The Brethren

by H. Rider Haggard

Overview

"Standing a while ago upon the flower-clad plain above Tiberius, by the Lake of Galilee, the writer gazed at the double peaks of the Hill of Hattin. Here, or so tradition says, Christ preached the Sermon on the Mount--that perfect rule of gentleness and peace. Here, too--and this is certain--after nearly twelve centuries had gone by, Yusuf Salah-ed-din, whom we know as the Sultan Saladin, crushed the Christian power in Palestine in perhaps the most terrible battle which that land of blood has known. Thus the Mount of the Beatitudes became the Mount of Massacre. Whilst musing on these strangely-contrasted scenes enacted in one place there arose in his mind a desire to weave, as best he might, a tale wherein any who are drawn to the romance of that pregnant and mysterious epoch, when men by thousands were glad to lay down their lives for visions and spiritual hopes, could find a picture, however faint and broken, of the long war between Cross and Crescent waged among the Syrian plains and deserts. Of Christian knights and ladies also, and their loves and sufferings in England and the East; of the fearful lord of the Assassins whom the Franks called Old Man of the Mountain, and his fortress city, Masyaf. Of the great-hearted, if at times cruel Saladin and his fierce Saracens; of the rout at Hattin itself, on whose rocky height the Holy Rood was set up as a standard and captured, to be seen no more by Christian eyes; and of the Iast surrender, whereby the Crusaders lost Jerusalem forever. Of that desire this story is the fruit." -- H. Rider Haggard

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781587157509
Publisher:	Borgo Press
Publication date:	08/02/2024
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

H. Rider Haggard (Sir Henry Rider Haggard) was an English author who was known for his African thriller novel, 'Lord Solomon's Mines'. His father was a Norfolk advocate but he was denied an honourable men's schooling compared to his siblings due to his physical bluntness. Yet he was taught at Ipswich Grammar School. At nineteen years old, he started his vocation at the command of his father as an unpaid guide to Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of Natal, staying in Africa for the following six years. The experience he obtained during this period would later significantly affect his writing profession. An author of massive talent. He kept on composing till the end, leaving behind a legacy of various books, brief tales, and non-fictions for us to read. An agriculturist, he served on a few government commissions concerning horticulture throughout the British Empire, being selected a Knight Bachelor and Knight Commander for his commitment to this field. H. Rider Haggard was born on 22 June, 1856 in Braden ham, situated in the English area of Norfolk. His father, Sir William Meybohm Rider Haggard, was a lawyer, while his mother, Ella Dove ton Haggard, was an author herself. The couple had ten children, out of which Henry was conceived as the eighth. Senior to him was one sister and six brothers called Ella Dove ton, William Henry Dove ton, Bastet Michael Dove ton, Alfred Huber, John George, Andrew Charles Parker, and Arthur. His more youthful kin was Elizabeth Cecelia Western; Eleanora Mary D'Auethare and Edward Arthur Haggard. Due to his dull appearance and absence of focus, his father didn't send him to any tuition-based schools. Taking everything into consideration, he started his schooling with Reverend H. J. Graham at Garsington Rectory in Oxfordshire. Afterward, he moved to Ipswich Grammar School, from where he graduated in 1873. In 1884, Haggard had a five-shilling stake with his brother, asserting that he could compose a preferred novel over Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Treasure Island'. He composed it in the weeks between January and 21st April, 1885. Right away, he set out on writing 'Lord Solomon's Mines' which got distributed in 1885 and immediately turned into a top-of-the-line novel. Even though he had kept on working in legal matters irregularly, he surrendered it and started to focus on writing, serializing another well-known work, 'She: A History of Adventure' in 'The Graphic' magazine between October 1886 and January 1887. At last, the work was distributed as a novel in 1887. In 1887, he distributed another significant work, 'Allan Quatermain' which was a spin-off of 'Lord Solomon's Mines'. Among his other famous works of that time were 'Cleopatra' (1889), 'Nothing the Lily' (1892), and so on. In 1891, he headed out to Mexico to rework his book, 'Montezuma's Daughter' (1893). While continuing with his journey, he received the news that his only child died which dishear...