Ivanhoe is the story of one of the remaining Saxon noble families at a time when the nobility in England was overwhelmingly Norman, and is set in 1194, after the failure of the Third Crusade, when many of the Crusaders were still returning to their homes in Europe. It follows the Saxon protagonist, Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, who is out of favor with his father for his allegiance to the Norman king Richard the Lionheart.