Hope in medieval times

            Hope can be found anywhere throughout history.  Examples of hope can be found in the two books The Lost Baron and The Red Keep written by Allen French.  I will give examples of hope in the essay below.  

            Martin is an example of hope in The Lost Baron.  First, it was discovered that Halbert was taking too many fish on behalf of Sir Basil and keeping it for him and his men. Sir Basil then put martin in charge of collecting the fish rations.  This made the people in the fishing village happy and gave them hope they wouldn’t starve any more. 

            The second example of hope is when the farmers confronted Martin and told him about Halbert taking too many rations from them, too.  Martin told them he couldn’t; only Sir Basil could give that order.  Instead, martin helped them come up with a plan to set a trap to show Sir Basil that Halbert and his men were stealing.  Their plan worked!  Sir Basil found out and made Martin his squire.  Again, the farmers knew they would no longer starve.

            The final example of hope is when Martin found Baron Eric and alerted the people that he was alive.  They came up with a plan to get Sir Basil’s men out of the castle and get Eric out of the dungeon.  They succeed and Baron Eric kills Sir Basil.

            The first example of hope in The Red Keep is Lady Anne.  Anne never gave up on regaining her fief after the Sauval took it and killed her family.  She trained for war and learned the skills although she knew she would not regain it without a husband.  The people of the Red Keep castle, however, continued to believe in her.

            The second example of hope is Conan, a squire who sets off from Sir Roger’s castle by himself and first saves a Jewish traveler from Red Ralph, an outlaw.  Later, he meets up with the same traveler caught by the Sauval and frees him once again.  This second time Conan had the attention of the masons Pierre and Berenger from Vézelay.  Pierre helps Conan escape the Sauval and Conan goes to hide out in their village.

            Conan disguises himself as Luke and he discovers a plan between the Abbot and the Sauval to take the Red Keep castle for themselves.  Pierre and Conan come up with a plan to thwart the Sauval.

            Up until this point, people thought Conan was dead, but when they figure out he is alive it gives them hope to keep going and fight with him.  In the end they defeat the Sauval and Anne marries Conan and gets back what is rightfully hers.

            Overall I enjoyed reading these two books as part of my schoolwork.  Hope encouraged the people to move forward in hard times.  Today, hope gives us the opportunity to be helpful and encouraging to help people have a better life.