Knight of the week

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

By the way...I have finally found the coat of arms for the knight who accompanied Marshal on the 2 year tournament circuit, as well as another knight who was close to Marshal. I am currently working on the shields and surcoats and will post them here when I am done.

[Sir James A]

By the way...I have finally found the coat of arms for the knight who accompanied Marshal on the 2 year tournament circuit, as well as another knight who was close to Marshal. I am currently working on the shields and surcoats and will post them here when I am done.

That is great. I look forward to seeing them.

[Frater de Beaumanoir]

I like this concept. What does it take to recommend a Knight of the Week? Can we?

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

I just concentrate on medieval knights, preferably ones that have proved themselves. It's more of the history of the knights that I'm into. Every now and then I throw in a curve ball to lighten things up.

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

This week's Knight of the week: "Sir Matthias Corvinus" : Born in 1443, he was the second son of John Hunyadi (who had risen in the ranks to become Regent of Hungary.) Matthias began following his father's campaigns when he was only 12.

A story that young Matthias was commissioned by his mother to take a ring to the then king of Hungary and Holy Roman Emperor: Zsigmond of Luxemburg. On the way Matthias stopped for a nap and was awaked by a servant telling Matthias that the ring had been taken by a crow and she was flying away with it in her bill. Matthias killed the crow with his last arrow, and when he was given a coat of arms he chose to have a raven with a ring in it's mouth as his emblem. "Corvinus" is latin  for crow.

In 1455 he was married  when he was only 12 years old, but she died before the marriage could be consumated. Matthias was knighted in 1456 at the Siege of Belgrade.  After his fathers death the same year, there was a power struggle with treatchery on both sides. Matthias was taken for safety's sake by George, Governor of Bohemia. In 1458 he married his daughter and shortly after was elected King of Hungary, the first Hugarian  blooded king in more than 150 years! They called him the "Raven King" after his emblem. In 1468 Matthias was elected King of Bohemia and in 1476, married his 3rd wife.  But the union was childless. Ferdinand I of Naples declared war against the Emperor on 1481. Matthias captured all of the fortresses in Frederick's hereditary domain and in 1485 made a triumpal enrty into Vienna. At times Matthias had Vlad III (the impalier) Prince of Wallachia as his vassel. [I will be doing a knight of the week on him too eventually.]

He held the titles: (deep breath) of King of Hungary, Bohemia, Dalmatia, Rama, Serbia, Lodomeria, Cumania and Bulgaria; Prince of Silesia and Luxembourg; Duke of Austria; Margrave nof Moravia and Lusatia. (whew)

Matthias, who had long been crippled by gout, expired very suddenly in 1490, just before Easter. Under King Matthias, Hungary became one of the most powerful nations of Europe. He was undisputedly the greatest man of his day, and one of the greatest monarchs who ever reigned.  He often dressed up as a beggar and wandered the streets to see firsthand how the nobles of his realm treated his people and corrected any misdoings that he found. To this day, Hungarians consider him the greatest of all Kinbgs, and they sing of his siege of Vienna in their national anthem today.

[Frater de Beaumanoir]

Might I recommend Pierre d'Aubusson (1423 – 3 July 1503). Checkhis record and I'm sure you'll see why. 

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

Actually I couldn't find that much on him. I couldn't find a helmet crest. There is really not much on his early life or if and when he trained as a knight. I'm in the middle of researching 3 other knights right now. Thanks for your interest.

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

Today's Knight of the week: "Beowulf" - The original poem about him follows the truth pretty much. He was from "Greatland", which at that time was part of today's sweden, but below the medieval sweden. Beowulf is galeic for "Intelligent Wolf" and the wolf's head was used on his shield and the sails on his ship. He was born in 445 during the reign of Hreoel, his grandfather. At the age of 7 (502) he was sent to his grandfather's court to learn the arts of war. The following year his grandfather died and his brother, Hygelac became king.

When he became 20 (515) he was admitted to the circle of Hygelic's retainers and given his grandfather's sword. He was also given a helmet with a wild boar crest. The wild boar was sacred to the early norse and celts and was worn as a protective symbol. During the celebration a wanderer told of Hrothgar, king of the Danes and it's problems with a monster, part man, part bird and part animal, named Grendal. Beowulf volunterred to go and save the Danish Kingdom from the beast. He selected 14 men to go with him. After their arrival, Grendal burst into the great hall, but before he could seize Beowulf, Beowulf cut off Grendal's arm and the beast fell dead at his feet. But he still had to contend with Grendal's monster mother. He eventually killed her in her cave, and He and his men departed for home.

In 524, Hygelac died and his son became king. But in 533 he too died. Beowulf was then made king and reigned for 50 years with peace and prosperity in his kingdom. But in 583, a wanderer found a dragon's treasure hoard and took as much as he could. This made the dragon angry. Beowulf and 11 others went after the dragon. On approaching the dragon's liar,  Beowulf told them he would fight the dragon alone. He  protected himself with his shield, but he knew that every dragon had a vulnerable spot, and Beowulf sought to find it. During the fight Beowulf was hit with the dragon's tail and was gravely injured. But Beowulf had found the dragon's weak spot and pushed his sword into it killing the dragon. And so, Beowulf died of his wounds, at age 88 and became a legend.

(Keep in mind, that during that time, grotesque humans were thought to be monsters, and the dragons were large lizards.)

[Sir Wolf]

a memo, he was a Geat. not Great.

