The Essential Knight

By the time the Tarot deck that we know and love was smooshed together ie during the late Medieval or early Renaissance period, Knights were a recognised social class and had lashings of power and status.  As with other nobility, they fought for whomever they had sworn fealty.  Or whoever had the bigger purse and stood the better chance of coming out as top dog.  It isn’t just a woman’s prerogative to change her mind….

Here’s a little local history to add a shot of colour to the Knight: 

In 1298 King Edward I (aka The Hammer of The Scots) and his troops confronted Mel Gibson William Wallace and the Scottish army at Falkirk.  From fairly early on in the battle, it was clear that the Scots were going to be hammered (as we have been at most sporting events subsequently) by the English and many of the Scottish Knights who were supporting Wallace quietly slipped away.

Not so Sir John Stewart of Bute, Knight and owner of the fair island on which I reside.  He stood his ground and died on the battlefield all the while directing the Scottish archers. Every one of the 600 men that he took from the island to add to Wallace’s infantry perished. Stewart is treated as a Local Hero, but who knows? They all died.  The battle was lost *shrug* We can’t all be Audie Murphy.

Knights are:

*    Adventurers
*    Challengers
*    Adolescent
*    Incredulous
*    Inconsistent
*    Explorers
*    Rebels
*    Foolhardy

What do Knights represent for you? 

*thank you Wiki!