Howard Pyle

Otto of the Silver Hand . Howard Pyle

Otto of the Silver Hand is a children's novel about the Middle Ages written and illustrated by Howard Pyle. It was first published in 1888 by Charles Scribner's Sons. The novel was one of the first written for young readers that went beyond the chivalric ideals of the time period, and showed how cruel the time period could really be. The novel is set in 13th-century Germany, partly during the Great Interregnum and partly during the reign of Rudolph of Habsburg. Plot summaryThe book centers upon the life of Otto, the son of German warlord Baron Conrad. Otto's mother, Baroness Matilda, has died in premature labour, brought on by the sight of the Baron's battle wounds, prompting Conrad to take his newborn son to be raised in a nearby monastery. When Otto reaches the age of eleven his father returns to claim him from the gentle monks, taking him back to live in Castle Drachenhausen, ("Dragons' House", in German) the ancestral mountaintop fortress from which the Baron launches his attacks. Here Otto learns of and is horrified by his father's life as a robber baron. Otto is particularly horrified by the revelation of how Conrad killed a defeated, surrendering enemy, Baron Frederick. A rival robber baron, Baron Frederick had been with his men defending a column of merchants in return for the tribute they were paying him.