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Who were Templars?

         Templars were a military order in the middle ages. They wore white cloaks with a red cross, and a half-white, half-black banner. Templars' shields had the same image on them. Templars took vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty. Templars were some of the most skilled fighters in the crusade (a military campaign). But trust in the Templars faded because of rumors.

Templar Pendant

         Rumors of a secret initiation ceremony caused mistrust and suspicion. Many Templars were dedicated to war. Mainly war against Muslims. In France many Templars were accused of many crimes, such as heresy and/or witchcraft. When accused the Templars were captured and tortured into giving false confessions of these crimes; after these confessions they were burned at the stake. After being pressured by King Philip, Pope Clement V ended the order in the year 1312.

Duel to the Death! (Well, not really…)

          Jousts were a type of tournament in the middle ages. Knights participated in jousts for extra practice and a little extra money if they won. Kind of like football now; Jousts were one of the main forms of entertainment for high ranking people in medieval Europe. During a joust two knights would charge at eachother on horseback while seperated by a barrier, holding blunt lances. The knight who knocked the other off of his horse was the winner.

          Jousts were usually not to the death, like many of the ancient Roman forms of entertainment. Jousting and other tournaments were mainly practice for battle for knights. I guess you could say that jousting is kind of like wrestling or MMA fights. Fights that are not to the death but practice for fighting mainly.

You mess with the knight, you get the sword!

          Knights always carried weapons with them wherever they went. Just in case someone was to attack or disrespect them. Typical weapons included swords, shields, lances, battle axes, maces, and spears. Many knights carried all of these when going into battle! All of these weapons are extremely heavy and difficult to fight with! Knights had to bread especially strong horses just to be able to carry the knight! I feel sorry for the horse that had to carry all of that!

A knight’s most essential weapon was his sword. The very best swords were usually made in Spain. Many knights had names for their swords. Talk about being attached! An example of this is the famous King Arthur’s supposed “magic” sword which he called Excalibur. Sounds weird right? But strangely it was very common for a knight to name his weapons. Well, I wish them luck with their insanity! J

Chivalry, Making the Most Dateable Guys since the Middle Ages!

           In the Middle Ages chivalry was a set of rules knights were supposed to follow. If only chivalry still existed! Chivalry told knights to defend the weak, protect the church, and defend women. In battle sparing a knight from another army was considered chivalry (obviously they couldn’t spare EVERYONE they fought). Sadly now there seems to be no trace of chivalry left in daily life. Now it’s every person for themselves and if someone gets left behind it’s not your problem.

          When someone became a knight they had to swear to uphold the traits of courage, respect, honor, and loyalty. Many of these traits were influenced from Christianity. I only wish that guys still had to promise to use these traits every day of their lives. Less pain, less heartbreak, less regret that way. If I had to choose one thing to bring into the present day from medieval times it would be chivalry, definitely!!!!! :)

Trained to Kill!

          For a really long time during the earlier Middle Ages only the sons of knights could be knights when they got older. But later in the middle ages any little boy could train to be a knight. Little boys who chose to become knights began training early. When they were about seven years old, at this age the boy’s dad started to teach him what he knew about being a knight. Things like horse back riding; Probably how to hold a sword so that the boy wouldn’t start flailing it around and possibly kill someone while training.

Young boy becoming a knight

          When the young boy turned about eight years old, his father would send him to live and train with a well respected knight. There was usually more then one boy living and training with the knight at one time. The younger boys would work as pages (messengers), servants, grooms (brushing horses), or stable hands (cleaning up after the horses, eww). The older boys would usually work as squires (a personal assistant who usually helped the knight with things like helping the knight put on all of his heavy, complicated armor). When training, the boys did not use real swords (especially not the younger boys). Instead they had to use heavy, blunt, wooden swords. These helped the boy to grow strong enough to lift and fight with a real sword.