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and let's get into it today we shall be
taking a look at some of the most
notable and notorious nights from
history and just for clarity we know
that knighthoods are still awarded
regularly
but we'll just be sticking with the
knights of the medieval variety the ones
with the swords and the armor
we're also going with real night so no
legendary figures either
number 10. pierre-terrain we start up
with a man who embodied all the virtues
that we associate with knights chivalry
bravery loyalty nobility and piety
of course most of the times these
qualities are a lot easier to find in
the romanticized nights from fictional
stories than the real ones but they did
seem to apply to pierre torreira
also known as lebon chevalier or the
good knight
born at chateau bayard in the south of
france circa 1476 terrell came from a
noble family with a long back history
going back
centuries of fighting for the king and
dying with honor in battle
unsurprisingly this was the fate durell
envisioned for himself as well
the good night took part in many battles
and sieges all of them during the
italian wars of the late 15th and early
16th centuries
he first served as manatoms in 1490 and
was knighted five years later by king
charles viii of france for
his role at the battle of four novo his
greatest feat came at the battle of
gagliano where according to legend
terrell defended a bridge by himself
by holding out against 200 spanish
soldiers
soon enough thanks to his actions
terrell was being hailed as the night
without fear and without reproach
no woman mercenaries even the pope tried
to entice him to their side but tyrael
showed no
interest in betraying his king he died
at the battle of seizure
in 1524 while protecting the rear guard
as his army was retreating
9. james douglas born in 1286 in
scotland james douglas had some rather
big shoes to fill
he was the oldest son of sir william
douglas the hardy a
nobleman and a staunch supporter of
william wallace when the english invaded
scotland in 1296
william sent his son to paris both for
safety and so he could train
uninterrupted in the ways of a knight
the elder douglas was
captured in the war and subsequently
died in the tower of london
when james douglas returned home he
asked the english king edward longshanks
to
restore his family lands and titles a
request the king
unsurprisingly refused therefore douglas
allied himself with another famed
fighting scot
robert bruce james douglas had several
notable fights during the war for
scottish independence he was
present at the battle of bannockburn
which was a crucial victory for scotland
but more infamous was his fight to
retake his own family seat douglas
castle
in 1307 on palm sunday before easter
douglas and his men hid in wait for the
english soldiers to attend mass and then
charged them on their way to church
there was no mercy all the english men
who survived the attack or surrendered
were taken to the castle cellar and
beheaded with their heads mounted on
broken wine casks the massacre itself
became known as the douglas lada while
the knight was called the black douglas
by the english for his ferocity number
eight gee
of lucino because we are talking about
notorious knights not
the best knights we should also mention
gui of lucinor
a man who earned his fame through a
failure which shaped the course of
history he was born in the duchy of
aquitaine circa 1150 the son of
hugh the eighth of lucinor at some
unknown time during the 1170s gee
traveled to jerusalem where he entered
the patronage of king bordwin iv also
known as the leper king because
well he had leprosy ghee married the
king's sister
sabila however king baldwin wasn't
really impressed with his new
brother-in-law's military skills so he
named sabella's young son from previous
marriage baldwin v as his heir
the leper king died in 1185 but
unfortunately for him the young baldwin
also perished the following year and gi
of lucinor became the new king of
jerusalem soon afterwards war broke out
with the ayabid dynasty led by saladin
after the disastrous loss at the battle
of hattin in 1187
ghee was taken prisoner and jerusalem
fell a few months later after that came
the third crusade the one
led by richard the lionheart king of
england holy roman emperor frederick
barbosa
and king philip ii of france gee himself
was released and given sovereignty over
cyprus where
he ruled for a couple of hundred years
before dying without an heir
7. john hawkwood loyalty is a trait we
value highly in nights but the truth is
that it was possible to become a
successful and powerful knight without
this particular quality
thanks to mercenary work the perfect
example of this is sir john hawkwood an
englishman who
became italy's most renowned mercenary
during the 14th century
details about his early life are scarce
he was born circa 1320 but we're not
even sure if his family
was rich or poor we know that he was
knighted at one point because the
inscription of a famous fresco dedicated
to him and the duomo in florence reads
john hawkwood british knight most
prudent leader of his age
and most expert in the art of war while
we're unsure of the exact circumstances
the
had had to come thanks to hawkwood's
actions in the hundred years war
there he joined an infamous mercenary
band called the white company and
eventually became their leader after the
treaty of bretini in
1360 marked a temporary peace between
england and france the y company
accepted orders from the pope to
fight in italy during the western schism
that would become hawkwood's role for
the next 30 years
he was the commander of a mercenary
company he fought for multiple factions
but his greatest victory is usually
considered the battle of castanaro from
1387 which he won for the city state of
padua number six oog to pale we now move
to a french knight whose life is very
poorly documented his name was udapeon
and he was born circa 1070 in the
champagne province
even though we know so little about him
topo earned his place on this list by
founding one of the most mysterious and
controversial groups from medieval times
the poor fellow soldiers of christ and
the temple of solomon better known
