Men of Iron

Men of Iron is an 1891 young adult novel written and illustrated by Howard Pyle. Pyle was born in Delaware in 1853, and after years of training—beginning with a childhood passion for art—he taught illustration at Drexel University before establishing his own institute, the Howard Pyle School of Illustration Art. His style of art, which he himself was instrumental in developing, was named the Brandywine School after the mid-Atlantic region from which the artists in the genre hailed. Pyle’s other popular fictional works include The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire (1883) and Otto of the Silver Hand (1888). All three novels, including Men of Iron, were written for a younger audience and take place in Medieval Europe. Pyle earned the respect of both contemporaries and subsequent generations for the quality of his storytelling and art. In addition to his own works, Pyle also illustrated historical and fantasy adventure stories for popular magazines.

Men of Iron is written from a third-person limited perspective and includes interjections by the author offering his own opinions on the events of the story. It is a moralistic tale meant to instruct young middle-class men of the Victorian period in chivalry—a code held dear by English and American audiences alike during their resurgence in interest in courtly conduct and the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. In 1954, Men of Iron was adapted into a full-length motion picture by Universal Studios—The Black Shield of Falworth, starring Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh.

This guide is based on an independently published paperback edition of Men of Iron (2021).

Content Warning: Men of Iron includes extensive descriptions of combat-related violence, including injury to adolescents and one animal.

Plot Summary

Late one night in the last decade of the 14th century, 8-year-old Myles Falworth watches in horror as a knight (Sir John Dale) who sought Myles’s father’s castle for protection is bludgeoned to death in their great hall by one of his pursuers. Following the execution, Myles, his mother, and his father, the blind Lord Falworth, flee Falworth Castle and take shelter in a humble residence on the grounds of a priory (as Lord Falworth is accused of treason by the Earl of Alban).

When Myles is 16 years old, he is sent to Devlen Castle, the seat of the Earl of Mackworth, to be inducted as a squire and trained in hopes of receiving the distinction of knighthood. The Earl of Mackworth is described as Lord Falworth’s dear friend, but the former feigns ignorance when Myles brings his letter of introduction to him. At Devlen Castle, Myles meets Francis Gascoyne, another squire who quickly becomes his best friend and most loyal ally. Myles discovers that the bachelors, the eldest of the squires, have established a pattern of abusing their power, using their status to force the younger squires into acting as their personal servants. He refuses to serve them and is beaten for his insubordination.

When Myles and Gascoyne discover an abandoned tower known as the Brutus Tower, it becomes their secret headquarters, and there they establish an order of loyal squires they dub the Knights of the Rose. With Myles as their leader, the squires rally against the bachelors, engaging them in a fierce battle that results in the removal of their leader—Walter Blunt—to other duties in the castle, and the restoration of order in the dormitory. While distinguishing himself in training as a particularly talented fighter, Myles learns that both Sir James Lee, head of the knights at Devlen Castle, and the seemingly indifferent Earl of Mackworth are loyal to Lord Falworth and are investing in Myles’s training in the hopes that he will one day be able to face the enemy who helped orchestrate his father’s designation as an outlaw.

One afternoon, Myles accidentally loses a ball while playing with the other squires and climbs the wall of the private castle garden—where he meets Lady Anne, the King’s daughter, and Lady Alice, the King’s niece. The three strike up a friendship, which lasts until Myles is discovered by the Earl of Mackworth and forbidden to return to the garden. Myles is selected to begin intensive, personalized training under Sir James Lee, and he spends three years working toward developing his skills in combat and horsemanship. When the King, Henry IV, visits Devlen Castle seeking support for a war with France, the Earl of Mackworth arranges to have Myles knighted so he can joust against a famed tournament victor in the King’s party. Myles easily bests the man and is sent to fight for the King in France for six months.

Myles is summoned back to London by the Earl of Mackworth, who informs him that the time has come to challenge his father’s enemy. The former goes into hiding with the Prince of Wales until the time is right to confront the Earl of Alban, who blinded Lord Falworth when they were young knights competing in a tournament, and who murdered Sir John Dale years ago. To this day, the Earl of Alban continues to seek out Lord Falworth’s hiding place. Before the King, the Earls, and his father, Myles presents himself as his father’s champion and challenges the Earl of Alban. In their contest, Myles shows leniency, as the Earl of Alban is clearly no match for the young knight, but he is nearly killed himself when the latter attacks with a weapon not customarily used in trial by combat. Myles exerts significant strength in defeating the Earl of Alban and spends many months in recovery. Having defeated his father’s enemy, and his family having been restored by the newly crowned King Henry V following Henry IV’s death, Myles returns to his ancestral seat with Lady Alice as his wife, and dearest friends Sir James Lee and newly knighted Sir Francis Gascoyne by his side.