Quentin Durward

Quentin Durward,
a novel by Sir W. Scott , published 1823 .

One of the most vigorous and readable of Scott's novels, Quentin Durward is set in 15th-cent. France and Burgundy. It was Scott's first venture onto the mainland of Europe, and his story of a young Scots soldier of fortune serving in the guard of Louis XI had an enthusiastic reception in Paris. As in many of Scott's novels, the plot deals with the breakdown of traditional chivalric values and the opposition (and here, the reconciliation) of romance and reality.