Myles Falworth was only eight years old the day a knight in black rode into the courtyard of his father’s castle with murderous intent, triggering a chain of events that brought disgrace to the house of Falworth. In spite of his family’s disgrace, young Myles quickly wins a reputation for courage and independence while in training as a knight at the castle of the great Earl of Mackworth. Then one day, when Myles is sixteen, he discovers that his blind father has been condemned for treason, and is being hunted by a powerful enemy who is close to the King. To challenge the King’s champion means certain death...

Men of Iron: the title of this Howard Pyle novel refers to men--knights---wearing armor that weighed as much as they did, bearing iron weapons, and possessing iron strength, of body and of character. Warrior iron of courage, wolf-trap iron of cleverness, thumbscrew iron of cruelty. In those harsh old ames when men of iron ruled, even heroes needed sometimes to be cruel. Men of Iron is a story of heroes: in particular, the forging of a superlative hero, a boy--Myles Falworth---hammered and tested in the fire of fifteenth-century England’s code of chivalry.