The Book of the Order of Chivalry - by Ramon Llull (Paperback)

About the Book

New English translation of Llull's classic and significant text, restoring the nuances of the original.

Book Synopsis

New English translation of Llull's classic and significant text, restoring the nuances of the original.

Ramon Llull (1232-1316) composed The Book of the Order of Chivalry between 1274 and 1276 as both an instrument of reform and an agent for change. His aim was to create and codify the rules for a unilateral Order of Chivalry. Loyalty to the Order, coupled with common sense, religious faith, education, and martial prowess, were in his view the keys to victory in the Holy Land and the Reconquista. The book was an immediate success and widely disseminated across Europe, eventually reaching a medieval English audience, though through a fanciful translation of a translation by William Caxton, in which most of the stylistic nuances of the Catalan original were lost.
This new translation is directly from the original Catalan, so capturing for the first time in English the concise, austere style that characterises Llull's prose; it is presented with introduction and notes. It will be essential reading for all scholars and enthusiasts of medieval chivalric culture.

Noel Fallows is Associate Dean and Professor of Spanish at the University of Georgia, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

Review Quotes

[Provides] valuable insight into the mindset of the late Medieval knight and the expectations of Chivalric society.-- "HISTORY OF WAR.ORG"

A bright, readable, well-referenced translation of Ramon Llull's classic spiritual exposition of knighthood [which] will be especially valuable to students.. will be extremely valuable to scholars and students studying knighthood in the Later Middle Ages.-- "CRUSADES"

Fallow's translation will make it possible for students to read and digest this critical treatise. To describe Fallow's translation as merely accessible and thus suited only for students, however, is to overlook what is a rigorous and scholarly translation. Indeed, Fallows succeeds in providing a translation that stays true to the original work and recaptures the essence of the author's original prose.-- "THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW"

Fallows has done a fine job in this edition. The prose is straightforward and plain-spoken, easily understandable to a modern reader impatient with period flourishes. ... It's an accessible and valuable scholarly resource for fields as diverse as medieval philosophy and military history.-- "COMITATUS"

Over the centuries that it was read this brief book retained its relevance but how that applied must have changed and so Llull has provided even the modern reader with a lens through which to view the medieval world. We must thank Professor Fallows for polishing up this lens and making it available for viewing.-- "HOBILAR"