ASPECTS OF KNIGHTHOOD Coats of Arms, Codes of Honor, and Feudal England A Pre-Cursor to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

HERALDRY  A smaller part of a coat of arms, a knight’s “herald” was the design on his banner and his shield.  Heraldry was used to identify enemies and allies on the battlefield.  The colors and symbols used represented character traits and/or values important to the knight and/or his family.  Every knight (and therefore every noble) had a unique herald.

COATS OF ARMS  A family’s identifying graphic  Symbols can mean nearly anything, but some things are always the same: Crown = royalty Lion = royalty, protection Eagle = strength, bravery  The current British Royal Family:

COATS OF ARMS: MOTTOS  Mottos were typically written in Latin  Meant something important to the family; something they lived by  A few examples: Votis subscribunt fata secundis. Destiny makes wishes come true. Sine iustitia, confusio. Without justice, confusion. Pulchritudo vincit. Beauty conquers.

COATS OF ARMS

MAKE YOUR OWN! 

CODES OF HONOR § What is a code of honor? § Why do they exist?

FOR THE FOLLOWING EXAMPLES... § Think: § Would you want to follow this code? § Could a society function under this code? § Who would be happiest?

EXAMPLE #1 § “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.”

EXAMPLE #2 § “An it harm none, do what ye will.” § “An” is an old form of the word “if” § “Ye” is an old form of the word “you”

EXAMPLE #3 § I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. § You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments. § You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. § Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. § Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. § You shall not murder. § You shall not commit adultery. § You shall not steal. § You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. § You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.”

EXAMPLE #4 § From a list of § Do not oppress the weak § Do not take revenge § Love and fear God § And then… § Do not attempt to contact the dead § Do not eat blood

EXAMPLE #5 To maintain candour and fidelity in love and devotion to the tried friend: though he strike me I will do him no scathe. Never to make wrongsome oath: for great and grim is the reward for the breaking of plighted troth. To deal not hardly with the humble and the lowly. To remember the respect that is due to great age. To suffer no evil to go unremedied and to fight against the enemies of Faith, Folk and Family: my foes I will fight in the field, nor will I stay to be burnt in my house. To succour the friendless but to put no faith in the pledged word of a stranger people. If I hear the fool's word of a drunken man I will strive not: for many a grief and the very death groweth from out such things. To give kind heed to dead people: straw dead, sea dead or sword dead. To abide by the enactments of lawful authority and to bear with courage the decrees of the Norns.

WHAT THEY ARE… #1: Thelema #2: Wicca #3: The 10 Commandments #4: A few of the 613 commandments in the Jewish Torah #5: The Nine Noble Virtues of the Odinic Rite (Norse Paganism)

#6: CHIVALRY § What is it? § Is it really “dead”?

ACCORDING TO THE TIMES…  1. Thou shalt believe all that the church teaches and shall obey all her commandments.  2. Thou shalt defend the church.  3. Thou shalt respect all weaknesses and shalt constitute thyself the defender of them.  4. Thou shalt love the country in which thou wast born.  5. Thou shalt not recoil before thine enemy.  6. Thou shalt make war against the infidel without cessation and without mercy.  7. Thou shalt perform scrupulously thy feudal duties, if they be not contrary to the laws of God.  8. Thou shalt never lie, and shalt remain faithful to thy pledged word.  9. Thou shalt be generous, and give largesse to everyone.  10. Thou shalt be everywhere and always the champion of the Right and the Good against injustice and evil.  - Leon Gautier, The Decalogue

MORE FUNNY NAMES… AND A WHOLE NEW SOCIETY  First “Beowulf,” now “Gawain”… will the strange names ever end?  From Anglo-Saxon warrior society to feudalism… for better or worse?  A new language, too! From the “Old English” of Beowulf to “Middle English” of Gawain. This finally starts to sound a little more like what we speak… but it’s still pretty weird!

NEW GENRE: MEDIEVAL ROMANCE  Usually idealizes chivalry.  Idealizes the hero-knight and his noble deeds.  An important element is the knight’s love for his lady.  The settings tend to be imaginary and vague.  Derives mystery and suspense from supernatural elements.  Uses concealed or disguised identity.