Like Ivanhoe, a young chap holding a cross (5)
I believe the answer is:
saxon
'like ivanhoe' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'a young chap holding a cross' is the wordplay.
'a young chap' becomes 'son' (a male child).
'holding' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'cross' becomes 'x' (X is cross-shaped).
'a'+'x'='ax'
'son' enclosing 'ax' is 'SAXON'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for saxon that I've seen before include "Settler from Germany in the home counties" , "Ancient German" , "Germanic tribesman" , "Race of England's rulers before the Conquest" , "Member of old Germanic people" .)