Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe

Ivanhoe follows Wilfred of Ivanhoe, part of one of the few Saxon families at a time when English nobility was dominated by the Normans, who is out of favour with his father for his allegiance to the Norman king, Richard the Lionheart.

The gripping storyline beautifully captures the 12th century tensions between Saxons and Normans, Nobility and Commonality and Jews and Gentiles, with a whole host of well-known characters from Robin Hood to Friar Tuck.