each of those knights came out to duel three times and threw down three opponents.

Augustus Briand where Boisguillebert objected that only one knight threw him down from his horse, and this allegedly happened due to a simple accident and the carelessness of his horse: it was the knight Ivanhoe. Of all the six knights, he, according to his age, received the greatest glory in the tournament.

Defending the honor of Ivanhoe, the pilgrim offered a piece of the holy cross from the monastery of Mount Carmel as a pledge that when the knight Ivanhoe returned from across the four seas to Britain, he was obliged to accept the challenge of Briand where Boisguillebert. Everyone took off their hats in front of the relic. But the templar did not pay any attention to her. He took the gold chain from his neck and, throwing it on the table, said:

“Let Prior Aymer keep my pledge along with that of this unknown passerby...

Summary of “Ivanhoe” Chapter 6

When dinner was over, the pilgrim was stopped in the hallway by Lady Rowena's maid, who said in an authoritative tone that her lady wanted to speak to him. The pilgrim agreed silently, without objection, and soon he was telling the noble maiden everything he knew about the fate of her beloved knight Ivanhoe, who supposedly escaped the persecution of his enemies in Palestine and was returning to England. “God grant,” said Lady Rowena, “that he reaches us alive and well and can take up arms in the upcoming tournament, where all the knights of the country must show their strength and military dexterity. If Adelstana Koningzburzki receives the award, then Ivanhoe, returning to England, will hear unpleasant news.” Lady Rowena spoke of the man to whom she was betrothed by the will of her guardian and whom she loved because her heart belonged to Ivanhoe.

The happily saved Jew Isaac wanted to thank the mysterious pilgrim. He guessed that this was why a horse and weapons were needed, because under the appearance of the poor traveler there was hidden a knight's chain and golden spurs that flashed when he bent over the bed in the morning. Isaac told the pilgrim to turn to the rich Jew Kirjaf Jairem from Lombardy, who lived in the city of Leicester, and received weapons and a horse from him.

The position of the English people at the time of which this story is told was difficult. King Richard was held captive by the unfaithful and cruel Duke of Austria. Even the place of Richard's imprisonment was not known; most of his subjects knew nothing about their king.

King Richard's brother Prince John, in alliance with Philip of France, Richard's mortal enemy, used all his influence with the Duke of Austria to continue this captivity, because he hoped to win the royal crown himself and become the rightful heir. Frivolous, depraved and treacherous, John managed to win over not only those who feared Richard's wrath for the atrocities committed during his absence, but also numerous adventurers who, having returned from the Crusades to their homeland, hoped to enrich themselves due to the disorder in state.

In addition, many robbers from the poorest sections of the population united in huge detachments and reigned in forests and wastelands, punishing their exploiters with weapons for the grievances they caused. The barons themselves, having made each of their castles something like a fortress, became the heads of detachments that were no less lawless and just as dangerous as packs of zealous robbers. And besides, a dangerous epidemic had spread throughout the country, which was gaining momentum due to the terrible living conditions of the poor.

Despite all this, almost the entire population took part in the tournament, which took place at Ashby, in the county of Leicester. Glorious knights must come there; they thought that Prince John himself would be there. Huge crowds of people of various ranks hurried to the place of knightly competitions on the appointed morning. Here the name of the most preferred woman, the queen of love and beauty, can be determined. But no one could yet guess the name of the one who was destined to be the queen.

Old Isaac and his daughter Rebecca appeared at the tournament, and again no one wanted to give them their place. The dispute was noticed by Prince John, who, in a luxurious red robe embroidered with gold, with a falcon on his hand, led his merry company, driving around the arena on a gray fast one. He immediately recognized the Jew, and Rebecchina’s beauty aroused even greater interest in him.

-Who's sitting up there? - The prince said, looking at the gallery. — Saxon men? Down with them! Let them make room and give room to the Jew and his good daughter!

Those sitting in the gallery and to whom this insulting, rude speech was addressed were the family of Cedric-Sax and his friend and relative Adelstan Koningzburzki, who was of noble birth, but had an indecisive and sluggish character, and therefore did not immediately draw his weapon when de Bracy pointed at him a spear. But Mr. Cedric, as decisive as his comrade was sluggish, pulled out a short sword with lightning speed and with one blow cut off the tip from the shaft. Prince John's face filled with anger, but he was forced to retreat. He leaned down from his horse, tore the bag from Isaac's belt, threw Wamba a few ducats and rode further around the arena to thunderous applause from the audience, who greeted him as he had done an honest, noble act.

The tournament has begun. According to the rules, the five challenging knights were obliged to fight all opponents. Each knight who wanted to fight was given the right to choose his opponent from those summoned by touching his shield. In addition, when the knights present had fulfilled their duties, that is, each of them had broken five spears, then the prince had the right to proclaim the winner of the first day of the tournament. Finally, it was announced that a general tournament would take place the next day and all knights present could take part in it. Then the knight, whom the prince will declare the winner of this next day, will be crowned by the queen of beauty and love with a wreath of gold plates like a laurel crown. The next day, the knightly competition will end, followed by a performance of archers, a bullfight and other folk entertainment.

The challenging knights left their tents, mounted their horses and, led by Briand, where Boisguillebert and Malvoisin Front de Boeuf, rode towards them. They remained victorious in numerous fights. Cedric-Sax was especially outraged by this: in every victory of the Norman knights, he saw an enemy triumph over the glory of England. Cedric wanted Adelstan to defend Saxon honor, but he was too sluggish in character and so unambitious, he did not dare to make the attempt that Cedric expected of him.

No one broke pauses during the tournament; Only occasionally were the exclamations of the heralds heard:

- Love to women! Death to the spades! Come out, brave knights! The eyes of beauties look at your exploits.

For quite a long time no one dared to continue the fight, and the people had already begun to complain about the spoiled holiday, suddenly from the north side the sound of a lonely trumpet was heard, calling for a fight. The new fighter, as could be judged by his fully armored figure, was slightly above average height and not very strong in build. He had steel armor, richly cut with gold, and for the motto on his shield was a young oak tree, uprooted, with the inscription: “Disinherited.”

The knight hit Brian's shield with the tip of his spear, where Boisguillebert was. The blow rang loudly. Everyone was surprised by this self-confidence, and most of all by the formidable knight himself, who was thus challenged to a mortal duel.

-Have you atoned for your sins, my brother? - Asked the templar, - and listened to mass this morning before so desperately risking your life?

“I am better prepared for death than you,” answered the knight.

As soon as the trumpets gave the signal, the knights met each other, their spears were split to the very handles, and the templars' saddle girth burst, and he flew off his horse to the ground. The enraged Boisguillebert drew his sword and rushed at the winner, but the tournament marshals separated the opponents.

“I hope,” said the templar, looking fiercely at his opponent, that we will meet again where no one can stop us.

“If we don’t meet,” answered the Disinherited, “it won’t be my fault.” On foot or on horseback, with spears, axes or swords, I am always ready to fight with you.

Without getting off his horse, the winner asked for a glass of wine and, throwing away his visor, announced that he was drinking “to the health of all true Englishmen, to the death of foreign tyrants.”

In the following fights, the Disinherited defeated the giant Front de Boeuf, Sir Philippe Malvoisin, where Grand was a mechile and Ralph de Vipont.

William de Uyville and Stephen Matival, marshals of the tournament, first called upon the winner, asking him to remove his helmet or at least raise his visor before approaching Prince John, who was to crown him with the award for his victory. The Disinherited refused their request, saying that he could not show his face for the reason which he had told the herald before he entered the arena. The answer completely satisfied the marshals, because among the fanciful vows of knighthood there was a promise to remain unknown for a time or until a certain feat was accomplished.

John was quite interested in the mystery of the stranger; in addition, he was dissatisfied with the consequences of the tournament, where his beloved knights suffered defeats one after another from the same opponent.

“Our will,” answered John, “is that the Disinherited One should wait until someone guesses his name and rank, even if he has to sit until night, and then after such labor he will not catch a cold.”

Many of those present whispered the opinion that perhaps this was the king, Richard the Lionheart himself.

“Oh my God,” said the prince and turned pale as death. He was very excited and frightened, but the Disinherited Knight did not utter a word in response to the prince’s greeting and limited himself to only a respectful bow.

Finally, slowly and deftly tilting the tip of the spear, he lowered the crown to the feet of the beautiful Rowena. Immediately the trumpets sounded, the heralds proclaimed Lady Rowena the queen of beauty and love. However, both the winner of the tournament and the beauty queen he chose refused to attend Prince John’s feast, which also angered him quite a lot.

After the end of the tournament, the Disinherited Knight took only half of the sum of money assigned to him for the weapons and horses of the vanquished, giving away the rest. Juru Brianna where Boisguillebert he asked to tell his master that their fight was not over yet and would not end until they fought to the death.

