KNIGHTS AND CHIVALRY

Chivalric Orders

Stupendous site containing details and history of the Orders of Knighthood of Chivalric character, who are still awarded today! Each order has it's own page dedicated to it's history. Spectacular and detailed graphics and pictures! Also links to related sites of chivalric orders.

The Chivalry Code

Chivalry, Knights and the Feudal System

A History and Mythos of the Knights Templar

Who were they?  Excellent historical summary clarifies: "A monastic military order formed at the end of the First Crusade to protect pilgrims traveling on route from Europe to the recently captured city of Jerusalem. Within a couple of decades the group became an order with the backing of both the Pope and the collective European monarchies. . . Within two centuries they had become powerful enough to defy all but the Papal throne. Feared as warriors, respected for their piety and sought out for their wealth, there is no doubt that the Knights Templar were the key players of the monastic fighting orders. Due to their vast wealth, the Templars essentially invented banking as we know it. "   The power, the turbulence, the hostility and the accusations against them.  Documents. history, myths, warrior monks, the Masonic connection, the Grand Masters, crusades, web rings.    The people and groups that influenced the Knights Templar such as Philip IV (The Fair), Pope Clement V, Bernard of Clairveux, The Grand Masters, Urban II.  Mysteries of the Knights include these questions:  "Do The Templars Still Exist Today? How Did a Band of Nine Knights Gain Such Fame? Is The Shroud Of Turin Actually The Face Of De Molay? What Was The Bearded Head Worshipped By The Templars? Did The Templars Practice Black Magic? "

The Knights Templar

Why were the Knights Templar burned as heretics? Were they truly demon worshipers and homosexuals or were all accusations a plot to rid the empire of this powerful and influential order? What caused different orders of knights to feud with one another? For anyone interested in the orders of knights formed during the Crusades. Large set of links here.

Knighthood, Chivalry & Tournaments Resource Library

Modern chivalry, tournaments, arms. Reenactments and reproductions. Magna Carta text. Accounts of medieval battles. Medieval writing on English coronation ceremony. Medieval oaths. Glossaries of terms. Produced with the passion of a true enthusiast pertaining to elements of medieval  war and games.

Knights Hospitaller of St. John

"Being an unofficial guide to the chivalric Hospitaller Orders, especially the Order of St. John of Jerusalem,   from the First Crusade to the present era."  Order began in 11th Century "as a monastic brotherhood caring for the needs of Latin pilgrims in the Holy Land. . . .Inevitably, as the Crusader States found themselves in a condition of perpetual war, the brethren of the Order were soon found serving as medics and then as combatants, becoming (with their rivals the Knights Templar) the most disciplined Christian military force in Outremer and the medieval equivalent of a multinational corporation."