A thrillingly intimate portrait of one of history’s most illustrious Knights—William Marshal—that vividly evokes the grandeur and barbarity of the Middle Ages

“Asbridge has fashioned a rare and fascinating tale: a biography of a medieval knight told with all the rich detail, dialogue, and action that is usually possible only for figures from later periods. Asbridge is a wonderful guide to the complex politics and history of medieval England.” —Christian Science Monitor

William Marshal was the true Lancelot of his era’a peerless warrior and paragon of chivalry who served at the right hand of five English monarchs. He became a celebrated tournament champion, a baron and politician and, ultimately, a regent of the realm. In The Greatest Knight, renowned historian Thomas Asbridge presents a compelling account of Marshal’s life and times, from his journey from rural England onto the battlefields of France, to the desert castles of the Holy Land and the verdant shores of Ireland. Asbridge charts the unparalleled rise to prominence of a man bound to a code of honor, yet driven by an insatiable ambition.

This knight’s tale lays bare the brutal realities of medieval warfare and the machinations of the royal court and draws us into the heart of a formative period of our history, when the West emerged from the Dark Ages. It is the story of one remarkable man, the birth of the knightly class, and the forging of the English nation.