Next, he ordered Gourd, who played the role of his squire, to take a bag of gold and take it to Ashby in order to pay the Jew Isaac of York for the horse and weapons borrowed. So, it became clear that the mysterious knight, deprived of his inheritance, and the pilgrim who asked for refuge in the house of Cedric-Sax were one person.

Isaac and his daughter and servants lived with a rich friend in a house outside the city, near the village of Ashby. The old Jew took eighty zechin for the horse and weapons, and his daughter Rebecca, secretly calling Gourdo to her chambers, gave him another hundred zechin. However, the swineherd’s joy over such unexpected luck was short-lived...

As soon as Gurd went out of the city, suddenly four people, two from each end of the road, pounced on him and grabbed him tightly.

- Come on, what are you talking about! - One of them exclaimed. - We are philanthropists, we relieve everyone of weight.

The swineherd invited them to take his personal thirty sequins, leaving his master's money. When the robbers learned that he served the Knight Disinherited, who covered himself with glory at the tournament in Ashby, they decided not to take his money. Taking advantage of the fact that the attackers were counting money, Gurd snatched a stick from one of them, knocked down the leader, who did not suspect his intention, and almost snatched the bag and his treasures. But the robbers, it turned out, were too clever - they again grabbed the bag and Gourdo. The leader ordered Gurd to fight one of the robbers to prove his dexterity.

Both fighters, equally armed with sticks, walked out into the middle of the clearing. For several minutes they showed equal strength, courage and agility, until Gurd hit his opponent on the head with all his might, so that he stretched out to his full height on the grass...

“Now go, boy, where you want,” said the leader, turning to Gurdo with the consent of everyone. “I will give you two comrades, they will lead you to your tent and protect you from night wanderers, but do not try to find out who we are, otherwise you will not escape trouble.”

The next day the next fights were to take place. According to the charter, the Disinherited Knight was to become the head of one party, and Briand, where Boisguillebert, recognized the day before by the second warrior after the winner, was to be the head of another.

Prince John arrived with his retinue, and at the same time Cedric-Sax and Lady Rowena arrived, but without Adelstan, who decided to participate in the competition and, to Cedric’s surprise, joined the party of the Templars.

Adelstana hid the main reason that forced him to accept Briand and Boisguillebert into the party. He was too weak of character to woo Lady Rowena himself, and yet he felt the charms of beauty on himself and considered the marriage a settled matter, since Cedric and his friends would be glad if it happened. Therefore, he was hostile to the winner that the day before he honored Lady Rowena by choosing her as queen.

According to the tournament rules of this day, the battle must take place with sharp swords and sharp lances. Taking this into account, the knights were forbidden to stab with swords; they only had the right to strike. It was allowed to use maces or an ax at will, but the dagger was prohibited. The opponents fought fiercely, and happiness passed first to one, then to the other. The leaders fought surprisingly fearlessly. Neither Brian where Boisguillebert, nor the knight Disinherited could find among their opponents a warrior equal in strength to each of them. Inflamed by mutual enmity, they constantly tried to collide with each other, well aware that when one of them was overcome, it would mean victory.

Finally, the detachment of the Knight of the Deprived of Inheritance began to lose the case. Front de Beuf's huge hand on one side and Adelstan's heavy blows on the second destroyed and swept away all the obstacles that appeared in front of them. Instantly turning their horses, they rushed towards the Knight of the Disinherited - Norman on one side, the Saxon on the other. The Knight of the Disinherited was saved by the unanimous warning cry of the spectators:

- Beware, beware, Disinherited Knight! - It was heard from everywhere.

But at this time an unexpected event occurred - a knight in a black shell, on a huge black horse, strong and powerful in appearance, had almost not participated in the battle until now, for which he received the nickname “Black Lazy” from the audience, suddenly intervened in the battle.

Having buried his spurs in his still very fresh horse, he rushed to the aid of the leader, crying out in a thunderous voice: “Deprived of Inheritance, I am coming to the rescue!” ". He made it just in time - another minute, and it would have been too late, because then, as the knight Disinherited was fighting with the templars, Front de Boeuf was rushing at him with a raised sword. But Black Lazy Guy got ahead of him, hitting his opponent on the head, and Front de Boeuf fell down. Then the Black Knight turned his horse towards Adelstan Koningzburzki, and since his sword had been cut in the fight with Front de Boeuf, he tore the ax from his velvet hand. He, as a person well acquainted with this weapon, hit Adelstan so hard on the helmet that he fell unconscious into the arena.

Briand where Boisguillebert, having fallen into the arena, became entangled in a stirrup, from which he could not free him with his foot. His opponent jumped from his horse to the ground, raised his formidable sword above his head and ordered him to show himself - but at that moment Prince John threw the staff and thus stopped the battle in order to save Brian where Boisguillebert from the shame of admitting himself defeated.

Prince John now had to name the knight who had distinguished himself the most, and he decided that the glory of this day belonged to the Black Lazy. But, to the surprise of everyone present, this knight could not be found anywhere, as he fell through the ground. Prince John, having no reason to refuse the Disinherited Knight, declared him the hero of the day.

However, even during the award ceremony, the knight did not want to show his face. However, in a heavy battle he was wounded, and therefore could not resist when the marshals, despite his words, removed the helmet, cutting the straps and unfastening the armored collar. As soon as the helmet was removed, everyone saw the good, although sun-tanned, features of a twenty-five-year-old youth with thick brown curls. His face was as pale as death, and here and there it was stained with blood.

As soon as she looked at him, Lady Rowena cried out quietly, but immediately regained control of herself and with difficulty fulfilled her duty, although she was trembling all over, she suddenly became very agitated. She placed a brilliant crown on the winner’s bowed head and said loudly and clearly:

“I crown you, knight, with this crown for courage, I give you this award awarded to the winner today.”

- Never has a knight's crown been crowned more worthy!

The knight bowed his head and kissed the hand of the beautiful queen, who rewarded his courage, and then, bending forward, fell unconscious at her feet.

Everyone was confused by what had happened, Cedric, amazed at how his exiled son suddenly appeared before him, rushed to him, wanted to stand between him and Lady Rowena. But the tournament marshals have already done this. Having guessed why Ivanhoe fell unconscious, they hastened to remove his armor and saw that the tip of the spear, having pierced the breastplate, wounded him to the side.

No sooner had Ivanhoe's name been heard than it quickly spread from mouth to mouth. Soon it came to the prince, and his face darkened when he heard.

“Yes,” replied Waldemar Fitzurz, “it seems that this brave knight is ready to claim back the castle and estates that Richard gave him, and through the generosity of your Highness they came to Front de Befovi.”

“Front de Boeuf is a man,” said the prince, “who would rather seize three castles like Ivanhoe than agree to return even one of them.”

Those close to the prince started talking about Lady Rowena's sadness, which she tried to hide when she saw Avengo's motionless body at her feet.

“We will try to console her sadness,” said Prince John, “and provide her with the nobility of her family by marrying Norman.” She seems to be underage, and therefore her marriage depends on our royal will. What do you say, de Bracy? Is it not to your taste to receive estates with all the income by marrying a Saxon, following the example of the Conqueror's comrades?

“If I like estates with income, my lord,” replied de Bracy, “then, perhaps, why would I not like a bride?”

The day ended with a shooting competition, which was won by a peasant named Loxley. He did not accept Prince John's offer to go into his service, because he swore never to enter the service of anyone other than King Richard.

To mark the end of the tournament, Prince John ordered a sumptuous feast to be prepared at Ashby Castle. The castle and town of Ashby then belonged to Roger de Quincey, Earl of Winchester, who was in Palestine at that time. Prince John seized his castle and, without hesitation, ruled his possessions. The prince's servants, who acted on such occasions in the royal name, completely tore the whole country around and took away everything that, in their opinion, was worthy of their master's table.

Cedric and Adelstana came to visit the prince, and he received them very politely, not seeming at all annoyed when Cedric said that Rowena was not feeling well and therefore was not able to take advantage of the prince's kind invitation.

There was lively conversation going on around the table filled with food. The guests talked about the details of the past tournament, about the unknown winner in crossbow shooting, about the Black Knight, who so selflessly avoided a well-deserved reward, and about the brave Ivanhoe, who bought himself victory at such a high price. Prince John looked gloomy - he seemed to be very worried about something. Suddenly he said:

- We drink this glass to the health of Wilfried Ivanhoe, the winner of today's competition. We regret that his injury prevented him from being at our table. Drink, guests, especially you, Cedric Roderwood, respected father of this outstanding knight.