[Sir William]

I like the panoply you put together for Beowulf, Sir John.  As Sir Wolf pointed out, he was from 'Geatland', so he was a 'Geat'.  He was also great, but not capitalized.  lol

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

this weeks Knight of the week: "Sir Roger de Gaugy" - Originally the family was from Normandy, but a Sire de Gaugy accompanied William the Conqueror into England and having fought in the battle of Hastings in 1066, he was rewarded with large grants of land there. Robert was one of three sons of Ralph I de Gaugy (1130-1166) but I couldn't find the exact date of Roger's birth. The manor house of the Gaugy's is where King John is reported to have died in 1216, during the baron's war. From 1177-1179, Roger was a knight bachelor in King Henry's household. It was Roger who went with Sir William Marshall on the two year tournament circuit in Europe.

In 1203 King John awarded Sir Roger the custody of the castle and forest of Argentan. From 1215-1217 the first baron's war errupted. Sir Roger and his brothers remained loyal to him. As a result, before King John's death, the King awarded Sir Roger with the counties of Northampton and Leicester as well as the lands of Emberton.

(as a side note: in the summer of 1216, King John ordered Phillip Mark to give Newark castle back to the bishop. The bishop refused the offer and so King John ordered Phillip to destroy the castle, which he did not do. Next King John gave the castle to Sir Roger to hold it against the rebel Barons. King John died there. In 1218, King Henry III tried to restore order in the country and ordered the various royal wartime appointees to surrender their castles. Sir Roger refused to surrender his castle so the King ordered it to be taken by force. Ironically it was Sir William Marshal who came to supervise the operations there. A strong seige ensued, but the castle could not be taken even after 8 days of constant bombardment. A compramise was reached where Sir Roger would surrender the castle, and he would be paid for the estate, and he could leave a free man.)

Sir Roger and his wife had a son William. A date of death could not be found.

[Sir Wolf]

thanks!

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

This weeks Knight of the week: "Sir Baldwin of Bethune" - Baldwin was born in 1158 and was the third son of Robert V of Bethune. (Bethune is a town in France, where the family originated.) He was a knight, but not of his native France, but of England. In 1170, still in his teens, he was with his lifelong friend: William Marshal in the court of Henry the young king. In 1180 at the tournament of Lagny-sur-Marne he was a Knight Bannerette leading the Flemish team, while Sir William Marshal headed the English team.

In 1187 he was rewarded with his first landholding in England...the Manor of Bramley, Surrey. Once King, Richard I of England added the manors of Wantage, Luton and Greens Norton to Sir Baldwin's holdings.

King Henry II promised both Sir Baldwin and Sir William Marshal that he would find them rich heriesses to marry and in 1189 was arranging a match for Baldwin with the heiress of Chateautoux in the French province of Berry, when the king died.

In 1191 he was with Richard's contingent in the Third Crusade in Palestine. On the voyage home in 1191, Sir Baldwin was with Richard when he was captured. Sir Baldwin stood hostage for him and organized a ransom into which he put not only months of effort, but much of his own money as well. It was not untill 1194 that Richard returned to England when he fullfilled the promise and gave Sir Baldwin the Hawise of Aumale. They were married in 1195, gaining through his wife vast lands and the title of Count of Aumale. Not long after they had a daughter, Alice, who was engaged to William Marshal the younger.

In 1197, Sir Baldwin was one of the English delegates to the election of Richard's nephew, Otto IV of Germany as the Holy Roman Emperor. Through the stormy years of King John, he was close to the king and was occupied with running his own great estates. In 1212 he died.

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

I just wanted to mention, that I spend a lot of time an effort in researching each knight I do. Sometimes it's very hard and takes a lot of time. Then once I get all the information I need, I made the shield out of wood and paint it with the knights arms, then sew a surcoat also with the knight's coat of srms. I usually buy a plain helmet, although I try to buy oones that I don't already have, then add the wreathe and crest. So I'm usually busy on weekends doing all that, especially in the winter when I can't do much else. I'm looking forward to the next PA Ren Faire, and am hoping that I will get permission to be knighted this Spring. I guess I will leave that up to the knights who will want to sponsor me for the knighting.

Let me know when you feel the time is right. I am very excited about getting the accolade and am really out doing myself in fixing up a medieval banquet room and another for the knighting ceremony. As I had mentioned before, a past hobby was making movies, and I had to make one about Sir John. I want to show that on the day I get knighted. It was the first surcoat and shield I ever made. I even used a bucket to make a helmet...of course now my collection of steel hemets have gone through the roof.

Sir John

[Sir William]

Sir John, I can fully appreciate the time and effort you put into these- I read each one as you post them, as we all do.  It is that sort of participation we like to see- you show an active and engaged interest in being a part of this forum.

I understand your excitement, the drive to get to the Accolade- however, it is not a simplified process, even if it may seem so because we don't go into much detail about it on here.  Nothing crazy, but it is a serious occasion, one that I have been blessed enough to be found deserving of it.  I cannot tell you how honored I feel, how...solid, stable I feel just because of it.  It isn't that my outlook on life changed or anything like that- it just got clarified.

Having said all that, I believe you'd make an excellent addition to our ranks, however- in order for us to fully ascertain that we need to get to know you better, and one of the best ways to do that is by this forum.  Be active, be present, let your voice be heard and your opinions known...in time, you will probably be sponsored before ever you know of it- until you are approached with an offer to be inducted into the Order of the Marshal.  Have patience, good Sir- if God wills it, you will take your place amongst your fellow Knights. 

William