As I am pulling together a fighting kit I thought it would be a good idea to pick an era so that I can pull together a historically accurate set of arms and armour. So to do this I felt I should give my knight a story. He is Irish, a Clancy as you can tell from the arms, two lions gules on a field argent, regardant passant.
He was born in 1200 AD and at the age of 7 he was fostered to a McNamara family. The McNamara’s were the military arm of the Dalcassian Sept, and the Clancy’s were hereditary Brehons to the O’Brien clan, the senior clan of the sept. Fostering was a common practice in medieval Ireland which helped build relationships between clans. George R. R. Martin captures this culture in Game of Thrones. King Robert and Ned Stark build their friendship when they are fostered to Jon Arryn in the Eyrie.
My knight’s foster father has just returned from the disaster that was the 4th Crusade. He was held prisoner on an island in the Lido in Venice while the Venetians sought to squeeze the crusaders for every penny they could raise. When the money was not enough Doge Dandolo used the crusaders to raid Christian Cities, culminating in the sack of the Queen of Cities, Constantinople.
John McNamara returns from Constantinople a bitter and disillusioned man with a lifelong hatred of Venetians. He believes the only way to shrive himself of the sins committed by the 4th crusade is to return to Outremer on a proper crusade. He will only sail with the Knightly orders or the Genoese, never on a Venetian galley.
In 1218 John takes the 18 year old Donal on the 5th crusade as his squire. John is no knight, he serves as man at arms but takes vows with the Templars. When they reach Acre they join the fleet on its way to Damietta in Egypt. At the siege of Damietta it looks like the crusaders are going to be defeated by the well defended walls. But the John tells the Templar Knights how the Franks breached the walls of Constantinople by building ramps on the mastheads of ships and lowering them across the city towers. At Damietta the Crusaders modify the technique by tying two ships together and constructing a siege tower across their mastheads. The city is taken and John is fêted for bringing the winning strategy.
The young squire has a knack for languages and picks up enough Arabic to negotiate with the local traders. He gains a reputation for getting a better deal in the markets that serve the camp and gains some good friends as a result.
As the year drags on sickness strikes the camp in Damietta and sadly John McNamara becomes victim to a bloody flux. After his funeral Pierre de Montagut, Grand Master of the Templars, arranges for Donal to be knighted and he is presented with a fine set of arms and armour. Never personally under vows he is released to return to Ireland.
Nine years later, when the sixth crusade is being assembled Clancy is living in Clare, and is married with two children. He has modest lands and a run of bad luck finds him in debt to the monastery in Kilcarragh which is a Hospitaller house. The abbot proposes that Clancy join the crusade in exchange for his debts being pardoned. So he boards a hospitaller ship which brings a mixed group of hospitaller knights, freelance knights like Clancy and men at arms to the assembly point at Brindisi. There they meet up with a large group of English Knights in the companies of the Bishops of Exeter and Winchester. They sail together to Cyprus and on to Acre.
The sixth crusade is marked as a success of negotiations rather than battles, and makes up for the disasters of the fourth and fifth crusades. Clancy with the rustiness taken off his Arabic, has impressed the Bishop of Exeter, William Briwere as a translator and negotiator and is taken into his household guard. His clothing, arms and armour are upgraded. He secures enough funds to purchase silks and spices which, when sold back in Ireland, make him a modestly wealthy man.
Back in Ireland he extends his power by enlarging and enriching his lands. He invests in local businesses and they tend to do quite well. If a customer is slow to pay their debts the arrival of a fully armed and armoured knight backed up by a couple of sergeants and a half dozen kerns has a lubricating effect on tight purse strings.
Bishop Briwere commends Clancy to Richard, the Earl of Cornwall, the richest man in Western Europe. When Richard declares his intention to join the Barons’ Crusade in 1240 Clancy is offered a position as Banneret Knight in charge of a company. His experience of two crusades and his seniority work in his favour. He brings his second son, Gavin, now 14 years old, to train him as a squire. His older son Jeremiah remains home to hold the fort for his father’s return. Richard Cornwall leads yet another crusade of negotiation. Prisoner exchanges and the reconstruction of defences make it another successful crusade. With almost fluent Arabic and a good knowledge of Islamic customs, gift giving and outright bribery the Banneret Knight builds himself a tidy nest egg.
Clancy returns to County Clare, now a very wealthy Knight. He is able to expand his lands and construct a secure fortified house in the Norman style. He retires to a quiet life and from time to time dresses up in his knightly garb and entertains American tourists in Bunratty Castle with tales of his knightly exploits.
Authentic great helms were introduced early in the 13th Century and by 1240 it was common to have a rounded top which better deflects a blow. Also the piercing of the face plate became more common, helping knights to breathe in the heat of summer in the Holy Land. The two crosses at the bottom of the face plate identify the wearer as a Christian knight.
I will do further research on the kit of a knight assembled between 1227 and 1240 and make sure my other pieces sit in this time period.
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