“No, my lord,” Cedric answered, standing up and putting his undrinkable glass on the table. “I cannot call a disobedient young man a son; he went against my will and forgot the customs of his ancestors. He left my house against my will and my order - our ancestors called this disobedience, and they punished such actions as a grave crime.

“It seems,” the prince said after a pause, “the brother was supposed to transfer a rich estate to his favorite.”

“He gave this estate to Ivanhoe,” replied Cedric, “this is precisely the main reason for my quarrel with my son.” He agreed to accept, as a feudal vassal, the very land that once belonged to his ancestors, as free and independent rulers.

“So, you, dear Cedric, would perhaps willingly agree that this estate should go to a person whose dignity will not suffer harm because she accepts the fiat of the British crown?” Reginald Front de Boeuf,” added the prince, addressing this baron. “I hope you will so protect the beautiful barony of Ivangove that Sir Wilfrid will NOT become more rotten than his father, having received this fief second.”

After these disdainful words from the prince, each courtier, in turn following his example, with a sly smile, tried to throw some kind of joke at Cedric’s address.

However, the proud Saxon took revenge on his offenders by making a toast to the health of King Richard the Lionheart. After that, he left the hall with Adelstana. The other guests began to leave, leaving Prince John irritated and frightened.

Waldemar Fitzurz tried to bring Prince John's conspirators back together, arguing that if Richard returned, he would be alone, without companions, without friends. The bones of his brave army whiten in the sands of Palestine. Few of his supporters who returned home, like Wilfrid Ivanhoe, wander the world as tattered beggars. Fitzurz argued that a king like Prince John would be more profitable for the nobility. This evidence did its job. Most of the nobility agreed to appear at the muster in York, where arrangements were to be made for the crown to be placed in the hands of John.

Late at night, Fitzurz returned to Ashby Castle - and met here with de Bracy, who initiated him into his plans to attack the Saxons and kidnap the beautiful Rowena from them.

“Okay, if you really want to know,” said de Bracy, “where did Boisguillebert conceive the plan of the theft from the Templars of Briand?” He will help me attack, and he, along with his companions, will play the role of a robber, and then I, in disguise, will free the beauty from the imaginary thieves.

The knight who decided the fate of the tournament, Black Lazy, left the arena immediately after the victory was finally determined. When he was called to present the award, he was nowhere to be found. Bypassing wide roads, he made his way through forest paths and soon reached the western Yorkshire district.

Soon he entered a small clearing. Under the rock, clinging to it, stood a simple hut, built right here in the forest. The cracks were plugged with moss and clay in order to somehow protect the house from the weather.

There the knight met a hermit who was called a kopman - a Herst cleric. The monk offered him a modest dinner, and then a barrel of wine. When the “holy” father showed the guest a weapon hidden in the closet, he became convinced that its owner was not exactly who he said he was.

So the Black Lazy Man and the hermit treated themselves, played the harp and sang not entirely pious songs, becoming more and more cheerful and unsatisfied, when suddenly someone interrupted their feast by firmly slamming the door of the house...

Only Cedric - Sax saw that his son fell unconscious in the arena in Ashby, his first desire was to order his servants to help Ivanhoe and keep an eye on him - but the word did not come out of his mouth: he disowned his disobedient son and disinherited him, Cedric did not dare to publicly fulfill his first impulses. He only ordered Oswald to look after his son, and then, accompanied by two servants, to take Ivanhoe, when the crowd had dispersed, to Ashby. However, Oswald was ahead of them: the crowd, however, dispersed, and the knight disappeared with it.

While searching for Ivanhoe, Oswald only learned from those he met that the knight was picked up by well-dressed servants, placed on a stretcher by one of the ladies present, and immediately carried out of the cramped space.

- Let him go wherever he likes! - Cedric said. “Let those who caused him to be wounded treat his wounds!”

Later, after an indecent reception at Prince John's, the Saxon gentlemen went to dinner with Abbot Wilthoff, who, himself from an old Saxon family, received the guests very kindly, and they sat at the table until late, or rather, towards the morning hour - and the following morning We left the house of our hospitable host only after a good breakfast.

As the horsemen rode out of the monastery courtyard, a minor incident occurred, and it rather disconcerted the Saxons, who were very superstitious and superstitious: a thin black dog, sitting on its hind legs, howled pitifully as the front horsemen rode out of the fence, and then, barking and jumping wildly around, ran to the travelers.

Cedric recognized Gourdo's dog, Fangs, and threw a dart at him. This outraged the swineherd, who was already in disgrace with his master for fleeing from the castle to help Knight Ivanhoe in the tournament. Gurd even told Wamba that he refused to serve Cedric from now on.

“Let him throw it at me,” Gurd said indignantly, “I don’t care!” Yesterday he left Wilfried, my young master, lying in blood, and today he wanted to kill before my eyes the only living creature that had never caressed me. I swear I will never forgive him for this.

The offended swineherd fell gloomily silent again, and no matter how hard the jester tried to speak to him, all his attempts were in vain.

Having reached the forest, the travelers entered its thicket, which was very dangerous in those days, through numerous detachments of freemen, consisting of people of the lower class. While leaving through the forest, the travelers suddenly heard cries for help. Having arrived at the place from which they could be heard, they were surprised to see a horse-drawn litter thrown to the ground; A young girl, richly dressed in Jewish style, was sitting next to them, and some old Jew was running back and forth, begging for help.

Having recovered from the horror, Isaac and York (it was he) told Adelstan and Cedric that he had hired six men at Ashby for guards and donkeys to transport his sick friend. The guides agreed to escort him to Doncaster. They reached this place safe and sound, but frightened by the freemen, the guides not only fled, but also took the donkeys, leaving the Jew with the daughter of fate, under the threat of being robbed and killed by a band of bandits. Adelstana wanted to refuse help to those they met, but Rebecca convinced Lady Rowena to help not so much themselves, but therefore the wounded man whom they were taking with them, without, however, indicating who was wounded.

When they all moved on together and found themselves in the gorge, they were unexpectedly attacked and captured. Only Gurd, who had previously fled into the thicket of the forest, and Wamba, who snatched the sword from the hands of one of the attackers, managed to avoid this. Having met in the forest, the two of them decided to go together to save Cedric and the others, when suddenly a third person ordered them to stop. Wamba recognized the stranger as Locksley, a peasant who, under unfavorable conditions, received the award for the winner in crossbow shooting. Locksley promised to assemble a detachment to visit Mr. Cedric and the rest of the prisoners.

Arriving at the forest brethren, Loxley ordered to begin surveillance of the attackers who were leading prisoners to Torquilston, the castle of Front de Beuf, and he, together with Gourde and Wamba, went further to the Coppengherst chapel. Cheerful songs could be heard from the hermit's cell. Locksley and the servants of Thane Cedric told the cleric and the knight about the unfortunate incident, and they assured that they would help save the prisoners

“It is unlikely that you will find anyone,” said the knight, “to whom England and the life of every Englishman would be as dear as to me.”

While measures were being taken to save Cedric and his companions, the armed men who had captured them were hastening to take the prisoners to a safe place to keep them prisoners. Khramovikov agreed with de Bracy that he should play the role of Lady Rowena’s liberator, and admitted that he liked the beautiful Jewish woman Rebecca much more.

During this conversation, Cedric made attempts to find out from his guards who took them captive and for what purpose, but these attempts were in vain. They drove hastily on until, at the end of an alley of tall trees, Torquilston appeared before them, the ancient castle of Reginald Front de Boeuf, covered with gray moss. It was a small fortress, consisting of a huge high tower surrounded by buildings below it, with a circular courtyard inside.

Lady Rowena was separated from her retinue and escorted politely, without asking, she agreed, to a distant part of the castle. They did the same with Rebecca, despite all her father’s pleas, he even offered money just to leave them together.

The butler didn't say a word, he just nodded his head.

“Tell Sir Reginald Front de Befovy,” added Adelstana, “that I challenge him to a mortal combat and invite him to fight me.”

“I will convey your challenge to the knight,” answered the butler. Everyone's attention was attracted by the sound of a horn, which was heard at the castle gates.

In addition to the Saxon gentlemen, Isaac from York was also in the castle. The poor man was immediately thrown into one of the underground prisons. He sat like that for a good 3:00 when he heard someone walking down the stairs to the dungeon. The bolts rattled, the hinges creaked, and Reginald Front de Boeuf entered the prison, accompanied by two Saracens, captured Templars. The baron began to threaten the Jew with death if he did not pay him a thousand pounds in silver.

Isaac had almost agreed to this when Front de Boeuf, with a feigned expression of surprise, said that he had given his daughter Rebecca for a maid to Sir Brianna where Boisguillebert.

- Robber, murderer! - Isaac exclaimed, returning the images to his oppressor with a rage that he could no longer calm. “I won’t pay you anything, I won’t pay you even a single silver penny, until you give me your daughter whole and untouched!”

