Following Orders

[Sir William Marcus]

Flaming Saracen.......catapulted.

What a capture! 

[Sir William Marcus]

My fellow brethren.  We have been in the process of liquidating the armory,  as a result we now currently offer a few items for sale to those interested.

Gorget & pauldron assembly for $120.00 + shipping.  




This pair of steel arm bracers. They are nicely formed and lined with leather. Straps on the inner arm adjust so it will fit just about anyone. Asking $50.00 + shipping




"Hospitaller" Surcoat 1300-1500. It is done in Red Trigger with White Bias Tape trim on the neck, armcyes and around the hem. The Cross is a large White Maltese Cross on the front and back of the Surcoat. $50.00 includes shipping.

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

My fellow brethren.  We have been in the process of liquidating the armory,  as a result we now currently offer a few items for sale to those interested.

Gorget & pauldron assembly for $120.00 + shipping. 

This pair of steel arm bracers. They are nicely formed and lined with leather. Straps on the inner arm adjust so it will fit just about anyone. Asking $50.00 + shipping

I have the very same Gorget & pauldron assembly ....how funny. As for your bracers, I am interested, but you say they should fit "most", is this a word of caution for me?

[Sir William Marcus]

Negative frere cliff.  Caution only applies to toppers of the cranium 

[Lord Clisto of York]

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!

[Lord Clisto of York]

Marcus, Let me know how much for the gorget and spaulder assembly with shipping. I think I may buy them. Find me a total. I want them.

[Sir William Marcus]

Bless all who want to represent although someone has to draw the line   

[Sir William Marcus]

Museum Replica offering Lucas de Beaumanoir gauntlets?

Gauntlets

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

See how they're selling Robin Hood sword and scabbard again as separate items!!!

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

To be released movie review (Getting the Facts straight)

IRONCLAD 2010 (release date to be determined)

It is the year 1215 and the rebel barons of England have forced their despised King John to put his royal seal to the Magna Carta, a noble, seminal document that upheld the rights of free-men. Yet within months of pledging himself to the great charter, the King reneged on his word and assembled a mercenary army on the south coast of England with the intention of bringing the barons and the country back under his tyrannical rule. Barring his way stood the mighty Rochester castle, a place that would become the symbol of the rebel's momentous struggle for justice and freedom.

Plot:

In 13th century a determined group of Knights Templar defends Rochester Castle against the tyrannical King John.

Notes:

James Purefoy is to play a Templar Knight named Marshall. It sounds like it will be a medieval version of the Magnificent Seven, where a few stood against many. Rumor has it that he'll be the only Templar in the movie, thus providing a Special Forces type interaction where they might use his experience to augment the local's defensive posture. (Everyone knows that if you had seven Templars in there, it would take more than mere mortals to take down the castle....lol!)  He is not to be confused with the following individual, although some can see where the loose ties are made for the sake of bringing folks to the show. (Templars always do!)

William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1146 – 14 May 1219), also called William the Marshal (Guillaume le Maréchal), was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman. He has been described as the "greatest knight that ever lived". He served four kings — Henry II, Richard I " the Lionheart", John and Henry III — and rose from obscurity to become a regent of England for the last of the four, and so, one of the most powerful men in Europe. Before him, the hereditary title of "Marshal" designated head of household security for the king of England; by the time he died, people throughout Europe (not just England) referred to him simply as "the Marshal".

On the death of the young Henry, Marshal obtained permission from Henry II to take the young Henry's cross to Jerusalem. Marshal spent two years in the Holy Land fighting for King Guy of Jerusalem and the Knights' Templar.
Fulfilling the vow he had made while on crusade, he was invested into the order of the Knights Templar on his deathbed. He died on 14 May 1219 at Caversham, and was buried in the Temple Church in London, where his effigy can still be seen.

The Battle:
The siege of 1215

In 1206, King John spent £115 on repairs to the castle and moat. He even preemptively held it during the year of the negotiations leading up to Magna Carta, but its terms forced him to hand it back into the custody of Stephen Langton, archbishop of Canterbury, in May 1215. The rebel barons then sent troops under William d'Aubigny  (a quick imaginative jump here to tie "William" to "Marshall" and give yourself the six degrees of separation to a factual individual who was buried as a Templar) to the castle, to whom its constable Reginald de Cornhill opened the castle's gates. During October, marching from Dover to London, John then found Rochester in his way and on 11 October began besieging it in person.

