Knight of the week

[Sir Edward]

Added! http://orderofthemarshal.org/william_marshal.html

I can take it back down if Sir John objects.

[Sir William]

Nicely done, it is good.

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

Yes, you can add this to your website...I did miss the date that he signed the Magna Carta...sorry.

Sir John

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

Knight of the week : Sir John d'Erly - In 1185 King Henry II gave the wardship of the 14 year old boy to Sir William Marshal. He took part in a skirmish in 1190 between the Normans and Phillip  of France near Le Mans, France. He remained his ward until he came of age in 1194. During this period he became the Marshal's Squire and was married to Sybil, another of Sir Marshal's wards. He was knighted by Sir William in 1194. Although he now came into his inheritance, he ramained a household knight of Sir William Marshal. (Research shows that many household knights wore the livery colors of their master but attached their own coat of arms to the surcoat. This is the choice I made for the set.)

Sir John was with Sir William and King Richard in France between 1195 and 1198, both returning briefly. Sir John was with King Richard later in 1198 and in 1199 when King Richard marched on the castle Gisars in France where the King recieved his fatal wound. In 1202 King John made him Sheriff of Devonshire. In 1204, Sir John and Sir William and a great company of knights seized the castle of Cillgeran from the Welsh. In 1207, Sir John was granted a liscence to accompany Sir William to Ireland. Sir John was made Bailiff of Ossory and the southern half of Leinster. In 1208 King John recalled Sir John, but knowing he would lose his lands if he didn't go, he remained loyal to Sir Marshal; and stayed, losing all his lands. Eventually King John accepted the inevitable and made up with Sir William, who had fallen out of the King's favor. Sir William rewarded Sir John with a grant of land in Kilkenny. At this point, Sir John became Sir William's "Carissimus" - his most intimate of intimates and his most loyal and trusted friend. In 1209 things flared up between Sir William and King John and Sir john was thrown in prison in Nottingham Castle. But in 1211, things were back to normal again and Sir John was made Sheriff of Devon, a position he held until 1215.  In 1216, King John died, and Sir William became Regent of England with Sir John as his closest advisor. In 1217, South Wales was attacked by the Welsh holding the castle of Caerleon. This was attacked and captured by Sir John, then Bailiff at Striguil. in 1219 Sir William fell ill, and Sir John hastened to his bedside and was with him when he died. Sir John was the executor of Sir William's will. Sir John continued to serve under Sir William's son until Sir John died in 1230.

[Sir William]

Sir John, a great write up; I have come across references to Jean d'Earley (or as you know him, John d'Erly) in my research of The Marshal...one could posit that Jean/John was the son William may have wished for - given that he remained steadfast to the Marshal from the time he came into his wardship.  His heir, Will, on the other hand, did in fact rebel and remained at odds with the elder Marshal for a goodly amount of time.

[SirNathanQ]

I think we should reward such steadfast devotion and loyalty to our namesake. I vote we make Sir John d'Early a honorary member of the order.
Anyone else with me on this?

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

The d'Early was found spelled in a few different ways, so I just chose one of them. Yes, he seemed to be one of the truly great kinghts for standing by Sir William under any circumstances. More people should be like that.

Now, my favorite knight, mostly because he was kind of wild in his outfits at tournaments, was Sir Urlich von Liechtenstein...I'll be doing one on him later. By the way, he made two tournament circuits, in his first, he unhorsed 310 knights in one month...I bet he gives Sir William a run for the money in the tournaments. I haven't been able to find out his total knights unhorsed...but he too was NEVER defeated in a joust!