Isaac was saved from immediate torture only by the sound of a horn that came from the courtyard, which forced his tormentor to leave the dungeon.

Around noon, de Bracy came to Lady Rowena's room to carry out his intention - to ask for her hand, and at the same time to receive the estates of Mr. Cedric. However, the proud girl reacted disdainfully to the advances, reproaching him for behavior unworthy of a knight. Out of frustration, de Bracy had to resort to blackmail: having told Lady Rowena that the unknown wounded man whom Isaac and Rebecca were carrying with them was Ivanhoe, he invited her to agree to his proposal, saving the life of her beloved.

In response to this, Rowena burst into tears so hard that she even touched de Bracy’s cruel heart. Excited by these thoughts, he could only ask poor Rowena to calm down and assured that she had no reason to kill herself like that, but his words were interrupted by the sharp sound of a horn, which also disturbed the other inhabitants of the castle.

While the described scenes were taking place in other parts of the castle, Isaac's daughter Rebecca waited in a distant lonely tower to see how her fate would be decided. There I saw some old woman muttering a Saxon song to herself.

The old woman, who called herself Urfrida, told the girl her sad story. She was young and beautiful when Front de Boeuf, Reginald's father, besieged this castle, which belonged to her father. A father and seven sons defended their legacy floor by floor, room by room. There was not a single place on the floor, not a single step on the stairs, that they did not sprinkle with their blood. Every last one of them died, and the girl became the prey of the winner. Urfrida predicted the same fate for Rebecca.

How Rebecca prepared herself to calmly face danger, however, she trembled all over when the knight of the Templars of Briand and Boisguillebert entered the room. Swearing by the cross, he began to confess his love to the girl, saying that he had been betrayed by a woman before, and had given his life to serving in the order. However, Rebecca's beauty and character struck him so much that he saw in her a kindred spirit for his ambitious plans. The knight’s words greatly outraged Rebecca: although she was of a different religion, she considered such an attitude towards the shrine and sacred vows disgusting.

“I will publicize your crime, the Templars, throughout Europe,” said the proud girl. “I will take advantage of your brothers’ superstition if they refuse me their condolences.” All the people of your order will know that you have sinned with a Jewish woman.

Saying this, she opened the lattice window wide, overlooking the watchtower, and in an instant stood on the very edge of the rampart: nothing separated her from the terrible abyss. She was determined to fulfill her intention to commit suicide, but not to succumb to Boisguilbert's persuasion.

“I’ll believe you, but only so much,” Rebecca said and walked off the edge of the rampart and pressed herself against one of the loopholes. - Here I will stay, you stay in your place...

Fearing that the girl would commit suicide, Briand left the room where Boisguillebert, and Rebecca began to pray for her salvation and the name of the wounded Christian sounded in her prayer.

When the templars entered the castle hall, de Bracy was already there.

“You, probably, just like me, received a refusal from a Jewish woman,” said de Bracy, “all this through the noise of these calls.”

Soon Front de Boeuf appeared to them and forced him to stop torturing Isaac. On the way, he hesitated a little because he had to give orders.

“Let’s see what the cause of this damned noise is,” he said, “here is a letter and, if I’m not mistaken, written in Saxon.”

The letter, signed by Wamba, Gurd, Locksley and the Black Knight, demanded the immediate release of Mr. Cedric, Adelstan, Lady Rowena and other Saxons captured with them: “If you do not fulfill these demands of ours, we will declare you robbers and traitors and summon you to fight in an open field, in a siege or in some other way, and we will make every effort to ruin and destroy you."

To this, the noble gentlemen replied that they had decided to execute the prisoners, and therefore the only way their friends could serve them was to send a priest to the castle for a final confession.

A huge crowd of people gathered near the castle, consisting of forest freemen, Saxon residents of the neighboring district and Cedric’s vassals and slaves, who agreed to free the master, only some of them had real weapons - the majority were armed with rural weapons, only for lack of a better one used in war.

“I would like,” said the Black Knight, “for one of us to sneak up to the castle and find out how the besieged are doing there.” And when they demand a confessor, then, in my opinion, our holy hermit could at the same time fulfill his pious duty and get us all the necessary information.

However, the hermit refused to take on this role, and therefore Wamba had to dress up as a priest, although he knew almost nothing in either Latin or Norman.

When the jester in the Hermit's hood and robe, belted with knotted ropes, approached the gates of the Front de Boeuf castle, the sentry asked who he was and what he needed.

- Peace to you! - Answered the jester. “I am a poor brother of the Order of St. Francis and I came here to give guidance to the heartfelt prisoners now imprisoned in the castle.

Once among the prisoners, he invited Cedric to change into his clothes and leave the castle. Cedric and Adelstana argue for a long time about who he should give his clothes to in order to escape from prison, but the more decisive Cedric finally accepted the jester's offer. After changing clothes, he met Rebecca in the corridor, who tried to persuade him to visit the sick Ivanhoe. However, Cedric, forced to swim by the priest, quickly left the girl when unexpectedly old Urfrida called him to her room.

Urfrida immediately recognized that the imaginary priest was a Saxon. She began to tell him her story, and Cedric was surprised to learn that this old ugly woman was Ulrika, the daughter of the noble Sax, friend and comrade of Torquil's father Wolfganger. Forced to live among the enemies and murderers of her family, she hated them with a furious hatred and tried to harm them all her life. She managed to make enemies of old Front de Boeuf and his son, Reginald, and incite this enmity until the tyrant died at the hands of his own son.

Cedric, disguised as a priest, managed to leave the castle unrecognized, although he spoke with Front de Boeuf himself, who ordered him to hold off the advance of the “Saxon pigs” who were besieging the castle.

Only after Cedric had happily escaped was the deception exposed. Front de Boeuf demanded a ransom from the Saxons, and Adelstana promised to pay a ransom of a thousand marks for himself and his comrades. However, the barons and templars wanted to leave Isaac and his daughter, the jester and Lady Rowena in the castle.

“Lady Rowena,” Adelstana answered firmly, “the bride is engaged, and wild horses would sooner tear me to pieces than I would agree to leave her.” The same can be said about slave Wamba.

The Saxons were taking the prisoners out when they brought in the monk Ambrose, who reported that the Zhorvosky prior had been taken prisoner. Looking at the besiegers who had gathered under the walls of the castle, de Bracy noted that at the head of the crowd was the one they called the Black Knight.

When Ivanhoe fell and everyone seemed to have abandoned him, Rebecca, persistently pleading with her father, was able to persuade him to move the brave young man from the arena to a house in the suburb of Ashby, where Jews temporarily settled.

Beautiful Rebecca knew how to heal well. She received her medical knowledge from an old Jewish woman, the daughter of a famous doctor, and fell in love with Rebecca as her own child. The teacher herself was burned alive, but his secret knowledge remained to live in the mind of her skillful student. She nursed the wounded Ivanhoe, although she realized that he loved Rowena. The beautiful Jewess was captivated by the courage of the young knight and his desire to champion the cause of King Richard and the ancestral rights of the Saxons.

It was Ivanhoe who was on a stretcher when Cedric and his servants met Isaac and his daughter, abandoned by the guides. Together with the Saxon masters and his saviors, Ivanhoe was captured at the castle of Front de Beuf. His name became known to de Bracy, and his knightly honor did not allow him to reveal the presence of Ivanhoe Front de Befovy - he would, of course, without any hesitation kill the wounded man, tempted by the opportunity to get rid of the one whose feud he had encroached on. In case they were asked, de Bracy ordered that they answer that they had used Lady Rowena's empty litter to transport one of their comrades, who had been wounded in the battle. The warriors hurried to the battlefield and thus Urfrida began to court Ivanhoe. But Urfrida, overwhelmed by memories of old grievances and dreaming of revenge, willingly transferred her duty to look after the sick man to Rebecca.

As soon as Rebecca saw Ivanhoe again, she was surprised to feel how ardently her heart rejoiced - while everything around them threatened them with danger, even death. Since the battle had already unfolded under the walls of the castle, the girl, worried that the knight would not be harmed, stood at the window herself to translate everything that was happening outside.

The arrows rained down like heavy hail, but each of them was precisely intended for somewhere and did not miss. The Black Knight fought as the power of up to twenty people passed into his hand. He defeated the giant Front de Boeuf, and Ivanhoe exclaimed, meaning King Richard:

“And I thought that only one hand of England was capable of such feats!”

Finally, the besiegers smashed the castle gates, although they were unable to take the bridge leading to the castle.

While, after the first success of the besiegers, one side was preparing to take advantage of its favorable position, and the other to strengthen its defenses, Boisguillebert and de Bracy met for a short meeting in the castle hall.

