From the How They Lived series – easy-to-read books in which historical settings are vividly described and drawn for young readers.

Eight or nine hundred years ago, a king's power could depend on the loyalty of his lords and knights. How did he try to bind them to be faithful? What promises did a new knight make? Why did some knights become crusaders? This book describes, in a simple and approachable style, a little of life in a medieval castle, where a young squire and his sister go hunting with their lord, watch a great feast and enjoy a tournament, the girl looking forward to the day when her brother too will be a gallant knight, and when she will be a lady about whom the minstrels sing.