as the knight's templar sometime at the
start of the 12th century hugh count of
champagne went on a pilgrimage to the
holy land
undoubtedly udapeon and his other
knights accompanied him this was only a
few years after the first crusade while
it had been mostly successful most
crusaders began
heading home with their vows fulfilled
leaving pilgrims vulnerable to attacks
seeing this depeor and a few other
knights decided to stay behind to
protect them and with the approval of
king baldwin ii of jerusalem
formed the religious order known as the
knights templar with
udapeor serving as their first grand
master the templars quickly grew in
power and wealth they received donations
from many european noblemen and were
even granted special privileges by the
pope
since then they have been associated
with many legends secrets and
conspiracies becoming the
default shadowy organization of the
middle ages now just before we get into
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and let's get back to it number 5. roger
mortimer if there is one knight whose
exploits would make for an exciting
movie it would probably be sir roger
mortimer first earl of march
his life included war intrigues
betrayals romance fights a prison break
and
was capped off by a violent death walter
was born in 1287 a wigmore castle into a
powerful and influential family he
became a marcher lord like his father
meaning a nobleman who
owned and protected lands located at the
border between england and wales
alongside 266 other men roger mortimer
became a knight in 1306
at a unique event dubbed the feast of
the swans where
he and all the other knights wore fealty
to the new king edward ii
over the next two decades mortimer's
loyalty to the king eroded thanks to the
favoritism and privileges that the
monarch afforded to
another noble family called dispenser
mortimer wasn't the only one and in 1321
he led a revolt against king edward ii
known as the dispenser war the king won
and mortimer barely escaped execution by
being sentenced to life imprisonment in
the tower of london a month later with
outside help mortimer managed to drug
his guards escape prison and flee to
france
a few years later the king's wife
isabella was the sister of the king of
france travelled to her native country
on a diplomatic mission
there she met mortimer and the two began
an affair they rallied strong
support behind them and in 1327 invaded
england to depose edward ii
they succeeded edward ii was forced to
abdicate dying a few months later under
suspicious circumstances which most
likely means that mortimer had him
assassinated
the son edward iii was now king but
because he was underage roger mortimer
served as his regent making him the de
facto ruler of england
this only lasted for three years like
many before him mortimer was corrupted
by greed and power and
soon enough all other noblemen wanted
him dead when edward the third came of
age they persuaded him that the knight
was a traitor so
roger mortimer was arrested condemned
and hanged number four
edward of woodstock the black knight is
a very popular stock character from
medieval tales one who usually plays the
main villain of the story
looking at his real counterparts there
were a few knights who shared his
sobriquets such as
sir james stewart the black knight of
lawn but most notorious of all was
edward of woodstock aka
the black prince born in 1330 he was the
eldest son of the aforementioned edward
iii
and heir to the throne of england he
joined his father in battle from an
early age and received as knighted
during his first military campaign in
kreshi in 1346 when
he was just 16 years old edward proved
to have a keen military mind he had
multiple notable victories in the
hundred years war against france but
none were more stunning than the battle
of poitiere
in 1356. the english led by the black
prince were outnumbered almost
two to one but pulled off a decisive
triumph where they sustained minimal
casualties and
managed to take prisoner 2 000 enemy
soldiers and almost 100 noblemen
including the king of france himself
john ii and his heir
everyone respected edward's combat
prowess including his enemies
he seemed destined to become one of
england's greatest knights but
this was not to be as he died of
dysentery before taking the throne
as far as his moniker is concerned it's
actually uncertain why edward was called
the black prince
he did have one giant black spot on his
record
when the town of limoges revolted
against english control he laid siege on
it and massacred three thousand
civilians in anger
therefore the sobriquet came from the
blackness of his soul
recently found documents however suggest
that this massacre may have never
actually happened and that the nickname
came from edward's black armor and
heraldry that he used in jousting
tournaments number three suero de
quinones
speaking of black knights there is a
famous scene in monty python and the
holy grail where king arthur encounters
a black knight guarding a tiny bridge
demanding that
all who want to pass must fight him
believe it or not such a knight actually
existed and his name was suero de
quinones
born in the kingdom of lyon in the early
15th century suera de quinonez and a
group of nine other knights decided to
block the bridge over the orbigo river
for 30 days in the summer of 1434 with
their goal being to take on all
challenges and break 300 lancers
to accomplish this the knights had to
either literally break their opponent's
weapons draw first bloods or
knock them off their horses this was
done entirely with the approval of their
king and
knights from far and wide came to prove
themselves and test them metal
dozens of tents were erected near the
bridge for the fighters and their
retinue and wooden platforms were built
next to the bridge to accommodate a
public audience
it was quite a spectacle although it
ended before suera and his men broke 300
lancers because
they were too injured to continue such
an event was not as rare as you might
expect it was called
a pasta arm or passage of arms it was
one of the medieval combat games that
knights took part in but for some reason
it hasn't really captured the
imaginations of the modern public the
way
jousts and tournaments have number 2.