They realized that Front de Boeuf was dying, and they were left without his support and superhuman strength, and therefore they assumed that de Bracy would take over the defense of the gate, and about twenty people from the templars would remain in reserve, ready to strike where the greatest danger threatened.

Meanwhile, the owner of the besieged castle lay dying on his bed. Through his agony, he heard a mysterious voice, and the figure of the one who spoke with Front de Boeuf appeared at his bedside. It was Ulrika, who sought revenge for her murdered father and brothers and for her mutilated life. She set fire to the castle, leaving the terrible knight abandoned by everyone to die a terrible death.

Cedric did not really hope for Ulrichina’s promise to help the besiegers, and yet he reported her to the Black Knight and Locksley. They were glad that they had found a friend; a good hour could make it easier for them to get into the castle.

The Black Knight needed rest - he managed to use it to build a kind of floating bridge or a long raft, with the help of which he hoped to get across

ditch, despite enemy resistance. This took some time, and the leaders did NOT lament, because it gave Ulrici the opportunity to fulfill her promise of help, whatever it was.
The besiegers opened the gates, and Cedric and the Black Knight, under a cloud of stones and arrows, tried to lower the raft. At that moment, the besiegers noticed a red flag on the corner of the tower, which Ulrika had told Cedric about. Brave Loxley was the first to see him.
The enemies also noticed that the castle was on fire. The battle continued, and the besiegers managed to advance further and further, despite the stones that flew from the walls. A bloody duel broke out between de Bracy and the Black Knight, and Norman surrendered to the mercy of the winner. He warned that Wilfrid Ivanhoe was wounded and would die in the burning castle if he was not rescued immediately.

The fire continued to spread, and soon signs of fire appeared in the room where Ivanhoe lay under the close care of the Rebecchi. Everything was darkened by thick, suffocating smoke. The door of the room swung open, and a templar appeared in a shiny shell covered in blood. He grabbed Rebecca and carried her out of the room - Ivanhoe could not stop him. Hearing the loud screams of Ivanhoe, the Black Knight found his room, who saved the young captive.
Most of the pledges resisted with all their might, only a few asked for mercy - and no one received it. Screams and the ringing of weapons were heard in the air, the floor was red with the blood of the dead and dying.
In the midst of all this horror, Cedric searched for Rowena, and the faithful Gurd followed him, making every effort to repel the blows aimed at his master. Sachs was lucky to get to his pupil’s room at the very moment when she, despairing of her salvation, sat in horror awaiting imminent death. He instructed Gurd to lead her, safe and sound, to the front tower.
The proud Templars fought bravely, not taking their eyes off Rebecca, who was mounted on the horse of one of the Saracen slaves. Adelstana, who, noticing a female figure and thinking that it was Rowena and that the knight was carrying her by force, entered into battle with Bois de Guilbert, but the Templars turned out to be stronger and, having overcome his rival, accompanied by his people, left the battlefield. Those who remained, even after the Templars disappeared, continued to fight desperately, not because they hoped for salvation, but because they had no hope of the mercy of the victors.
Overcome with the joy of revenge, Ulrika found herself on the mountain of the tower, where she stood, waving her arms in frantic delight. Finally the tower collapsed with a terrible roar, and Ulrika died in the flames, which also devoured her enemy and executioner.

The forest freemen gathered at their tree in the Gertgil forest. Here they stayed overnight, strengthening their forces after a difficult siege; some drank wine, some slept, others talked about the events they had experienced and counted the spoils. No one saw the Coppengherst cleric.
Cedric yearned for the noble Adelstan Koningzburzki. He also released his faithful servant Gurdo, giving him a plot of land in his Valbergem possessions.
Here a horse's tramp was heard, and soon Lady Rowena appeared on horseback, tired and pale, but on her face there was, however, noticeable hope for a better future; she knew that Ivanhoe was in a safe place, and also that Adelstana was dead.
Before setting out, Cedric expressed his special gratitude to the Black Knight and earnestly asked him to go with him to Roderwood.
“Cedric has already enriched me,” answered the knight, “he taught me to value Saxon virtue.” I will be in Roderwoodi, brave Saxon, and I will be quickly, but now immediate matters do not give me the opportunity to go to you.
The knight also released the captive de Bracy, and Locksley assured him that if he did not need help, he could get it from the forest brethren.
The Black Knight was quite surprised to note the discipline and fairness in the division of the spoils, as well as the fact that the part intended for charitable causes remained untouched.
Subsequently, a hermit joined the group, who freed the Jew Isaac from the burning castle, and even later they brought the captive prior Aimery Zhorvosky.

The community began to demand money from Isaac and the prior for their release, and the Jew was forced to promise to pay a ransom for both of them. The old man was indifferent to everything, because he thought that he had lost his beloved daughter Rebecca forever. But one of the freemen reported that the beautiful Jewish woman was in the hands of Sir Briand where Boisguillebert was, so the father must hurry to negotiate with the temple members, who loves the shine of the chervonets no less than the fire of his black eyes. The prior promised to write a letter to the knight - the templars with a request to give the girl for a ransom, which old Isaac is ready to pay.
The Black Knight, watching all these scenes with great interest, also said goodbye to the leader. He involuntarily expressed his surprise to him that he had found such good order among the free forest people.
“Here’s my hand to you as a sign that I respect you,” he said to Loksleevi.

There was a great feast at York Castle. Prince John invited those barons, prelates and leaders, with the help of whom he hoped to realize his ambitious plans for the brother of the throne. The day after Torquilston was conquered, the news was heard in York that de Bracy and Boisguillebert, together with their accomplice Front de Boeuf, had been captured or killed. Prince John was threatening to take revenge on the Saxons when de Bracy appeared in the hall, stained with the blood of a horse beaten by spurs, and inflamed by fast riding. He reported that the Templars had escaped, and Front de Boeuf was on fire, and the worst thing was that Richard in England and de Bracy saw with his own eyes. He was referring to the Black Knight who revealed his true name to him.
Prince John realized that the only way to save himself was to waylay his brother. Fitzurz took up this matter. In turn, Prince John ordered de Bracy, whom he did not trust completely, to be closely monitored.

Isaac and York moved to Temple Preceptory to free his daughter. But four miles to Templestowe he became completely exhausted and stopped with his friend, a Jewish rabbi, a very famous doctor, Nathan Ben Israel. He informed Isaac that Luca de Beaumanoir himself, the chairman of the order of the Templars, who is called the Grand Master, was in Templestowe.
He came to England unexpectedly for the crusaders and appeared among them, ready to correct and punish them with his strong, decisive hand, he is full of indignation against all who violated the vows of the order. Luca de Beaumanoir was known as a strict and fair monk and at the same time a ruthless destroyer of the Saracens and a cruel tyrant of the Jews.
“Go,” said Nathan Ben Israel, “and let everything you want in your heart come true.” But avoid meeting the Grand Master as much as you can. If you are lucky enough to see Boisguillebert alone, you will rather quickly see him.
Isaac gave Luke where Beaumanoir a letter from the Zhorvosky prior, in which he told the story of Brian where Boisguillebert's abduction of the daughter of an old Jew and asked him to help free the girl for a ransom. The Grand Master was outraged that one of the best knights of his order had become a victim of the temptation of love for an unfaithful Jewish woman, and his anger fell on the head of the girl, who was known as a doctor who received her knowledge from the sorceress Mariam, who was burned at the stake.
The chairman of the Order of the Temple ordered the old Jew to be pushed out of the gate, threatening him that he would deal with the girl according to Christian laws, which prescribe the punishment of sorceresses. Old Isaac, not remembering from grief, went to his friend Ben Israel, having no idea from whom to seek help.

Albert Malvoisin, president or preceptor of Templeston, was the brother of Philip Malvoisin; like this baron, he was sincerely friends with Briand and Boisguillebert. Meanwhile, he knew how to please the Grand Master and hoped that he would be able to save Rebecca’s life. At first the preceptor was on the girl’s side, because there were several Jewish doctors in the city, whom no one called wizards, although they amazingly treated people.
However, the Grand Master undertook to destroy the Jewess so that her death would become a cleansing sacrifice, sufficient to redeem all the love affairs of the knights of the order, and neither the Preceptor nor Boisguillebert managed to convince him.
Finally, Malvoisin decided that it would be better if this pitiful girl died than for the brotherhood of Briand where Boisguillebert to die.
Before the trial began, a piece of paper was thrust into Rebecca's hand as she entered the courtroom. She took it almost unconsciously and held it in her hands without reading what was in it. But the confidence that she was second in this terrible place gave her courage in a difficult situation.

