Christmas Reading - "The Last Duel"

I recieved this book as a suprise gift from our friend Pat, whom we visited over the holidays and I loved it! We had a great time with him, it was my first time meeting him and his companion cats, Hobbit, Critter and Kitten (glourious beasties all) though he is a long time friend of Pierre.

"The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Mediaeval France" by Eric Jager was great! I ate it up in about a day and a half. It tells the history of the last case of judicial trial by combat, a result of the scandal caused by the alleged rape of a noblewoman, wife of one of the combatants. I am used to reading things that are academic, even somewhat dry and still enjoying them, but this well-researched historical account was so suspenseful and exciting is was like reading a thriller. At the same time you learned a lot about mediaeval law and customs, armour, jousting, everyday life of the nobility, and much more. The writer is an academic, and this is apparently his first "popular" work (his other works are about Mediaeval literature, as he is an English prof), but I hope he will continue with writing for the non-academic crowd.

Since this was, to me at least, a completely unknown story (thought as the last judicial duel fought in France, it will be well known to history buffs, I'm sure) I was never sure how it would turn out, who would die, who would win, what would come next in the many twists the story took. This is pretty unusual for a factual historical account, and speaks to the quality of the writing and detail of the research. So, Thanks Pat for such a great gift!

Reading the details of jousting and armour reminded me of another great book, a long time favourite, that I often re-read, in whole or in part. "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White is a fabulously imagined re-telling of the Arthurian myth cycle, by another writer who immersed himself in his subject and researched exhaustively, but never let that dry out his writing. The copy I had had a quote which stated that the book brought to life the middle ages "...not as they were, but as they should have been" and I would have to agree. It also makes some very interesting philosophical/political points, as Merlin helps the young King Arthur understand the consequences of power by having him immersed himself in different types of animal societies, so he will learn how he best to rule his kingdom. "The Once and Future King" is actually the collection of several novels that follow each other, re-telling the arthurian story from Aruthurs conception to his fall.

Don't let this book pass you by, if you missed it as a child - it is one of those books that is great for all ages, and would be great for a long serial read-aloud to a child with the adult enjoying the process just as much. Happily, one of the side-effects of "Harry Potter mania" seems to be that adults are re-discovering that a well-written children's book is just as good as an adult book - some of us always knew that!

I'd love to hear any comments on either of these books, and I'm always looking for new reading selections, so don't be shy!