Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

Few subjects have created such a strong image in our culture and in our imagination as the knight. Knights have taken a lot of different forms over the centuries; some of them are very real and some of them are just fantastic creations. But no matter what the the type of knight or organization they almost all have a few things in common.
They almost always represent a few different values such as chivalry, courage, faith, honesty, integrity, brotherhood, strength, and even mystery. Here are some of the wide variety of manifestations that knights have taken.

The Most famous knights of them all are the Knights of the Round Table. They are shown in the picture above. They were the knights of King Arthur and whether or not he and they really existed is something that is very hotly debated.

Knight Organizations that Still Exist Today

Knights Hospitaller - also known as Knights of Malta - An orgainzation that was founded as a religious and military order in 1099 and it still exists today. Their primary purpose was the care and defense of the Holy Land. One of the notable things about the Knights Hospitaller is their uniform composed of a black surcoat with a white cross. The order has endured many changes over the centuries and their headquarters has moved many times around Europe then to Malta and Russia. It now is in Rome.

The Knights of Columbus - A Catholic fraternal organizaiton that was founded in 1882 and named in honor of Christopher Columbus. They are dedicated to the principles of Charity, Unity, Fraternity, and Patriotism. Their charitable contributions are significant and in 2007 they gave almost 145 million dollars to charity. Their total contributions over the past ten years exceeds 1 billion dollars.

Teutonic Knights - This is a German Roman Catholic religious order that was founded at the end of the 12th century. They were a crusading order and they wore a white surcoat with a black cross which is the opposite of the Knights Hospitaller. The order has undergone many changes over the centuries and today they are predominantly a charitable organization with an estimated 1,000 members.

The Order of the Garter - This is a very exclusive order of knighthood that was founded somewhere between 1344 and 1351. It is the highest of all the honour systems that exist in the United Kingdom. Its numbers are very severely limited to the sovereign, the Prince of Wales and 24 members. But there are a number of supernumerary knights and ladies. Prince William, the son of Diana and Charles, is the 1,000 knight inducted into the order.

The Order of the Golden Fleece - A fraternal organization founded in 1430 by Duke Philip III of Burgundy to celebrate his marriage to Princess Isable of Aviz. It has both a Spanish and an Austrian branch.

Knight Organizations of the Past

The Knights Templar - The most famous of all the knights organizations. They were a western christian organization and they existed for about two hundred years in the Middle Ages. They were founded after the first crusade and their purpose was the ensure the safety of Christians traveling on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. They built many fortifications along the pilgrimage route and they instituted new and progressive methods of financing which are considered to be early forms of banking. This is partly the reason why there still remains a mystique about the Knights Templar Treasure.

Knights of Labor (also known as Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor) - This was an organization that was founded in 1869 and it lasted until about 1949. It the early twentieth century it strongly declined and was pretty much disbanded by about 1949. It was a labor organizations in America and it was an important organization that fought for equality and fairness for all in the realm of labor/employer relations. Over time it functioned more as a labor union rather than a fraternal order.

Knights of the Annunciation 1362-1788 (The Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation) It was a religious order of chivalry that was instituted by Amadeus VI Count of Savoy in Italy. It was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Order of the Knights of the Holy Spirit (Chevaliers du Saint-Esprit ) A French order that had the King as GrandMaster, 8 ecclesiastic members, 4 officers and 100 Knights. The order was founded in 1578 and was abolished in 1830.

The Order of the Dragon - A European knight order that was sworn to defend the Cross and fight the enemies of Christianity. It was founded by the King of Hungary in 1408 and was found primarily in Germany and Italy. Its members were known as Draconists and the order is claimed to be an inspiration to Bram Stoker in his writing of Dracula.

It isn’t just combat, honor and chivalry that gives these organizations their appeal. There is also a shroud of secrecy about them; Secret initiations, secret treasures, and knights following a mysterious code. All these things and many others have made Orders of Knights something that has lasted many hundreds of years.            

