By contrast with the catastrophic loss of Spain, the chroniclers tell us that through Divine Providence liberty was restored to the Christian people and the Asturian kingdom was brought into being. This reportedly occurred when … Continue reading
[E]ven Rodrigo’s heroism [Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, known as el Cid] could not save King Sancho from the fate that awaited him at Zamora. On October 7, a knight named Vellido Adolfo snuck into Sancho’s … Continue reading
Born 4 March, 1394; died 13 November, 1460; he was the fourth son of John I, King of Portugal, by Queen Philippa, a daughter of John of Gaunt. In 1415 he commanded the expedition which … Continue reading
In the autumn of the same year (1212) Francis’s burning desire for the conversion of the Saracens led him to embark for Syria, but having been shipwrecked on the coast of Slavonia, he had to … Continue reading
In the early autumn Francis, feeling the hand of death upon him, was carried to his beloved Porziuncola, that he might breathe his last sigh where his vocation had been revealed to him and whence … Continue reading
Probably the oldest likeness of Francis that has come down to us is that preserved in the Sacro Speco at Subiaco. It is said that it was painted by a Benedictine monk during the saint’s … Continue reading
Founded in Castile, in the twelfth century, as a military branch of the great Cistercian family. In the Cistercian Order, then only recently formed (1098), there had been a large number of knights or sons … Continue reading
Including under this term every kind of brotherhood of knights, secular as well as religious, historians of the military orders have enumerated as many as a hundred, even after eliminating the apocryphal and stillborn. This … Continue reading
Chivalry (derived through the French cheval from the Latin caballus) as an institution is to be considered from three points of view: 1) the military, 2) the social, 3) and the religious. We shall also … Continue reading
One may ask, but is this superior to the crusaders? There is no comparison. The crusaders are admirable. But part of the decadence of the Order of Templars came from the fact that in the … Continue reading
The attack began the night of July 13, [1099,] and the defenders let loose a hail of stones and rivers of Greek fire…. The battle hung in the balance during the morning hours of July … Continue reading
I. Thou shalt believe all that the Church teaches and shalt observe all its directions. II. Thou shalt defend the Church. III. Thou shalt respect all weaknesses, and shalt constitute thyself the defender of them. … Continue reading
It appears that in some kingdoms of Europe, maybe the one of the Cid in the north of Spain, there was a contract between the king and his vassal so that if the king broke … Continue reading