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

Knight of the week: Sir Robert of Loxley (NOT Robin Hood...they were different people as you will see in my research.) He was born about 1160 in the village of Loxley, from which his family took their name. He did train as a squire, and before the Battle of Ballins (1189) he was knighted by King Henry II and given the fife of Loxley. Two days later, the king died at the Chateau Chinon. Richard was next crowned king. In 1190 King Richard started recruiting knights for the third Crusade, and Sir Robert was the first from his village to volunteer.  Robert was considered elite enough to join the King's private guard and eventually became a close advisor and friend to King Richard. (He must have known Sir William Marshal.) Sir Robert was with the King at the battle of Acre, and was wounded there, and returned to his fife of Loxley. King Richard was captured on his return from the Crusade in 1192, but finally his ransom was paid and he returned to England in 1194. Sir Robert joined with the returning King in an attack on Nottingham Castle. But the king didn't stay long in England and was soon back in Europe fighting a war with France. With him was Sir Robert. In 1199 he laid seige to Chalus Castle where King Richard recieved an arrow that soon took his life. Also in the battle, Sir Robert was speared and soon died. However, before his death, King Arthur's archers were on their way back to England, when one archer, Robin Longstride found Sir Robert Loxley. Loxley made him promise to return his sword, which he had stolen from his father. Robin agreed, and Sir Loxley died.

(Here the story of Sir Robert Loxley ends and the story of Robin "Hood" begins.) Robin fulufilled the dying Sir Robert's wish and returned the sword to Robert's father, Sir Walter, who asked Robin to stay and pretend to be his son, as if the death of his son was known, he would have lost his land due to back taxes owed. Marian (actual anglisized from galeic) had married Sir Robert 2 weeks before he left on the Crusade. But as I said...that's another story.

(I have a personal interest, as the town of Loxley is not far from Bradford, where my male line of ancestors originated. I wonder if one of them took part in Robin's adventures?)

By the way, a movie called "Robin Hood" starring Russell Crowe fairly follows the actual story of Sir Robert's time at the end, with King Richard and sets the stage for Robin "Hood." Sir William Marshal is also portrayed in the movie.

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

Since I've been on a Marshal knight theme, I'm again continuing it. William had another squire...

Knight of the week: Sir Henry the younjg king: Born in 1155, he was the second of King Henry II's sons. In 1158, at age 3, he was bethrothed to Margaret of France. The king recieved the pope's permisson for the marriage to take place in 1160, when the young prince was only 5 years old. He was crowned in 1170, and Sir William Marshal was chosen to train the young king as a knight. (So he was in essence a squire to Sir William.) In 1172 he was formally married. He was known as "The Young King" to distinquish him from his father. In 1173, King Henry II bestowed on his son John 3 castles, which the young king felt was his. Incited by his mother, he and his brothers started a revolt against their father. During that year he was knighted by Sir William, during the course of the revolt. The revolt lasted 18 months after which the King's sons returned to their father's rule. In 1177 he had a son which died at birth.

In 1179, he and Sir William Marshal went to France to participate in tournaments. (Tournaments were NOT permitted inh England until the reign of King Richard!) The most famous tournament was at Langy-sur-Marne, where 3,000 knights attended and which was recorded in detail in a manuscript. From this manuscript: "The tournament had started before the young king arrived. Once there the young king spurred forward with his lance to engage in combat. His lance was shattered and at once all came at the young king, who only had Sir William Marshal at his side. During the force of the assult, the young king pretected himself skillfully with his shield, but his helmet had been knocked off and the harness of his horse together with the bridle was pulled to the ground. William Marshal performed so many feats that nobody present had the slightest idea what had happened to the young king. History depicts them moving from tournament to tournament untill 1182."

In 1182, Sir William Marshal was accused of am affair with the young king's wife, and their companionship ended. In 1183, the young king again became embroiled in a war in France against Richard and his father. During the campaign at Limousin the young king contracted dysentery and soon died.  Sir William Marshal was with him, and the young king asked Sir William to take his crusader surcoat (He had announced before he was going on a crusade) to the holy land. On his deathbed he asked to see his father for his forgiveness, but his father did not go, thinking it was a trick.

