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Celtic Radio Community > Medieval Gateway > Knights


Posted by: jime307 03-Aug-2007, 02:24 AM
Just like the Swords except for history too!

Posted by: Rindy 02-Sep-2007, 03:23 PM
This is a great thread jime307. I guess I will go first. Ok, I have always been fascinated by all of the knights. I can't get over the fighting skills and their endurance. Just to be able to hop on a horse with your armor is something... One knight just to name a few would be Sir Lancelot. I would like to hear any stories that you might have out there about any of the knights. Slainte

In the Arthurian legend, Sir Lancelot (Lancelot du Lac, also Launcelot) is one of the Knights of the Round Table. In most of the French prose romances and works, he is characterized as the greatest and most trusted of Arthur's knights, and plays a part in many of Arthur's victories – but Arthur's eventual downfall is also brought about in part by Lancelot, whose affair with Arthur's wife Guinevere destroys the unity of Arthur's court.

Lancelot is a popular character, and has been the subject of many poems, stories, plays, and films as a famous figure in the Arthurian cycle of romances. To the great majority of English readers the name of no knight of King Arthur's court is so familiar as is that of Sir Lancelot. The mention of Arthur and the Round Table at once brings him to mind to moderns as the most valiant member of that brotherhood and the secret lover of the Queen. Lancelot, however, is not an original member of the cycle, and the development of his story is still a source of considerable disagreement between scholars.

According to legend Lancelot's father is King Ban of Benoic and his mother's name is Elaine; his illegitimate half-brother is Hector de Maris, King Bors is his uncle, and Sir Bors and Sir Lionel are his cousins. With the Fisher King's daughter Elaine, he becomes the father of Galahad (in some sources, Galahad is also Lancelot's own baptismal name). His home is the castle Joyous Guard.

Posted by: Druid_of_Ark 10-Dec-2007, 02:37 PM
Knights in Armour, with their faith in the God of the Bible gallantly roaming the land to pillage and plunder in the name of the King and the Church. That is glorious! I prefer the imagery of the brave Highlander in his kilt holding a Targe (wooden shield) and his mighty sword defending his home against the invaders. While the Highlands were lost I hold in regard the memory of the brave ones that defended their home and fell rather than submit to a foreign god and a foreign king.

Soar Alba!

Posted by: thecelticgiraffe 13-Feb-2008, 06:27 AM
What I find disturbing and which gives me the creeps is thinking of battle back in those times and how gruesome it must have been! Imagine a bunch of limbs, blood, fingers, dead horses, eyeballs and even heads laying around on the battle field afterward! Incredible suffering. Still the image of the knight is one of honor, valour and romance.

Posted by: Nara 14-Feb-2008, 01:33 PM
how much less gruesome is battle today?

I love the idea of the knights as brothers-in-arms. To have comrades with a glorious goal and purpose, even if it may be somewhat misguided by our modern eye, seems to be a noble situation. And not all of their aims were ill-conceived: the Knights Hospitaller served a very noble purpose. And I think at the time Knights served a similar service as Christian missionaries, bringing culture and new technology to isolated regions of the world. war machine and missionaries alike have always been a two-edged sword, bringing enlightenment and new technology, but often obliterating the native culture of the people they met.

Posted by: Druid_of_Ark 15-Feb-2008, 08:06 PM
Knights sent forth by the "Church" either destroyed or assimilated cultures, the Catholic Prayer beads were borrowed from the Hindu's, the Trinity was not part of Christian dogma until after contact with the Celtic Maiden, Mother, Crone. Many of the "Christian Saints."were adapted from local Gods/Goddesses. The "Christian" Knights therefore are in my eyes representative of the Borg Collective of Star Trek, I have often wondered if they were the role model of the Borg.

Posted by: Rindy 22-Feb-2008, 03:49 PM
I am enjoying reading this topic. I can't beging to imagine what the battle ground must of been. I was reading about the horses how they were bred for fighting. They would bite and kick and be able to carry their armor and their knights with armor.

The Chivalric Ideals

The code by which a knight was supposed to live--was hardly a fixed template of ideas; rather, it was a shifting kaliedescope of competing ideas put forward primarily by three main groups--the chuch, the court (and the ladies), and the knights themselves.

The church sought to harness the knight's energy and martial skills--his prowess--primarily by forumulating a role for him in the church's structure of society--the protector. Clerks provided the rules under which "just bellum--just war--could be fought, enlisted the knights to fight for them in the Crusades, organized some of them into orders reminiscent of monastic ideals (the Templars, Hospitallars and Teutonic knights are just three of the better known) and tried to add components of piety, faith, humility and chastity.

The court--both the upper nobility (themselves knights) and the ladies--sought to civilize the rough warrior and to imbue him with virtues they held in high esteem; fidelity, largesse, and duty to their liege lord as well as respect for ladies. The ideals put forward in the romances largely reflected these views so they are valuable sources of information on how knights were supposed to behave.

The knights themselves had their own ideas. They conducted themselves in the realm of the real, rather than in the relative isolation of literature or the pulpit. Out of their customs came the modern rules of war, the basis of international law, and knightly orders such as the Order of the Garter and the Golden Fleece. The knights of the Middle Ages were rough soldiers, often crude, with a perpensity for justifying actions they deemed expedient. But some wrote of reform--knights such as Ramon Lull, Geoffrey de Charny and Thomas Malory put forward more civilized visions.
by Brian Price

Posted by: skeets52 23-Sep-2014, 10:01 AM
I as well have been intrigued by the knight and more chivalrous times. And in time I became a Knight Templar in the Jacque De Molay chapter. Tis a far cry from our ancient brethren but many of the same ideals apply.

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