Osprey - General Military - Knight - The Warrior and ... - Brego-weard

KNIGHT
Roger Mortimer, one
of the founder knights of
the Order of the Garter,
depicted in 1440-50. He
wears the Order's mantle
over his armour and rests
his hand on a tablet
depicting the arms of each
of the knights who was to
take his stall in St George's
chapel, Windsor. (© British
Library)
150
been an early tool that knights used to mark themselves out as a separate order within
society. The cost of attending these events and the social events that went with them
limited attendance to a select few. From the 13th century, regulations limited the
numbers of footsoldiers and servants a knight might bring to tournament, and
restricted their access to the tourney field. In part this was to stop some ol the unruly
behaviour that broke out, but it was also a way of limiting access to the tournament
to the knightly class alone. By the end of that century lists were being drawn up by
heralds recording the pedigrees ot those taking part and in Germany in the following
century some tournaments were being restricted to only those who could prove
aristocratic descent over four generations.
Another means by which the knightly class segregated itself was the 14th-century
development of secular orders of chivalry and the very similar confraternities of knights.
The earliest of these seems to be the Order of the Band, formed by Alfonso XI of
Castile around 1330. The next, and most famous, was the Order of the Garter, created
by Exlward III in 1348, but many more were
established in the 14th and 15th centuries. These
were born out of the earlier tourneying societies,
groups of knights sharing a desire to achieve feats
of arms in the lists and banding together to achieve
them, and the lay confraternities, pious and
charitable organizations similar to the craft guilds
which became popular around the same time.
Members of secular orders had clear duties to
support their fellow members, swearing loyalty
and friendship to each other. The Order
undertook to organize the saying of Masses for
deceased comrades and to protect the honour and
name of members in the public sphere. They were
to aid each other in battle, help financially with
ransoms and in case of injury, and mediate in
conflict between members. There could also
be a political motivation. Edward's Order of
the Garter seems to have been connected with
increasing enthusiasm for his wars against the
French by encouraging the chivalric ethos
amongst his own magnates and knights, and by
offering membership to lords and nobles of
Europe as a diplomatic manoeuvre. The orders