elsid his real name was rodrigo diaz de
vivar a minor nobleman born circa 1043
in the town of vivar in the kingdom of
castile from there he became a knight
and
then a prince and eventually turned into
one of spain's most celebrated heroes
known simply as el
cid from a very young age diaz impressed
with his military acumen when sancho ii
came to power in castile he nominated
diaz as
his standard bearer and commander of his
troops even though he was still just 22
years old
however when sancho was assassinated in
1072 his brother alfonso became king of
castile and lyon
he believed elsid was way too popular
with the people so
first he took away his position and
eventually exiled him
diaz originally built his reputation by
fighting the moorish kings present on
the iberian peninsula or
al-andulus as the muslims called it
however it was
those same kings now who were interested
in his services as
they respected his skills al-sidd went
to the court of al-mutaman billah ruler
of zargoza
and helped him fight against the kingdom
of aragon meanwhile king alfonso's lands
were being threatened by an
el morovid invasion from morocco after
suffering a crushing defeat at the
battle of segregas in 1086 he wanted
elsid back he gave the knight back his
command as well as the right to keep the
lands that he conquered to that
end diaz decided that he would conquer
the moorish kingdom of valencia
and rule over it as an independent
principality it took him
six years but after a long siege elcid
accomplished his goal and became prince
of valencia
in 1094. his kingdom only lasted for
five years before the
morovids laid siege themselves and elsid
died in 1099.
however it became an iconic moment in
the 800 year period of spanish history
known as reconquista 1. william marshall
we end today's video with william
marshall a man who was suitably called
the greatest knight
to be found in all the world what
exactly did he do to earn such a
reputation
well he was successful in jousts and
tournaments he served five different
kings he went on crusades and
he became the de facto ruler of england
on two separate occasions
he was also a skilled fighter and
diplomat and helped draft the magna
carta those are quite some achievements
all of this almost never happened as
marshall had a close call when he was a
young boy born circa 1146 he was the son
of a minor nobleman named john marshall
his father cited against king stephen
during a civil war known as the anarchy
during a siege the king took young
william hostage and demanded that his
father surrendered his castle otherwise
he would execute the boy
john marshall pretty much told him to go
ahead as he could make more sons but
fortunately for william the king was not
as cold-blooded as his father
and he spared him when he was around 12
william marshall went to normandy to
live with one of his uncles and begin
his training as a knight
when he turned 20 he participated in his
first battle
and his knighthood and also took part in
his first tournament where his skills as
a fighter became evident
henry ii was king of england at this
time and he appointed marshall to be a
tutor in
arms to his son and heir young king
henry at one point the young henry
declared war on his father
and on his brother the future king
richard the lionheart marshall joined
him and
although he lost he was considered too
valuable to be punished in fact when
richard became king he rewarded martial
by marrying him to isabel declare one of
the richest women in england and
then basically left him in charge of the
country as lord protectorate while
richard was away on crusade this respect
was also extended by king john who on
his deathbed named marshall regent and
protector of his own heir henry iii
marshall's crowning achievement were the
negotiations between king john and the
barons which ultimately led to the
signing of the magna carta
the importance of his role is evident as
his signature on the document is second
right after that of the king so i really
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