The young king was so popular that after his death, the people of Le Mans and Rouen almost went to war for the custody of his body. After his death his mother and friends attempted to promote him to sainthood. His father was said to have said: "He cost me much, but I wished he had lived to cost me more."

(There is a movie called "The Lion In Winter" with Peter O'Toole, however this was taken place in 1183, shortly after the young king's death. In the movie there was a brief mention of Sir William Marshal.)

[Sir Wolf]

that is one of my all time favorite movies

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

There's another movie called "Ironclad" which I just started watching. It has a "Thomas Marshal" in it, but I can't find any of William's relatives with that name. The movie takes place just after King John signs the magna carta.

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

I try to cover a lot of different themes. This knight of the week is: "Lochinvar" - The poem was based on a real person. Young Lochinvar was said to be the Laird of Lochivar, Scotland, William de Gordon of Kenmure. Young Lockinvar held the title of "Viscount of Kenmure." He became chieftan after his father's death. When he was 17 he had travelled across the border into England with a heard of cattle. They were to be delivered to Netherby Hall, home of the Graham family. When he laid eyes on Ellen Graham, he fell in love with her.  Ellen's father finally gave consent to their marriage to the young Scot, however a war had broken out in France and Lochinvar went to fight. At the age of 23, he had seen conflict across Europe. He had been at war for only 8 months when he was wounded and taken captive. He vowed never to fight in another war. It was thought that he had died and so Ellen was betrothed to another. Finally he was released and he reutned home to find the news of Ellen's intended marriage.  William wasn't able to get to the wedding until after it took place, but as it was ending and their eyes met, they took off together. They took a ship to the South of France on the Italian border and lived happily ever after.William died in 1455.

"So faithful in love and dauntless in war, there never was a knight like young Lockinvar....One touch of her hand and one word in her ear, when they reached the church door the charger stood near.....There was racing and chasing, on Cannoble Lee, but the lost bride of Netherby ne're did they see. So daring in love, and daunting in war, Have ye e'er heard of a gallant like young Lockinvar?"

[Sir William]

By the way, a movie called "Robin Hood" starring Russell Crowe fairly follows the actual story of Sir Robert's time at the end, with King Richard and sets the stage for Robin "Hood." Sir William Marshal is also portrayed in the movie.

I was going to say, your history seemed like it was taken directly from the movie- that the movie tried to tie in historicity w/the legend of Robin Hood is very cool to me.  Thanks for sharing!

Ironclad was an excellent movie in my book, altho I do not think Thomas Marshal, if he ever existed, was any relation to William...he could've been son to another Marshal (maybe of France).

[Sir Andrew]

Ah, thieves of hearts as well....have to keep an eye on those Scots! a good bit of history well done, Sir John!

[Sir John of Felsenbau]

Knight of the week: "Sir Nikola Subic Zrinski" - Nikola was born in 1508.The Zrinski family was influential during the period of history marked by the Ottoman wars in Europe. Zrinski means "those of Zrin" and are a branch of the Subic family.In the 16th century, Ban Nikola gained dominion over the northernmost part of Croatia. He distinquished himself in the seige of Vienna in 1529 and in 1542 saved the imperial army from defeat before Pest, for which service he was knighted and appointed Ban of Croatia.

The King Ferdinand I gave him large possessions in Hungary and Croatia.  In 1556 he won a series of victories over the Ottomans, culminating in the battle of Babocsa. Shortly after marrying his second wife in 1564, he hastened southward to defend the frontier and defeated the Ottomans at Szeged.

In 1566, his small force (2,300 soldiers) heroically defended the little fortress of Szigetvar against the Ottoman host of 102,000 soldiers led by Suleiman in person. The battle ended with Nikola perishing with every member of the garrison. Although it was an Ottoman victory, it stopped the Ottoman push to Vienna. Today he is seen as a hero by both the Hungarians and Croatians. Cardinal Richelieu described it as "the battle that saved civilization."