Historical fiction: Medieval setting, man saves child who is attacked by a pig

[Max]

I read this book in 2009 and remember liking it a lot. It was during a super stressful time, so I can only recall that it was set in medieval times and that in the beginning a person (man, I believe) was riding through a village and saw a child being attacked by a pig. They saved the child before moving on. This scene stuck with me because it was very visceral and well written.

This book was part of a college curriculum at one point, as someone in college lent it to me and mentioned that they had to do a report on it. It was a decently sized book.