Sir Walter Scott

Chivalry, jousting, coat-armour, knights on horseback and the great glory of the Middle Ages are mostly made up. The real Middle Ages were a dirty, bloody, brutal and uncivilised time. Women were mere possessions, land was wealth, might made right, and peasants ate rocks and soil to stay alive. Only the high-born could live a life anything like Sir Walter Scott imagined in his novels. But once upon a time, there was a great knight - a man called William Marshall. He outlived four kings, fought countless battles, and was the very epitome of the medieval warrior.