Knight of the week

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

This week's Knight of the week: "The Knights Templar" - They were one of the best known military Crusading Order. The Order was founded in 1118 with the initial aim of protecting prisoners going to and from Jerusalem. By 1139 they owed allegience to noone but the Pope. The Order maintained their own hospitals, surgeons, seaports, shipyards and fleets. They established a system of banking and in effect became the bankers for every throne in Europe.

By 1303, the Templars had acquired a great wealth and posed a threat to the French King (Philip.) He envied the power and wealth of the Templars and vowed to disband them and take their wealth. First he engineered the kidnapping and murder of the Pope. Then secured the election of his own archbishop to be the next Pope. Armed with a list of made up charges he ordered the Templars arrested. Pope Clement V issed a papal order for their arrest, but it was at first kept secret, a secret which leaked out to the Templars. On Friday (the 13th) 1307 the officials of the French King set out to arrest and confiscate the Order of the Templars...that's how Friday the 13th got to be known as today's bad luck day...   Those that were caught were tortured until they confessed to the untrue charges against them. Before that  fateful day, the Templars had loaded their tresure in 3 ships and sailed away from France, and were never captured by the French. The Templars sought sanctuary and found it in Scotland since it's king had been excumunicated by the Pope, and therefore the Pope had no control there.

It was said that "Robert the Bruce" himself was a Templar. Many of the Templars fought with Robert the Bruce in the Battle of Banncockburn in 1314, which was the most critical battle that won Scottish Independance from the English. The estates of the Templars were scattered all over Scotland and their vast treasure hidden over the countryside, most of which was never found.

[Sir Wolf]

huzzah, welcome back Sir John.

[Sir James A]

Excellent Sir John, one of my favorite subjects. If you haven't seen/read the Chinon Parchment, look it up. It puts an interesting turn on the Templar's interrogations.

[Lord Dane]

One of my favorite orders, Sir John. As usual, thanks for the stories & your noble efforts in telling these knight tales.

[Sir William]

Sir John...nicely done; way to bring in the Scottish Templars.  Did you know that they still exist?  Naturally, not the original branch, it is a modern interpretation. 

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

Sorry that I haven't been online recently, buy last week my computer was hit with a virus and all my software was deleted. Am back online with all my programs, but still loading shortcuts to places like this. I will be back with knight of the week next week. Thanks for understanding.

Sir John

[Sir James A]

Sir John,

Life gets in the way of fun sometimes. Glad you got the computer recovered after the virus. Looking forward to see the Knight of the Week next week.

[Joshua Santana]

Ah yes, Godfrey of Boullion and the Templars.  Amazing combination of articles. 

I must note that Godfrey of Boullion is one of the Nine Worthy's of Chivalry and his story is immortalized in Jerusalem Delivered by Tourquato Tasso (excellent read).

[Sir William]

Sir John, glad you are still with us and I'm assuming you've weathered Sandy relatively well?

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

Yes..."Sandy" didn't really act more than just a bad storm....At least the city was closed for 2 days...so I had time off.

Running way behind, so tomorrow I'll do the knight of the week.

Sir John

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

This week's Knight of the week: "Sir Robert Ogle VI" - Sir Robert (the younger) of Ogle Castle was born in 1406. The family rose to importance with the border wars between England and Scotland. In 1435, Sir Robert and his father, with a force of 4,000 men, invaded Scotland, but was defeated at Piperdon by Sir William Douglas. Sir Robert was taken prisoner, and his father killed. He was eventually ransomed and released.

In 1438, Sir Robert and Sir Ralph Grey, were appointed Keepers of the East March. In 1439, he became the governor of Roxburgh Castle. The castle was the strongest on the whole border. In 1455, Sir Robert and his 600 men led the attack of St. Albans. King Henry and most of his army was captured. In 1461 he was made he was made the first Baron of Ogle...and later that year was knighted at Edward's coronation and he was granted for life, the Constableships of Aluwick, Warkworth, Frudhoe, Rothbury, Newburn and all the land of the Earl of Northumberland. In 1462, he was granted Redesdale and Harbottle.  He died in 1469. His son became the second Baron of Ogle.

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

This week's Knight of the week: "The Carruthers Knights" - William Carruthers was the first of the line in recorded history. The Carruthers were among those who rose with William Wallace (1272-1305) when he rose against the English. They supported Robert the Bruce and the Carruthers family is considered a "sept" of the Bruce Clan. For his support of Robert the Bruce, Thomas Carruthers recieved a charter in 1320 for all the lands of "Mouswald." This formed the nucleus of what would became the Barony of Mouswald, of which Sir Thomas became the first Laird.

The castles in that area that the Carruthers family lived, are the castles that defended Scotland for hundreds of years. Between 1409 and 1424 the family recieved numerous grants of land from the powerful Earl of Douglas. Archibald Carruthers, 7th Laird of Mouswald, was succeeded by his first son, Sir Simon who became the 8th Laird and 3rd Baron of Mousewald.  Sir Simon Carruthers was born in 1452 and died in 1502 in a border raid.

On March 8, 1588, the history of the Carruthers family of Mouswald comes to an end, for on that date Sir James Douglas resigned all the lands of the Carruthers which went to King James VI and his heirs.

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

This weeks Knight of the week: "Sir James 'The good' Douglas" - The Douglas family built the first Douglas castle in 1288. James was born in 1286, the eldest son of Sir William Douglas. Sir James was known as the "Black Douglas" to the English, because he had black hair and a dark skin complection. He was known as "The Good Douglas" to the Scots, since he was a friend of William Wallace. He was "Lord of Douglas" from 1298 onwards. James was sent to France in his early days where Sir William Lamberton took him as a squire and trained him for knighthood. On his return in 1304, he found an englishman in possession of his estates. In 1306 the young squire joined with Robert the Bruce who was that year made King of Scotland. At the same time, Bruce's sister was held in a cage in Roxburgh Castle, originally a Scotts Castle, which had been captured by the English.

In 1313, James and a group of 60 men attacked the castle by stealth, and freed Bruce's sister. In 1314, on the eve of the Battle of Bannockburn, James was knighted and made knight banneret. Sir James fought on the left wing and pushed the english back to their camp at Dunbar Castle, thus freeing up the Douglas estate. In 1318, Sir James was named a s guardian of the Realm and tutor to the future king Robert II.  In 1327, Edward III seized power and was determined to make gains against the Scots. At the battle of Stanhope Park, Sir James got as far as the english king's tent, but the king escaped. After this defeat, in 1329, the English finally acknowledged Bruce as the King of the Scots and gave them back Roxburgh Castle!

When Bruce died, Sir James was instructed to take his heart to the Holy Land, bearing it in a silver casket. On the way he took part in the crusade against the Moors in Spain, where Sir James and most of his men were killed. His body and the silver casket were found on the battlefield and taken back to Scotland.

Sir James was truely one of Scotland's greatest knights and Bruce's most loyal supporter.

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

By the way, I am running out of knights...only a few left to post. I'm saving my favorite for last.

Sir John

[Sir William]

I can't wait to see who it is!