The court convened to condemn Rebecca was located on the porch at the end of the hall, just opposite the entrance. The meeting had a very solemn and intimidating appearance.
The Grand Master accused Rebecca of clouding the mind of the best knight of the Templar Order. Turning to those present with the question of what they could say about the life and actions of the accused, he called the peasant whom the girl was treating. However, his testimony was of no help.
“So, Gige, Snell son,” said the Grand Master, “I tell you, it is better to remain a paralytic than to use medicine from the hands of infidels and through them to get out of bed and walk.”
Other witnesses claimed that Rebecca, while in the castle with Bois-Gulbert, turned into a milk-white swan and in this form flew around Torquilston Castle three times, and then sat down on the tower again, turning to look at the woman.
Although the appearance of the girl and her gentle behavior pleasantly struck everyone present and aroused their sympathy, there was nothing to object to these remarks.
Even Boisguillebert could not say anything, he only said, looking at Rebecca:
- Bundle... Bundle...
Rebecca, lowering her eyes to the strip of parchment remaining in her hand, read what was written on it in Arabic letters: “Demand a duel.” According to ancient laws, one of the knights could stand up for the girl’s honor by accepting a challenge to a duel, and thus save her life.
“It cannot be,” said Rebecca, “that in merry England—the living room, noble, free, where so many people are ready to risk their lives in the name of honor—there would not be anyone who would come out to fight for justice.” But not only do I demand a trial - a duel: here is my bail.
And the girl, taking off the embroidered glove from her hand, threw it at the master’s feet with such an arrogant expression on her face that aroused everyone’s sympathy and surprise.

Even Luca Beaumanoir was touched by the sight of Rebecca.
He instructed Boisguilbert to courageously go out into battle, and gave Rebecca three days to find the fighter. The girl must find a messenger who would inform her father about the plight. Snell's son Gig, who was being treated by a Jewish woman, volunteered to carry out her instructions. He gave Isaac a letter from his daughter, in which she asked that the knight Ivanhoe defend her life in a duel, and the old Jew, without hesitation, went in search of Cedric’s son.

On the evening of the day when the trial ended, someone knocked lightly on the door of the room where Rebecca was imprisoned.
It was Briand where Boisguillebert was, who did not lose hope of once having an explanation with the girl. He convinced her that he would not have been able to find the knight for old Isaac, he would still be defeated by him, Boisguillebert, and then Rebecca would die a slow and cruel death in agony. If he himself refuses to fight with the defender of the Jewish woman, he will be declared dishonored and disgraced by a knight convicted of witchcraft and conspiracy with infidels. However, he is ready to lose his big name if Rebecca agrees to be with him. Then they could flee to Palestine and there realize the ambitious plans of the Templars. However, the girl rejected all of Boisguillebert’s proposals, forcing him to leave, full of money and at the same time determined to appear for the duel.

The Black Knight, having parted with the noble Locksley, moved by the simple route to the priory of St. Botolph, a neighboring monastery of insignificant territory and income. After the castle was taken, Ivanhoe was moved there, guarded by Gurdo and Wamba. The meeting between Ivanhoe and his savior was very touching. But the Black Knight, apparently, could not hesitate.
Suddenly three arrows flew out of the forest thicket, and a battle broke out, in which Locksley and his yeomen took part. They quickly put an end to the robbers. All of them died on the spot, killed or mortally wounded. The Black Knight thanked his saviors with such greatness, which had never before been noticeable in his behavior: then he behaved like a common person brave, not like a person of high rank.
Having removed the helmet from one of the attackers, he was surprised to recognize Waldemar Fitsurz, who was carrying out the shameful assignment of Prince John. However, the Black Knight gave Fitzurzov his life, ordering him to leave England within three days and never remember that the king’s brother ordered him to be captured by treacherous means. Here the knight revealed his real name to all the brethren, admitting that he was King Richard of England.
In response, Loxley also revealed that he was the king of the forest freemen - Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest.
The appearance of new riders attracted the attention of everyone present.

It was Wilfrid Ivanhoe who arrived on the horse of the Botolph prior and Gourde, who was accompanied by him on the knight's own war horse. Ivanhoe was infinitely surprised to see on the small lawn where the battle had previously taken place, his owner, stained with blood, and around him six or seven corpses.
A feast was held in the clearing, which was stopped only when Robin Hood ordered the horn to be blown, which Richard mistook for Malvoisin. He did this to put an end to the drinking bout that was robbing the king of the hours he needed for serious matters.
And although at first Richard was angry, then he recognized the rights of the king of the forest freemen and set off. The king, accompanied by Ivanhoe, Gourdo and Wamba, reached Koningsburz Castle without any obstacles before the sun disappeared below the horizon. The funeral dinner for the deceased Sir Adelstan was held at the castle.
Cedric, seeing Richard (whom he knew only as the brave Black Knight), rose, maintaining his dignity, and, according to custom, greeted him with the words: “How are you?” ", Raising his glass at the same time. The king was familiar with the customs of his English subjects; in response to the greeting, he said: “I drink to your health” and drank from the glass handed to him by the butler.
Ivanhoe was also greeted politely and silently responded to his father’s greeting with a bow, replacing the usual words for this occasion so that he would not be recognized by his voice.
In another room they saw about twenty Saxon girls, led by Ners, who were embroidering and weaving wreaths.
Rowena greeted her savior with dignity and affection. The expression on her face was serious, but not sad, and someone wondered if she missed Ivanhoe more, not knowing anything about his fate, than for Adelstan, whom everyone considered dead.
King Richard turned to Cedric, asking him to make peace with his son Ivanhoe and return his parental love to him. As soon as the words of the probachanya were uttered, the door opened wide, and Adelstana, dressed in a shroud, appeared before them, pale, with a confused look, like a dead man emerging from the grave.
When those present recovered from his appearance, Adelstana told his amazing story: in a fierce fight, Boisguillebert's blade struck him flat and was repelled by the shaft of a good stick. When Adelstana woke up, he saw himself in a coffin - fortunately, open - in front of the altar of the Saintedmund church. The scoundrel monks put him in the prison of this damned monastery, but the knight managed to escape and get to his own funeral in Cedric’s castle.
“And my pupil Rowena,” asked Cedric, “I hope you do not intend to leave her?”
“Father to Cedric,” answered Adelstana, “be reasonable.” I don't care about Lady Roveni... Wilfrida's little finger is more valuable to her than my whole personality. Here, brother Wilfrid Ivanhoe, I refuse and renounce you... Saint Denstane! But brother Wilfried has disappeared!
Everyone looked around and asked about Ivanhoe, but no one saw him. Finally they learned that a Jew had come to him and after a short conversation with him, he found Gourdo, his weapons and armor and left the castle.

The hour that was to decide Rebecchin's fate was approaching. The condemned woman was pale, and even the most ardent hearts sank with sympathy for her. Malvoisin, as a witness to the fighter, came forward and laid the glove, which was the guarantee of the duel, at the feet of Grand Master Rebecchin.
He said that the good knight Briand was Boisguillebert, who had pledged to fight today to prove that this Jewess named Rebecca had the merit of being sentenced to death for witchcraft. Even at this moment, Boisguillebert did not lose hope of finding Rebecca’s love and invited her to jump on his horse and run further. But at the same moment, a knight appeared on the plain bordering the arena. He urged his horse forward with all his might. Hundreds of voices shouted: “Defender!” Defender!
This knight, who did not stay firmly in the saddle due to his recent serious wound, was Wilfrid Ivanhoe. He stated his name and purpose of appearance:
“I am an honest and noble knight, I came here so that, having brought justice and legality to the case of this girl, Rebecca, daughter of Isaac from York, with a spear and sword, to free her from the sentence proclaimed over her, as false and unreasonable, and to go out to duel with sir Brianom where Boisguillebert, as with a traitor, murderer and liar.
The astonished Boisguillebert wanted to abandon the duel, given the wound of the young knight, but he reminded him of how he forced the golden chain against the sacred relic, fought with Wilfrid Ivanhoe for lost honor, and finally, the Templars began to fight.
The trumpets sounded, and the knights rushed with all their might. What everyone expected happened: Ivanhoe’s exhausted horse and equally exhausted rider could not resist the well-aimed spear and strong horse of the Templars. Everyone assumed in advance how the fight would end, but even though Ivanhoe’s spear barely touched Bois’s shield, the Templars, to the surprise of everyone present, swayed in the saddle, his legs slipped out of the stirrups, and he fell to the ground.
Ivanhoe, having freed himself from under his horse, immediately jumped up, hastening to correct his failure with his sword. But his enemy was rising. When Boisguillebert's helmet was removed, it became obvious that he was suffering from a broken heart.
“Really this is God’s judgment,” said the Grand Master. - Thy will be done!
At that moment, the Black Knight appeared in the arena, accompanied by a large detachment of warriors and several fully armed knights. He regretted that Boisguillebert, whom he had appointed for himself, had already fallen on the battlefield, and accused Albert Malvoisin of treason.
“The brothers of our order,” said the Grand Master, standing at the head of the detachment, “do not fight because of such fuss, and it is not with you, Richard of England, that the knight of the order will cross his spear in my presence.” The Pope and the kings of Europe will decide our dispute, judge, or it is appropriate to do as you did today.
With these words, the master, without waiting for an answer, gave the signal to get underway.

