Men of Iron

Men of Iron is an 1891 novel by the American author Howard Pyle, who also illustrated it. Set in the 15th century, it is a juvenile "coming of age" work in which a young squire, Myles Falworth, seeks not only to become a knight but to eventually redeem his father's honor. In Chapter 24 the knighthood ceremony is presented and described as it would be in a non-fiction work concerning knighthood and chivalry. Descriptions of training equipment are also given throughout.

It comprises 68,334 words and is divided into 33 unnamed chapters, an introduction, and a conclusion. It was made into a movie in 1954, The Black Shield of Falworth.

The story begins in 1400, the year after the deposition of Richard II of England by Henry of Bolingbrooke, thereafter Henry IV. Lord Gilbert Reginald Falworth is attainted for being King Richard's councilor, who strongly advised him to resist his cousin Henry's movement to seize the throne, and for protecting The Earl of Alban, a fictional conspirator against the succeeding King Henry. Falworth is blinded in a trial by combat with William Bushy Brookhurst, later created Earl of Alban, whom young Myles, son of Lord Falworth, remembers brutally killing Sir John Dale in the hall of Falworth castle where he lived with his parents.

Lord Falworth, his wife, Myles, and Diccon Bowman go into hiding in Crosbey-Dale (pronounced, kris' bē-dāl) on the estates of the Priory of St. Mary, under the protection of the elderly Prior Edward. Most of the action of the novel is in Derbyshire, England; the ruins of a Mackworth Castle actually exist on the west side of Derby. Diccon Bowman undertakes the physical training of young Myles, and Prior Edward performs the academic training. Lady Falworth teaches him the French language. Myles is a champion wrestler, defeating a man a head taller than he. Later in the novel the reader learns that Myles as a child took a dangerous ride on a country windmill.

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