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Title: The Book of the Order of Chivalry by Ramon Lull ISBN: 0-9633100-0-3 Publisher: Start Group Pub. Date: July, 1991 Format: Hardcover List Price(USD): $24.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (2 reviews)

Rating: 3
Summary: I expected more for the price
Comment: Lull's work is, perhaps, one of the most often quoted and referenced works in all studies relating to medieval chivalry. Looking at the bibliographies of medieval researchers such as Maurice Keen and Peter Coss, you find Lull's work featured prominently. THE BOOK OF THE ORDER OF CHIVALRY (its English title) is valuable to have simply because it is good, simple prose that details the virtues of chivalry as they were espoused in the Midde Ages. However....

My rating for this book is not as high as it could be. I take issue with the price of the book. For its size, far fewer pages than any standard novel, approximately 25$US was far too much money. The quality of the physical book didn't seem warrant the cost. It was sturdy and nice, not cheap. But I get the distinct impression the publishers were trying to cover up for the short amount of text. This could have easily been remedied in other ways.

I was disappointed with the fact that the book was so terribly short. Certainly the original manuscript text from which the work was translated was short. To combat the problems of printing a short manuscript, it would have been very easy to include the original manuscript text side-by-side with the translation. This would have allowed researchers to judge for themselves the validity of the translation and bulk up the book at the same time without driving up the price. Some of the finest translated books on medieval manuscripts have this feature and they're often equal in at 5 times the size.

Perhaps my biggest issue is with the work itself. While certainly a very important work in terms of "chivalric behavior" and "codes of conduct", I was left with a certain sense of dissatisfaction when I was done reading it. I expected something a little more...definitive...compelling, especially considering how many researchers prominently reference this work. When I was done reading THE BOOK OF THE ORDER OF CHIVALRY, I couldn't help but wonder if there was something more to be said that didn't get said. I think that had I read this book before I had read military manuals like Vegetius's "Epitomie of Military Science" or the Bushido conduct manual, "Code of the Samurai", I wouldn't have been left with the feeling that I'd missed something terribly important.

If you're looking for a work that tells you how to behave like a knight was supposed to, this book might be it. At the current price, consider well if you couldn't instead just do without it and read the secondary sources, books that discuss more about the historical aspects of knighthood (Keen, Coss, et. al.). Researchers wishing to complete their collections with a primary sources such as this one? By all means, buy this book, but again, consider the price. See if one of your friends will buy you a bookstore coupon and use that toward the purchase. You might be more satisfied that way.

Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent source book
Comment: This book provides excellent insights into the concept and ideals of Chivalry and Knighthood. Thorough discussions of the symbolism of the Knights weapons and armor provide a wealth of material for those interested in chivalric orders or the mindset of the middle ages.