Confused about what happened when the hike began, Rebecca saw or heard nothing. He and his father secretly left the fatal place, while everyone's attention was focused on King Richard - the crowd greeted him with loud cheers.
In a conversation, the Earl of Essex told Ivanhoe that the reckless king abandoned all his affairs, like a real adventurer, in order to personally resolve the dispute between the Templars and the Jewess with his own hand, while not far from York, Prince John was gathering his supporters. However, when the rebels fled, Prince John himself came to inform King Richard about this, and he did not order him to be thrown into prison, but received him as he met him after the hunt! It was precisely this, according to many contemporaries, that the magnanimous king prompted many of his close associates to treason.
According to the evidence of the trials of that time, it turns out that Maurice de Bracy went overseas and entered the service of Philip of France; Philippe de Malvoisin and his brother, Albert, Preceptor of Temples, were executed, although the punishment of the rebel Waldemar where Fitzurza was limited to exile. And Prince John, through whom this whole plot was conceived, did not even receive a reprimand from his good-natured brother. No one felt sorry for Malvoisin: treacherous, cruel oppressors, they fully deserved death.
After some time, Cedric the Saxon was summoned to the court of Richard, who had lingered in York, reconciling the adjacent counties, where it was restless due to the previous intrigues of his brother. This was very unpleasant for Cedric, since Richard, by returning, thereby destroyed Cedric’s last hope for the possibility of restoring the Saxon dynasty in England.
In addition, Cedric had to see, albeit against his will, that his plan for the final unification of all the Saxons through the marriage of Rowena with Adelstan had failed completely. Soon Cedric agreed to the marriage of his pupil and Ivanhoe. Richard was personally present at the wedding, and the way he treated the Saxons, still humiliated and oppressed, aroused their hopes of regaining their lost rights in a safer way than the vague path of discord.
The day after this happy wedding, Elgita, Rovenina's maid, informed her in the morning that some girl wanted to see her and asked permission to talk to her face to face.
It was Rebecca who told Rowney that she was leaving England for good. The Jewish woman left her lucky rival a box set in silver with a very expensive diamond necklace and matching earrings.
Rebecca said that she wanted to devote her whole life to human causes, healing the sick, feeding the hungry and comforting the unfortunate. When Rowena told her husband about the visit and conversation with Rebecca, Ivanhoe became thoughtful. Apparently, this made a great impression on him.
He lived happily ever after with Rowena, but he often remembered Rebecchina’s beauty and her majestic soul, perhaps more often than Rowena wanted.
Ivanhoe distinguished himself in Richard's service, and the king honored him with numerous manifestations of his favour. He would have been exalted much more if the heroic Richard the Lionheart had not died prematurely in France, in front of the Chaluze castle, Limoges circle. Along with the death of the noble, but hot-tempered and too romantic king, all ambitious and noble plans died.

Ivanhoe summary by chapter 5 chapters and got the best answer

Answer from GALINA[guru]
The proud Thane Cedric of Rotherwood does not give up hope of throwing off the Norman yoke and reviving the former power of the Saxons, placing at the head of the liberation movement a descendant of the royal family, Athelstan of Coningsburgh. However, the dull and unenterprising Sir Athelstan causes distrust among many. To give more weight to his figure, Cedric dreams of marrying Athelstan to his pupil, Lady Rowena, the last representative of the family of King Alfred. When Lady Rowena’s affection for Cedric’s son, Wilfred Ivanhoe, got in the way of these plans, the unyielding thane, not without reason nicknamed Saxon for his dedication to the cause, expelled his son from his parental home and deprived him of his inheritance.
And now Ivanhoe, dressed as a pilgrim, secretly returns home from the crusade. Not far from his father's estate, he is caught up by a detachment of the commander of the Order of the Templars, Briand de Boisguilbert, who is heading to the knightly tournament in Ashby de la Zouche. Caught on the road by bad weather, he decides to ask Cedric for an overnight stay. The hospitable house of the noble thane is open to everyone, even to the Jew Isaac from York, who joins the guests during the meal. Boisguillebert, who also visited Palestine, boasts at the table about his exploits in the name of the Holy Sepulcher. The pilgrim defends the honor of Richard and his brave warriors and, on behalf of Ivanhoe, who has already once defeated the templar in a duel, accepts the challenge of the arrogant commander to battle. When the guests go to their rooms, the pilgrim advises Isaac to quietly leave Cedric's house - he heard Boisguillebert giving the order to the servants to seize the Jew as soon as he moved further away from the estate. The astute Isaac, who saw the spurs under the young man’s wanderer’s attire, in gratitude gives him a note to a merchant relative, in which he asks to lend the pilgrim armor and a war horse.
The tournament at Ashby, which brought together the entire flower of English knighthood, and even in the presence of Prince John himself, attracted everyone's attention. The organizing knights, including the arrogant Briand de Boisguillebert, confidently win one victory after another. But when, it seemed, no one else would dare to oppose the instigators and the outcome of the tournament was decided, a new fighter appears in the arena with the motto “Disinherited” on his shield, who fearlessly challenges the templar himself to a mortal battle. The opponents come together several times, and their spears are scattered in fragments up to the hilts. All the sympathy of the audience is on the side of the brave stranger - and luck accompanies him: Boisguillebert falls from his horse, and the fight is declared over. Then the Disinherited Knight fights in turn with all the instigators and decisively gains the upper hand over them. As the winner, he must choose the queen of love and beauty, and, gracefully bowing his spear, the stranger lays the crown at the feet of the beautiful Rowena.
The next day a general tournament is held: the party of the knight of the Disinherited fights against the party of Briand de Boisguillebert. The Templar is supported by almost all the instigators. They are pushing back the young stranger, and if not for the help of the mysterious Black Knight, he would hardly have been able to become the hero of the day for the second time. The Queen of Love and Beauty must place an honorary crown on the head of the winner. But when the marshals remove the stranger’s helmet, she sees in front of her Ivanhoe, pale as death, who falls at her feet, bleeding from his wounds.
Meanwhile, Prince John receives a note with a messenger: “Be careful - the devil is unleashed.” This means that his brother Richard received his freedom. The prince is in a panic, and so are his supporters. To secure their loyalty, John promises them rewards and honors. For example, he offers the Norman knight Maurice de Bracy as his wife Lady Rowena - the bride is rich, beautiful and noble. De Bracy is delighted and decides to attack Cedric’s squad on the way home from Ashby and kidnap the beautiful Rowena.
Proud of his son's victory, but still unwilling to forgive him, Cedric Saxe sets off on his return journey with a heavy heart. The news that the wounded Ivanhoe was carried away on a stretcher of some rich lady only fuels his sense of indignation. On the road

Almost one hundred and thirty years have passed since the Norman Duke William the Conqueror defeated the Anglo-Saxon troops and took possession of England at the Battle of Hastings (1066). The English people are worried Hard times. King Richard the Lionheart did not return from the last crusade, captured by the treacherous Duke of Austria. The place of his imprisonment is unknown. Meanwhile, the king's brother, Prince John, is recruiting supporters, intending to remove the rightful heir from power and seize the throne in the event of Richard's death. A cunning intriguer, Prince John is wreaking havoc throughout the country, fueling the long-standing enmity between the Saxons and Normans.

The proud Thane Cedric of Rotherwood does not give up hope of throwing off the Norman yoke and reviving the former power of the Saxons, placing at the head of the liberation movement a descendant of the royal family, Athelstan of Coningsburgh. However, the dull and unenterprising Sir Athelstan causes distrust among many. To give more weight to his figure, Cedric dreams of marrying Athelstan to his pupil, Lady Rowena, the last representative of the family of King Alfred. When Lady Rowena’s affection for Cedric’s son, Wilfred Ivanhoe, got in the way of these plans, the unyielding thane, not without reason nicknamed Saxon for his dedication to the cause, expelled his son from his parental home and deprived him of his inheritance.