The rebels were expecting reinforcements from London but on hearing of the size of King John's army they turned back at Dartford. Robert Fitzwalter rode out to stop the king, fighting his way onto the bridge but eventually being beaten back into the castle. He also sacked the cathedral, took anything of value and stabled his horses in it, all as a slight to Langton. Orders were then sent to the men of Canterbury saying, "We order you, just as you love us, and as soon as you see this letter, to make by day and night, all the pickaxes that you can. Every blacksmith in your city should stop all other work in order to make them and you should send them to us at Rochester with all speed". Five siege engines were then erected and work carried out to undermine the curtain wall. By one of these means the king's forces entered and held the bailey in early November, and began attempting the same tactics against the keep, including undermining the south-east tower. The mine-roof was supported by wooden props, which were then set alight using pig-fat, on 25 November 1215 John had sent a writ to the justiciars saying "Send to us with all speed by day and night, forty of the fattest pigs of the sort least good for eating so that we may bring fire beneath the castle" , causing the south-east tower of the keep to collapse. The rebels withdrew behind the keep's cross-wall but still managed to hold out. A few were allowed to leave the castle but on John's orders had their hands and feet lopped off as an example.

Winter was now setting in, and the castle was only taken (on 30 November) by starvation and not by force. John set up a memorial to the pigs and a gallows with the intention of hanging the whole garrison, but one of his captains (Savari de Mauleon) persuaded him not to hang the rebels since hanging those who had surrendered would set a precedent if John ever surrendered - only one man was actually hanged (a young bowman who had previously been in John's service). The remainder of the rebel barons were taken away and imprisoned at various royal-held castles, such as Corfe Castle. Of the siege - against only 100 rebels, and costing over a thousand pounds a day - the Barnwell chronicler wrote "No one alive can remember a siege so fiercely pressed and so manfully resisted" and that, after it, "There were few who would put their trust in castles".

No mention of the Order's knights being involved in such a secular activity.

[Lord Clisto of York]

I have been waiting for this movie for a while. They never seem to have a release time. Sounds good though.

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

Two Masters of Military Orders (of close to the same time period) as seen through the works of Hollywood:

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

I figured since we cover just about all aspects of a Warrior Monk, that I'd address a little known weapon in his arsenal, that you see in many a Movie and art work representations of these "Hammers of the Almighty".

The Rosary



We know by the Rule that several times a day, that these Warrior Monks went to harden their Armor of Faith with prayer, whether it be in a garrison/preceptory environment, or out on a security patrol over watching pilgrims or intercepting the enemy. They were told to say a certain number of prayers per daily prayer events, or during the inability to attend prayers in the church, say a specified amount for each missed period.

The rosary provides a physical method of keeping track of the number of Hail Marys said. The fingers are moved along the beads as the prayers are recited. By not having to keep track of the count mentally, the mind is more able to meditate on the mysteries. A five decade rosary contains five groups of ten beads (a decade), with additional large beads before each decade. The Hail Mary is said on the ten beads within a decade, while the Our Father (Pater Noster) is said on the large bead before each decade. A new mystery is meditated upon at each of the large beads. Some rosaries, particularly those used by religious orders, contain 15 decades, corresponding to the traditional 15 mysteries of the rosary. Both five and 15 decade rosaries are attached to a shorter strand, which starts with a crucifix followed by one large, three small, and one large beads before connecting to the rest of the rosary.

The praying of the rosary is started on the short strand. It follows along the strand until the crucifix is reached. Here the
Symbolum Apostolorum or Symbolum Apostolicum, sometimes titled Apostle's Creed is recited.

[Sir William Marcus]

 Museum Replicas Closeout, Templar Robe Was $60, Now Only $45!

Robe

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

Interesting note on some of the family ties in the Outremer.

Apparently Raynald of Châtillon married the younger daughter of  Philip of Milly, lord of Nablus. Some folks will recognize him as  the seventh Grand Master of the Knights Templar.

Philip's personal life is largely a mystery. William of Tyre describes him as one of the "brave men, valiant in arms and trained from their earliest years in the art of war" who accompanied Amalric to Egypt. Sometime after he became lord of Oultrejordain, he made a pilgrimage the monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. With his wife Isabella he had a son, Rainier (who predeceased him), and two daughters, Helena and Stephanie. Isabella died probably in 1166, which may have led to Philip's decision to take vows as a brother of the Knights Templar.