Name some great Catholic knights in fiction or history

  • Thread starter Thread starter souldiver
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

souldiver

Guest
I think there’s a handful that even became saints.

List them here. Or maybe you could give a small description.
 
Probably the greatest Crusader spiritual-wise was St. Louis IX of France who led the Seventh (which was the more successful of the two) and Eighth (in which in died) Crusades. He was a just king and even sent out special investigators to look into fraud and injustice that would creep into high offices.

There is actually an account of St. Louis’ Seventh Crusade told by a Muslim chronicler. The link is below. It is quite fascinating.

http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/Makrisi.asp
 
St. Thomas More, though his knighthood was, like today, simply an honorific.

As per fiction and/or legend - King Arthur and all of his court were Catholic (though in the King Arthur film of 2003, they were depicted as followers of the Pelagianism heresy - though they didn’t know that Pelagius had been condemned as a heretic).
 
Then there were Charles Martel, king of the Franks, who defeated the army of the Islamic caliphate, preventing them from moving out of Spain. And of course, his grandson, Charlemagne, who was crowned “Holy Roman Emperor” by the Pope himself on Christmas Day in the year AD 800. Of course, Charlemagne was not only a real king, but had many legends and folklore that accompanied him, as well, primarily dealing with “Charlemagne and his 12 Paladins” (which probably influenced the Brittany French versions of the King Arthur story; these came into England with the Norman invasion).
 
Absalon (1128-1301). Closest advisor of king Valdemar; Bishop of Roskilde; Archbishop of Lund and founder of Copenhagen. Absalon fought many campaigns against the Wends, a Slavic people that lived in what is now northern Germany and northern Poland. Absalon was not your average man of the cloth.
 
Cheiron said:
Absalon (1128-1301). Closest advisor of king Valdemar; Bishop of Roskilde; Archbishop of Lund and founder of Copenhagen. Absalon fought many campaigns against the Wends, a Slavic people that lived in what is now northern Germany and northern Poland. Absalon was not your average man of the cloth.
Click to expand...
He wasn’t really a knight; he was a fighting Bishop.
 
From Geoffrey Chaucer’s (c. 1343 – 25 October 1400) The Canterbury Tales: General Prologue: (the numbers indicate the number of the line of the poem)
Code: 
       Bifil that in that seson, on a day,
20 In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay
Redy to wenden on my pilgrymage
To Caunterbury with ful devout corage,
At nyght was come into that hostelrye
Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye
25 Of sondry folk, by aventure yfalle
In felaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle,
That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde.
The chambres and the stables weren wyde,
And wel we weren esed atte beste;
30 And shortly, whan the sonne was to reste,
So hadde I spoken with hem everichon
That I was of hir felaweshipe anon,
And made forward erly for to ryse
To take our wey, ther as I yow devyse.
35 But nathelees, whil I have tyme and space,
Er that I ferther in this tale pace,
Me thynketh it acordaunt to resoun
To telle yow al the condicioun
Of ech of hem, so as it semed me,
40 And whiche they weren, and of what degree,
And eek in what array that they were inne;
And at a knyght than wol I first bigynne.
A KNYGHT ther was, and that a worthy man,
That fro the tyme that he first bigan
45 To riden out, he loved chivalrie,
Trouthe and honour, fredom and curteisie.
Ful worthy was he in his lordes werre,
And therto hadde he riden, no man ferre,
As wel in cristendom as in hethenesse,
50 And evere honoured for his worthynesse.
At Alisaundre he was, whan it was wonne.
Ful ofte tyme he hadde the bord bigonne
Aboven alle nacions in Pruce;
In Lettow hadde he reysed, and in Ruce,
55 No Cristen man so ofte of his degree.
In Gernade at the seege eek hadde he be
Of Algezir, and riden in Belmarye.
At Lyeys was he and at Satalye,
Whan they were wonne; and in the Grete See
60 At many a noble armee hadde he be.
At mortal batailles hadde he been fiftene,
And foughten for oure feith at Tramyssene
In lystes thries, and ay slayn his foo.
This ilke worthy knyght hadde been also
65 Somtyme with the lord of Palatye
Agayn another hethen in Turkye.
And everemoore he hadde a sovereyn prys;
And though that he were worthy, he was wys,
And of his port as meeke as is a mayde.
70 He nevere yet no vileynye ne sayde
In al his lyf unto no maner wight.
He was a verray, parfit gentil knyght.
But, for to tellen yow of his array,
His hors were goode, but he was nat gay.
75 Of fustian he wered a gypon
Al bismotered with his habergeoun,
For he was late ycome from his viage,
And wente for to doon his pilgrymage.

