Book Details

"Gutierre Diaz de Gamez entered the service of Pero Nino, count of Buelna, in 1402, when they were both about twenty-three; he served as head of his military household for nearly fifty years. He began a chronicle of his master's deeds in about 1431, and it is this eyewitness account of the life of a knight, both in war and in peace, which is translated here. It is written in praise of his master, but beneath the veneer of hero-worship a good deal of the reality of a knight's existence shows through." Diaz de Gamez can give a bitter picture of the hardships of a military campaign: 'Knights who are at the wars eat their bread in sorrow; their ease in weariness and sweat... Mouldy bread or biscuit, meat cooked or uncooked, water from a pond or a butt, poor sleep with their armour still on their backs, the enemy an arrow-shot off...' Yet on the other hand, he can evoke the glories of a tournament, in which his master excelled, and his triumphs as a military commander both by sea and land. It is a story full of colour, adventure and romance, and one which deserves its place in the chronicles of chivalry.