Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

I feel like this novel is directly responsible for the endless succession of Robin Hood movies and shows that have appeared since the invention of cinema, complete with excessive attempts to accurately portray the clothing of the period. Interestingly, it has the same mixture of idealism, focus on honour and actually entertaining humour that a lot of Robin Hood movies have. I really loved many of the characters, which is funny, because the main couple, Ivanhoe and Rowena, are actually impossibly dull, and can easily be dispensed with. The real focus of the story is Rebecca, a Jewish woman unjustly accused of witchcraft, and the emotional hell that her would-be seducer, Brian de Bois-Guilbert, lives in. Robin Hood is, in this story, a yeomen, and I feel like in the Robin Hood films, Robin gets elided with Ivanhoe, to form one actually interesting aristocratic character. There are loads of really funny and fun background characters, and probably at least one half of the text is taken up with Richard Lionheart getting drunk with Father Tuck, the jester (who seems to be the only reasonable person) making jokes at everyone's expense, and other such entertaining incidents, which are a good break from all the honour and chivalry stuff going on in the main action. I really loved the character of Rebecca, though the portrayal of her father, Isaac, is absolutely cringe-worthy in its stereotyping. It's a super entertaining and funny book, and I'm really surprised by how much Scott's characters have retained their form in later Robin Hood books and films; the reckless and magnanimous Richard Lionheart, who always wind up saving the day, the jovial Friar Tuck, the sly and smarmy Prince John, the witty Robin Hood, etc.