Image of Chaucer’s Knight based on the Ellesmere Manuscript miniature:

d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/image/macaulay-knight
Geoffrey Chaucer (/ˈtʃɔːsər/; c. 1343 – 25 October 1400), known as the Father of English literature,[1] is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to be buried in Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey . . .
Click to expand...
Chaucer’s work was crucial in legitimizing the literary use of the Middle English vernacular at a time when the dominant literary languages in England were French and Latin.
Click to expand...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Chaucer
 
Dwyer said:
Chaucer’s Knight

From Geoffrey Chaucer’s (c. 1343 – 25 October 1400) The Canterbury Tales: General Prologue: (the numbers indicate the number of the line of the poem)
Code: 
       Bifil that in that seson, on a day,
20 In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay
Redy to wenden on my pilgrymage
To Caunterbury with ful devout corage,
At nyght was come into that hostelrye
Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye
25 Of sondry folk, by aventure yfalle
In felaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle,
That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde.
The chambres and the stables weren wyde,
And wel we weren esed atte beste;
30 And shortly, whan the sonne was to reste,
So hadde I spoken with hem everichon
That I was of hir felaweshipe anon,
And made forward erly for to ryse
To take our wey, ther as I yow devyse.
35 But nathelees, whil I have tyme and space,
Er that I ferther in this tale pace,
Me thynketh it acordaunt to resoun
To telle yow al the condicioun
Of ech of hem, so as it semed me,
40 And whiche they weren, and of what degree,
And eek in what array that they were inne;
And at a knyght than wol I first bigynne.
A KNYGHT ther was, and that a worthy man,
That fro the tyme that he first bigan
45 To riden out, he loved chivalrie,
Trouthe and honour, fredom and curteisie.
Ful worthy was he in his lordes werre,
And therto hadde he riden, no man ferre,
As wel in cristendom as in hethenesse,
50 And evere honoured for his worthynesse.
At Alisaundre he was, whan it was wonne.
Ful ofte tyme he hadde the bord bigonne
Aboven alle nacions in Pruce;
In Lettow hadde he reysed, and in Ruce,
55 No Cristen man so ofte of his degree.
In Gernade at the seege eek hadde he be
Of Algezir, and riden in Belmarye.
At Lyeys was he and at Satalye,
Whan they were wonne; and in the Grete See
60 At many a noble armee hadde he be.
At mortal batailles hadde he been fiftene,
And foughten for oure feith at Tramyssene
In lystes thries, and ay slayn his foo.
This ilke worthy knyght hadde been also
65 Somtyme with the lord of Palatye
Agayn another hethen in Turkye.
And everemoore he hadde a sovereyn prys;
And though that he were worthy, he was wys,
And of his port as meeke as is a mayde.
70 He nevere yet no vileynye ne sayde
In al his lyf unto no maner wight.
He was a verray, parfit gentil knyght.
But, for to tellen yow of his array,
His hors were goode, but he was nat gay.
75 Of fustian he wered a gypon
Al bismotered with his habergeoun,
For he was late ycome from his viage,
And wente for to doon his pilgrymage.

librarius.com/cantales.htm

Image of Chaucer’s Knight based on the Ellesmere Manuscript miniature:

d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/image/macaulay-knight

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Chaucer
Click to expand...
 
From the legendary side, I would venture Roland and his Paladins.

From reality, Hugues de Payens, first grandmaster of the Poor Knights of Christ (aka the Knights Templar), plus at least all the early knights (like Godfrey de Saint-Omer and André de Montbard) before the accusations of blasphemy/heresy.

Joan of Arc.
William Wallace.
El Cid.

What religion is Sir Rodney of Id? :hmm:
 
A good fictional Catholic knight is Captain Phoebus from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He refuses to commit evil acts that he is ordered to do by Judge Claude Frollo. He understands the true Christian message unlike Frollo, who uses Christianity to justify evil.
 
Here is a list of Saints and Blesseds who were knights.

catholicsaints.info/saints-who-were-knights/

Also Blessed Gerard, founder of the Knights Hospitaller.

For some soldiers saints from before the times of the Knights here are some Roman soldiers who became saints:

Saint Marten of Tours was often considered the Patron Saint of Knights.

Saint George was often cited as the Patron Saint of English Knights

My patron saint, Saint Maurice, was the commander of the Theban Roman Legion and was martyred for refusing to kill Christians and make sacrifices to the Roman Emperor. You can often find stained glass windows of him in knightly armor.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top