And now Ivanhoe, dressed as a pilgrim, secretly returns home from the crusade. Not far from his father's estate, he is caught up by a detachment of the commander of the Order of the Templars, Briand de Boisguilbert, who is heading to the knightly tournament in Ashby de la Zouche. Caught on the road by bad weather, he decides to ask Cedric for an overnight stay. The hospitable house of the noble thane is open to everyone, even to the Jew Isaac from York, who joins the guests during the meal. Boisguillebert, who also visited Palestine, boasts at the table about his exploits in the name of the Holy Sepulcher. The pilgrim defends the honor of Richard and his brave warriors and, on behalf of Ivanhoe, who has already once defeated the templar in a duel, accepts the challenge of the arrogant commander to battle. When the guests go to their rooms, the pilgrim advises Isaac to quietly leave Cedric's house - he heard Boisguillebert giving the order to the servants to seize the Jew as soon as he moved further away from the estate. The astute Isaac, who saw the spurs under the young man’s wanderer’s attire, in gratitude gives him a note to a merchant relative, in which he asks to lend the pilgrim armor and a war horse.

The tournament at Ashby, which brought together the entire flower of English knighthood, and even in the presence of Prince John himself, attracted everyone's attention. The organizing knights, including the arrogant Briand de Boisguillebert, confidently win one victory after another. But when, it seemed, no one else would dare to oppose the instigators and the outcome of the tournament was decided, a new fighter appears in the arena with the motto “Disinherited” on his shield, who fearlessly challenges the templar himself to a mortal battle. The opponents come together several times, and their spears are scattered in fragments up to the hilts. All the sympathy of the audience is on the side of the brave stranger - and luck accompanies him: Boisguillebert falls from his horse, and the fight is declared over. Then the Disinherited Knight fights in turn with all the instigators and decisively gains the upper hand over them. As the winner, he must choose the queen of love and beauty, and, gracefully bowing his spear, the stranger lays the crown at the feet of the beautiful Rowena.

The next day a general tournament is held: the party of the knight of the Disinherited fights against the party of Briand de Boisguillebert. The Templar is supported by almost all the instigators. They are pushing back the young stranger, and if not for the help of the mysterious Black Knight, he would hardly have been able to become the hero of the day for the second time. The Queen of Love and Beauty must place an honorary crown on the head of the winner. But when the marshals remove the stranger’s helmet, she sees in front of her Ivanhoe, pale as death, who falls at her feet, bleeding from his wounds.

Meanwhile, Prince John receives a note with a messenger: “Be careful - the devil is unleashed.” This means that his brother Richard received his freedom. The prince is in a panic, and so are his supporters. To secure their loyalty, John promises them rewards and honors. For example, he offers the Norman knight Maurice de Bracy as his wife Lady Rowena - the bride is rich, beautiful and noble. De Bracy is delighted and decides to attack Cedric’s squad on the way home from Ashby and kidnap the beautiful Rowena.

Proud of his son's victory, but still unwilling to forgive him, Cedric Saxe sets off on his return journey with a heavy heart. The news that the wounded Ivanhoe was carried away on a stretcher of some rich lady only fuels his sense of indignation. On the way, Isaac from York and his daughter Rebecca join the cavalcade of Cedric and Athelstan of Coningsburgh. They were also at the tournament and now they are asking to be taken under protection - not so much for their own sake, but for the sake of the sick friend they are accompanying. But as soon as the travelers go deeper into the forest, they are attacked by a large detachment of robbers and all of them are taken prisoner.

Cedric and his companions are taken to the fortified castle of Front de Boeuf. The leaders of the “robbers” turn out to be Boisguillebert and de Bracy, which Cedric guesses when he sees the battlements of the castle. “If Cedric Sax cannot save England, he is ready to die for it,” he challenges his captors.

De Bracy, meanwhile, appears to Lady Rowena and, having confessed everything to her, tries to win her favor. However, the proud beauty is not

is elderly and, only having learned that Wilfred Ivanhoe is also in the castle (namely, he was in Isaac’s stretcher), begs the knight to save him from death.

But no matter how hard it is for Lady Rowena, Rebekah is in much greater danger. Captivated by the intelligence and beauty of Zion's daughter, Briand de Boisguilbert was inflamed with passion for her, and now he persuades the girl to run away with him. Rebekah is ready to choose death over shame, but her fearless rebuke, full of indignation, only gives rise to the confidence in the templar that he has met the woman of his destiny, his soul mate.

Meanwhile, detachments of free yeomen, brought by Cedric’s servants who escaped captivity, are gathering around the castle. The siege is led by Ivanhoe, who has already come to the aid of the Black Knight. Under the blows of his huge ax, the castle gates crack and fall apart, and stones and logs flying on his head from the walls annoy him no more than raindrops. Rebekah, who made her way into Ivanhoe’s room in the turmoil of the battle, tells the bedridden young man what is happening around. Blaming myself for tender feelings to the Gentile, she is unable to leave him at such a dangerous moment. And the liberators are winning back inch by inch from the besieged. The Black Knight mortally wounds Front de Boeuf and takes de Bracy prisoner. And what’s strange is that the proud Norman, after a few words spoken to him, unquestioningly resigns himself to his fate. Suddenly the castle is engulfed in flames. The Black Knight barely manages to drag Ivanhoe out into the open air. Boisguillebert grabs the desperately resisting Rebekah and, placing her on the horse of one of the slaves, tries to escape from the trap. ‘However, Athelstan rushes in pursuit of him, deciding that the templar has kidnapped Lady Rowena. The templar's sharp sword falls with all its force on the head of the ill-fated Saxon, and he falls to the ground dead.

Having left the dilapidated castle and thanking the free riflemen for their help, Cedric, accompanied by a stretcher with the body of Athelstan of Coningsburgh, goes to his estate, where he will be given the last honors. The Black Knight also parted with his faithful assistants - his wanderings are not yet over. The leader of the shooters, Luxli, gives him a hunting horn as a farewell gift and asks him to blow it in case of danger. Released, de Bracy gallops at full speed to Prince John to tell him the terrible news - Richard is in England. The cowardly and vile prince sends his main henchman Voldemar Fitz-Urs to capture, or better yet, kill Richard.

Boisguillebert takes refuge with Rebekah in the monastery of the Knights of Templestowe. Grandmaster Beaumanoir, who arrived at the monastery for an inspection, finds many shortcomings; first of all, he is outraged by the licentiousness of the templars. When he learns that a captive Jewish woman is hiding within the walls of the preceptory, who, in all likelihood, is in a love affair with one of the brothers of the order, he decides to hold a trial over the girl and accuse her of witchcraft - for what, if not witchcraft, explains her power over the commander? The stern ascetic Beaumanoir believes that the execution of the Jewish woman will serve as a cleansing sacrifice for the love sins of the Knights of the Temple. In a brilliant speech, which won the sympathy of even her opponents, Rebekah rejects all of Beaumanoir’s accusations and demands a duel: let the one who volunteers to defend her prove her right with a sword.

Meanwhile, the Black Knight, making his way through the forests to his only known goal, comes across an ambush. Fitz-Urs carried out his vile plans, and the English king could have fallen from the treacherous hand if it had not been for the free archers, led by Loxley, who appeared at the sound of the horn. The knight finally reveals his incognito identity: he is Richard Plantagenet, the rightful king of England. Loxley also does not remain in debt: he is Robin Hood from Sherwood Forest. Here the company is caught up by Wilfred Ivanhoe, traveling from Saint-Botolph Abbey, where he was recovering from his wounds, to Coningsburgh Castle. Forced to wait until his supporters gather enough strength, Richard goes with him. At the castle, he persuades Cedric to forgive his rebellious son and give him Lady Rowena as his wife. The resurrected, or rather, never dying, but simply stunned, Sir Athelstan joins his request. The turbulent events of recent days have taken away his last ambitious dreams. However, in the midst of the conversation, Ivanhoe suddenly disappears - he was urgently called by some Jew, the servants report. At the Templestowe monastery everything is ready for the duel. There is only no knight willing to fight Boisguillebert for the honor of Rebekah. If the intercessor does not appear before sunset, Rebekah will be burned. And then a rider appears on the field, his horse almost falls from fatigue, and he himself can barely stay in the saddle. This is Wilfred Ivanhoe, and Rebekah is trembling with excitement for him. The opponents converge - and Wilfred falls, unable to withstand the well-aimed blow of the templar. However, from the fleeting touch of Ivanhoe’s spear, Boisguillebert also falls - and never gets up again. God's judgment has been completed! The Grandmaster declares Rebekah free and innocent.

Having taken his rightful place on the throne, Richard forgives his dissolute brother. Cedric finally agrees to Lady Rowena's wedding to her son, and Rebekah and her father leave England forever. “Ivanhoe lived happily ever after with Rowena. They loved each other even more because they experienced so many obstacles to their union. But it would be risky to inquire in too much detail whether the memory of Rebecca’s beauty and generosity did not come to his mind much more often than Alfred’s beautiful heiress might have liked.”

Retelling - S. A. Solodovnik

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