THE ROGUE FROM PADUA

A 16th century rascal persuaded from his ideals of selfish freedom by the Peasants' of 1525 is portrayed in Arminius Bosch, a German who has learned to love Italy and who wants only to keep clear of tangles and broils. Passing through Heilbronn, he is taken in Thomas, a gildsman, falls in love with Kate, Thomas' sister-in-law, and is gradually rawn into rising of the Christian Brotherhoods. He uses the honorable company of vagaonds to free Kate's father from prison and leads the peasants against their feudal over lords; he beards the cheery sinners who batten on their vassals and, with Kate in danger, is at last content to stay in Germany and make the fight truly his own. The canting speech of the period and the essentials of the uprising are a solid background for medieval adventuring.