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The Knights of the Cross or Krzyżacy #1-2

The Knights of the Cross. Volume I: The Death Sentence

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

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175 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 29, 2020

69 people are currently reading
249 people want to read

About the author

Henryk Sienkiewicz

1,328 books705 followers
Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz (also known as "Litwos"; May 5, 1846–November 15, 1916) was a Polish journalist and Nobel Prize-winning novelist. He was one of the most popular Polish writers at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905 for his "outstanding merits as an epic writer."

Born into an impoverished gentry family in the Podlasie village of Wola Okrzejska, in Russian-ruled Poland, Sienkiewicz wrote historical novels set during the Rzeczpospolita (Polish Republic, or Commonwealth). His works were noted for their negative portrayal of the Teutonic Order in The Teutonic Knights (Krzyżacy), which was remarkable as a significant portion of his readership lived under German rule. Many of his novels were first serialized in newspapers, and even today are still in print. In Poland, he is best known for his historical novels "With Fire and Sword", "The Deluge", and "Fire in the Steppe" (The Trilogy) set during the 17th-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, while internationally he is best known for Quo Vadis, set in Nero's Rome. Quo Vadis has been filmed several times, most notably the 1951 version.

Sienkiewicz was meticulous in attempting to recreate the authenticity of historical language. In his Trilogy, for instance, he had his characters use the Polish language as he imagined it was spoken in the seventeenth century (in reality it was far more similar to 19th-century Polish than he imagined). In The Teutonic Knights, which relates to the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, he even had his characters speak a variety of medieval Polish which he recreated in part from archaic expressions then still common among the highlanders of Podhale.

In 1881, Sienkiewicz married Maria Szetkiewicz (1854-1885). They had two children, Henryk Józef (1882-1959) and Jadwiga Maria (1883–1969).

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5 stars
94 (24%)
4 stars
111 (28%)
3 stars
90 (23%)
2 stars
56 (14%)
1 star
33 (8%)
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
Profile Image for Clay Davis.
Author 4 books159 followers
August 16, 2022
A beautifully written epic set during the golden age of chivalry. I got great pleasure reading this story.
Profile Image for Pandusia_bloom9002.
11 reviews
March 7, 2022
Fabuła jest dla mnie ciekawą dopiero pod koniec tego tomu
Edit: ps. Jednak nie ciekawe, nic nie jest ciekawe
175 reviews1 follower
July 15, 2024
Jak na ten moment, moim ulubionym bohaterem jest Czech :))

Nie spodziewałam się, że aż tak się wciągnę
Profile Image for kaja.
31 reviews
July 1, 2022
no co mam powiedzieć💀takie 2,5/5
Profile Image for Dominic Graham.
Author 7 books5 followers
August 16, 2018
A great, heroic tale of noble, virtuous knights battling with unvirtuous knights, and of gallantry for the love of honourable ladies.


Henryk Sienkiewicz is one of the great fiction writers. His Quo Vadis, is one of the best novels I have ever read, and The Knights of the Cross is not too far behind it. The characters are detailed, the plot has depth, and you're placed into a medieval Polish/Lithuanian/German history, which is quite fascinating.

It's writing which has a moral and Christian core, and is brilliantly composed.

I highly recommend this, and look forward to reading the next volume of the tale.
Profile Image for Liwia Sirko.
51 reviews
February 20, 2023
Jedna z gorszych ksiazek jakie czytałam, dłużyła się niemiłosiernie, już wolałabym przeczytac Quo Vadis albo całą Biblię to by mnie chociaż czegoś nauczyła o religii a ten szajs nic nie wniósł do mojego życia, Sory Henryk ale nie wierze ze jestes tym samym gościem który napisał w Pustyni i w Puszczy, jedyne pocieszenie jest takie, ze najpierw napisales to gowno a potem tamto, wiec miales Glow up w pisaniu (2016/2017)
Profile Image for Mariana Escobar.
53 reviews1 follower
May 3, 2022
Short and sweet

This book gave me a brief glimpse into Poland and the Jagellian dynasty, along with the relationships between the Polish nobility and the Knights of the Cross. It was brief and concise and I cannot wait to finish reading the series
114 reviews
May 30, 2024
Interesting story

Found this book really difficult to get into due the language. I found it hard to follow the names of the characters and place names. However, the story line was good.
Profile Image for _szczurowata_.
42 reviews
May 9, 2022
HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
Profile Image for roksana🪲.
6 reviews
November 30, 2023
usnelam na drugiej stronie, obudzilam sie nastepnego dnia wiec nie poszlam do szkoly dlatego dwie gwiazdki
Profile Image for werka✨☕•ig: werix.02.
163 reviews2 followers
October 1, 2017
Mimo że podeszłam do tej książki z dużą rezerwą i niezadowoloną miną mogę spokojnie powiedzieć, że nie było tak źle. Krzyżacy są napisami przez Sienkiewicza a W Pustyni i w Puszczy bardzo mi się podobało. Jednak opisy dość mocno mnie przytłaczały i często po prostu przeglądałam je wzrokiem i wyłapywałam tylko najważniejsze słowa.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews

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