Memoirs of a Cavalier

Memoirs of a Cavalier is a historical novel written by Daniel Defoe and originally published anonymously in 1720.

Defoe indicates that all the stories narrated come from the transcription of a manuscript belonging to a secretary of state of King William III of England and that they were written by a young English cavalier, who gives the book its title, and whose name is unknown.

This knight traveled through Europe, passing through France and Italy, finally arriving in Vienna to join the army of Ferdinand II of Habsburg in the Thirty Years' War. The novel details events such as the sack of Magdeburg.

Later, he joined the Protestant ruler of Sweden and participated in the battle of Lützen, where the king of Sweden died.

He then traveled through Germany for several years before returning to England and participating in the First English Civil War, where he fought in several wars.

"It may suffice the reader, without being very inquisitive after my name, that I was born in the county of Salop, in the year 1608, under the government of what star I was never astrologer enough to examine; but the consequences of my life may allow me to suppose some extraordinary influence affected my birth".