If you want to read more about Medieval Knights I have a website devoted to the subject. The Knight-Medieval.com

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Going through some stuff I stumbled on this picture of some suits of armor in a medieval castle taken during a tour. The thing that struck me about these suits of armor was the size. You can tell by the couple in the picture that the suits are small. Being curious about this I did a little research on the subject and come to find out the average height of a man in Europe around 1735 was about 5 foot 5 (165 cm) This varied a bit by country and North Americans were even a bit taller.

A lot is made of this and the biggest factor was the difficulty in nourishment throughout much of the middle ages. (Maybe the dark ages were so dark because nobody was tall enough to reach the string for the light In todays world we have such an amazing abundance of food. (It’s really quite unprecedented in the total history of mankind).

Anyway, being a writer of epic fantasy stuff I imagined how a group of modern day warriors standing each over six feet tall would dominate the psychology of the battle field. They would strike fear into an opponent and maybe even be called giants! The opposing army would after all only stand as tall as their chins at best.  It would be the courageous opponent who would want to battle such a man in hand to hand combat. But then again, with their heads and shoulders sticking above the fray like that they would make for some great targets for opposing archers - quite vulnerable. - On second thought maybe I will put away the time machine and stick to basketball.

The picture above is inside a castle called Meersburg - It was built around 700 and it still remains in great shape. I have more pics and information about it on my medieval castle website here

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Wandering through the hallowed halls of my local library I stumbled on this great old book (The Compleat Gamester). It’s a fun little book that was first written in 1674 and has been reprinted untold number of times since then. This edition I picked up is 1970. 

Here is my review of the book:

Have you ever wondered what kinds of games people played during the Renaissance?  The Compleat Gamester is a guide to just that. It was written in 1674 as a handbook for people of the time to learn how to play games that were currently popular. And it is still widely available today. It is a great way to learn about what kinds of games people played during the Middle Ages. And it is also lends insight into understanding how that period of time still has a tremendous influence on today’s world. Many of the games in the book are still played today.

The Compleat Gamester is a book about games and gaming that was written by Charles Cotton in 1674 which is right in the middle of the European Renaissance.  It is also a book that has had quite a long life having been re-printed many times. It is still very readily available today and the last printing of it was in 1970. Many libraries carry copies of it and plenty of copies can be found at any online book store.

The book gives us a wonderful insight into the leisure activities of the period and these games are divided into several general categories including card games, table games, board games, and outdoor games.  The card games include Whisk and Cribbage. The board games include Chess and Backgammon. The table games section includes billiards and the outdoor games, which to me are the most interesting, include archery, bowling, horsemanship and cock fighting.

There are also lots of games that seem to be lost to the passage of time. These games include card games named L’Ombre, Queen Nazareen Lanterloo, and Beast.  And they include games without cards such as Ketch-Dolt and Sice-Ace.

Another interesting insight into the Middle Ages that we can derive from this book is the sensitivity to the class and caste system. The author often makes comments and observations about the games and what kinds of people play them. This is first revealed to us in the full title of the book which is “The Compleat Gamester or, Instructions how to Play at all manner of usual and Genteel games”.  This sensitivity is most prevalent in how he describes the scene of bowling as a place for rooks where three things are thrown more than the balls. These are time, money, and curses.  He characterizes bowling as being a healthy sport yet something that is more for the rough and tumble commoner crowd.  And it’s funny how that stigma of bowling being a common persons sport still remains with us today.  It makes one wonder if he is the guy that started that whole stigma about bowling.

About the book

Having been written over three hundred years ago the language of the book can sometimes be a bit awkward but it is beautifully done and it is loaded with great illustrations. The very first edition of this book was published in 1674 by Charles Cotton and it is the second most common alternate usage of the word Complete. The most common, and most famous, use of this alternate spelling is of course for the Compleat Angler which was written by a friend of Charles Cotton’s father. Charles, his father, and the author of the Compleat Angler used to go fishing a lot when Charles was a boy. So it is easy to see where the inspiration for the book and its peculiar title came from.

If you are interested in Medieval Period things and games in general, you might want to give this book a look. Who knows, after reading some of the lost games you just might want to give them a try and start a whole new revival.