Perhaps this book is needed in an era where myth and legend gives way to hard cold facts. But let's hope there will always be children who cherish the shining knights in armor with their ideals and their ladies. King Arthur still has his place... But for those who want the facts, here is a book which goes back to the Orientals, the Greeks and the Romans for the roots of the story of chivalry and carries the record up to Edward Longshanks' time, when already the traditions of the armor and weapons of the knights were fading and tournaments were put on as a show. In the 12th century knights had been fighting men and little else; as mounted knights they were on the way out. But their story had had its mead of glamor and adventure; the training of a knight had its rigid rules; they played various roles at different periods of history. In factual connecting sections the stage is set for the stories tracing scions of the de Wyke family tree. While the facts are here- livened by story, the whole somehow fails to live up to the quality of the research and leaves a sense of disorganization.