A complete, critically edited edition of the Waverley Novels as Scott originally wrote them. The first of Scott's "Waverley" novels burst upon an astonished world in 1814. Its publication marked the emergence of the modern novel in the western world, influencing all the great 19th-century writers. This edition of Sir Walter Scott's novels captures the original power and freshness of his best-loved novels. Going back to the original manuscripts, a team of scholars has uncovered what Scott originally wrote and intended his public to read before errors, misreadings and expurgations crept in during production. This edition offers: a clean, corrected text; textual histories; explanatory notes; verbal changes from the first-edition text; and full glossaries. The theme of the Crusades attracted Scott at different times throughout his writing career. This novel focuses on the Third Crusade, which had been triggered by the conquest in 1187 of almost the whole of Palestine, including Jerusalem, by Salah-ed-Din Yusef ibn Ayub or Saladin. The plot revolves around the Crusaders' camp in the Holy Land, which is being torn apart by tensions between rival leaders.
The most influential, Richard the Lionheart, is ill, which accentuates the divisions among the Christian forces. On a mission far from the camp, the poor Scottish crusader Sir Kenneth, or the Knight of the Leopard, comes across a Saracen emir with whom, after inconclusive combat, he strikes up a friendship.