Description
Combine Middle English words and sentence structure with a broad cast of sword-wielding characters questing amid enchanted forests and you've got a rollicking good read, or the stuff Monty Python sketch humor is made of. Someone either gets their head cleaved to the neck or stumbles upon a well in nearly every chapter. Enchantment is the word of the day. I'd say it was impossible to experience the fullness of chivalry without throwing down against an enchantment, giving a dwarf a ride on your horse, or taking a man's head off in hand-to-hand combat. And there was much rejoicing.
One thing, though. Any man with property and legacy could call himself a king. Gain the loyalty of a hundred (or thousand) men who would follow you into battle, and you could take other kingdoms, or force other kings to surrender their wealth and pledge fealty. I wonder at the implications for our modern context where men put much faith in their weaponry and are eager to do battle to defend their birthright, the purity of their ladies, and their reputation as a man of prowess. This is 5th century stuff. Surely, we've sorted it out since then?