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One of the Thirty

Alex Conradie

If you dreamt of knights & dragons

as a child, Bodiam castle is thequintessential medieval castle of your mind. Sir Edward Dalyngriggeacquired the great wealth to constructBodiam castle (1385) as a lieutenantin the infamous Free Companies,who wrote "sorrow on the bosom of the earth" in France during theHundred Year War. His debt to hisold captain, Sir Robert Knollys, is

plain in the carved relief of Knollys'

coat of arms on the castle's posterntower.

Knights in Free Companies ravagedFrance with ever increasinglawlessness, becoming the torment of the age. Knollys was "the most able& skillful man-at-arms in all thecompanies", who "grievously harmedFrance all the days of his life". Theterror of his name in 1357-1360

supposedly drove peasants in oneregion to throw themselves into ariver at his approach. His forces

pillaged and ransomed villages,violated and abducted women, burntripe wheat, killed & tortured, robbed abbeys & monasteries and enslaved men asservants. In South East England, Knollys & Dalyngrigge suppressed the Peasant Revoltof 1381 with undue brutality. Understandably, 14th century peasants felt themselvesliving in an age of rapine; the difference between brigand & knight scarcely perceptible.

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Oddly enough, Anje & I shared thecastle with a horde of French primaryschool children, whose ancestorswould surely have wantedDalyngrigge & Knollys tried as war

criminals in the present day. Before judging too harshly; a man is only ascivilised as the age into which he is

born. In a harsh world, the 10thcentury tale of St. Gerald of Aurrillacis a harrowing lesson in relativity. St.Gerald's reputation for sanctitystemmed only from his fair & just

treatment of his serfs, beating them sparingly, who in return revered him by using his bath water to effect "cures". Like Fra Monreale, other Free Company captains may havefelt justified "in carving their way with a sword through a false and miserable world".

Yet, the knights of old clung to the image of themselves as Sir Lancelot. Both the English &French king had his own "Round Table" of knights, paying homage to Arthurian chivalricideals. Edward III of England founded the Order of the Garter and Jean II of France the Order of the Star.

During the succession struggle for the duchy of Britanny, the Combat of the Thirty (1351) was

chilvary's finest military hour. Thirty knights,squires & other men-at-arms on both the Englishand French sides agreed to a passage of arms, Iassume, to avoid even greater bloodshed. In anact of great bravery, Knollys fought alongside theEnglish champions. With swords, bear-spears,daggers & axes they fought savagely for hours until four on the French side & two on theEnglish side were slain. All were gravely wounded and during a brief respite from the

battle, the French leader called for water eliciting the famous reply "Drink thy blood,Beaumanoir, and thy thirst will pass". The English side finally capitulated with nine slainand this chivalrous deed was celebrated in verse, painting and tapestry.

Nearing the 15th century, England began to shed the ideals & contradictions of chivalry.Violent, destructive & fallible as man may be; humankind retains a vision of how theworld should be. When the gap between ideal and reality becomes too wide, the systeminvariably breaks down - Excalibur is returned to the lake and the search for truth beginsanew.

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So it was, with old age upon him, one of the Thirty found himself the benefactor of churches and the founder of almhouses & chantries. Undoubtedly, despite being a productof his time, Knollys (d. 1407) sought redemption for a multitude of sin. In the Arthurianlegends, Lancelot's son Galahad fulfils the Grail quest. Hope remains that our children'sgeneration will show us what it is to be noble.