The novel portrays the fashionable society of the fictional spa-town of Saint Ronan's. The plot revolves around the enmity of two half-brothers, Valentine Bulmer and Francis Tyrrel. Their father, the Earl of Etherington has secretly married Tyrrel's mother abroad, then later made a public marriage to Bulmer's mother. Bulmer is thus the recognized heir and Tyrrel considered to be illegitimate. Bulmer tries to sow discord between the Earl and his half-brother,...

Ivanhoe is set in 12th-century England with colourful descriptions of a tournament, outlaws, a witch trial and divisions between Jews and Christians. It has been credited for increasing interest in romance and medievalism; John Henry Newman claimed Scott "had first turned men's minds in the direction of the Middle Ages", while Thomas Carlyle and John Ruskin made similar assertions of Scott's overwhelming influence over the revival, based primarily...