"Insane" knight: middle age man's psychology in Walter Scott's novels

The article is devoted to the first attempts to penetrate psychology of a Middle Ages individual made in Walter Scott's novels. Using discoveries of the science of his time, the novelist depicted behaviour of representatives of different social groups conditioned by socio-economic relations in a medieval community, their customs and manners, their ideals. He gave special attention to the problem of "insanity" of knights, differentiating notions "madness" and "wild behaviour".