The Knights of the Cross — Four-Volume Edition

This four-volume edition divides Sienkiewicz’s medieval novel The Knights of the Cross, also translated as The Teutonic Knights. The story follows Zbyszko of Bogdaniec from a reckless vow made for Danusia through captivity, bereavement and the growing war between the Teutonic Order and the Polish–Lithuanian alliance. The fictional family story develops within the political world of Władysław II Jagiełło, Vytautas and the Order’s commanders.

The early volumes focus on Danusia’s abduction and Jurand of Spychów’s suffering at the hands of Teutonic officials. The third volume closes that personal tragedy as open war approaches, and the fourth culminates in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410. Sienkiewicz uses chivalric adventure and romance to create a Polish national epic in which the defeat of the Order resolves both a military conflict and the accumulated injuries suffered by his fictional characters.