The Last Knight: The Twilight of the Middle Ages and the Birth of t

Other reviewers have expressed their view that this book rambles, has a good deal of opinion and even guess-work as opposed to fact, etc. While I can't disagree with this, I liked this book a lot. It's an easy read and provides an accurate analysis of how the world was shifting during John, Duke of Lancaster's lifetime. I found this very helpful and it more than made up for some of the opinions and guesswork. In fact, I found most of this interesting even though I disagreed with some of it. I'd recommend it highly!

The Author writes in a very intriguing and insightful way covering this important part of History. He is very descriptive and accurate in his unfolding of the story of John of gaunt and I thoroughly enjoyed it. :-)

I read this only because I'm an Anglophile interested in British history and also because I'm a descendant of the subject, John of Gaunt.A good read but probably not a book for the general reader; mostly for those interested in medieval history and social history.

Very helpful in filling in details about my family research I used for my family tree.

The author tells us little about John of Gaunt, but a lot about his personal inclinations. I quick read but with little substance.

Norman Cantor has written a very readable book about John Plantagent, Duke of Lancaster and one of the most important and influential men of the 14th century. Lancaster was later called of John of Gaunt reflecting his birth place of Ghent. Born the third son of Edward III and married to his distant heiress cousin Blanche, John became the wealthiest man in England and the 2nd duke of Lancaster.The era spanned by his lifetime (1340-1399) was a pivotal period influenced by the Hundred's Year War and the reoccuring Black Plague which decimated the British population and influenced the futures of serfdom and Catholicsm in England. The tall, handsome Lancaster would never be a king but his descendants through his three wives would become the Yorks, the Tudors, as well as the ruling families of Portugal and Spain.

Loved the history of this " Last Knight " brother to the " Black Knight " & son of King Edward III. Hard to believe these people are in my Heritage.

I thought this was a biography of John of Gaunt. It was not. It was what the subtitle says a study on the passing one era and the beginning of another. Cantor used John of Gaunt as an example of one who had his feet firmly planted in the Middle Ages but had impulses of modernism (which he mostly sublimated). I did enjoy it, but I wouldn't consider it a great book - good, but not great.

This book is a good basic narrative account of John of Gaunt based largely on the author' personal opinions on modern resonances.

Ich habe mir dieses Buch zugelegt, weil ich vom Lebenslauf des Autors beeindruckt war und nach einem Buch über John of Gaunt suchte.Leider war dieses Buch ein völliger Fehlgriff.Der thematische Aufbau wäre gar nicht mal so schlecht - wenn das jeweilige Thema auch einmal ausgewertet würde.Wer wirklich etwas lernen möchte, spart sich das Geld für dieses Buch und investiert es in ein anstädiges Werk.

Very enjoyable and informative. I like the approach Cantor has taken, in looking at different aspects of life in this period and then telling Gault's story in that context.