Napa High School - Napanee Yearbook (Napa, CA)

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We, the members of the staff, take great pride in presenting The Lance, the 'l95'l yearbook of Napa High School. The theme of the yearbook is The Knights of the Round Table for the evident reason that we, the students of Napa High School, take as our emblem Knights, Consequently our lance pays tribute to those brave men who lived and died in the cause of chivalry so that, In the eyes of their ladies fair, love would always shine. The honor of becoming a knight was bestowed upon a young man with great ceremony after he had first served as a page and a squire. Before he was knlghted he confessed his sins and fasted. The night before the ceremony he kept watch over his armor as part of the solemn ritual in which he achieved his greatest ambition-becoming a knight. There were many orders of knights, some of which stlll remain. Each order had their own insignia or emblem. Some of the orders of knighthood still in evidence are the Order of the Garter, Knights Templars, Knights of Columbus, and Knights of Saint John. The opening division page of The lance depicts the knights entering a castle over the moat, an important factor in the defense of the castle. lt could almost be said that at times the moat ran, not with water, but rather with the blood of slain warriors. After the moat had been crossed by the invaders there were many more hardships to face before there was victory for either side. There were always brave knights of courageous heart to be met at the point of the sword. Nothing could stop these men, for fighting and battle were in their blood. The moat was but one.of the defenses of the castle. There was an outside wall which was defended by archers. After the outer wall and the moat, there was the inner wall of the castle. This inner wall led you into the castle where the majority of the man-to-man combats took place. Even after the inner wall had been conquered, the castle had not been com- pletely lost to the invaders, for there were defenses throughout the whole castle. The keep was the most protected spot inside the group of fortified buildings. Entering the keep or the donion as it was also called was the last step in captur- ing the castle. ' The following division page shows the knights gathered about the famous Round Table, the table devised by King Arthur of Britain so that there might be no quarrels about the rank and to enable the king to sit among them, as a man among equals. The Round Table was a famous table in the legends of King Arthur. It was supposed to have been created by the magician, Merlin. Accord- ing to the legend, the table was made of marble, but could be folded up magic- ally and carried in a coat pocket. The Round Table was supposed to be in Camelot, which some identify with Caerleon-on-Usk, Wales. Camelot was tradi- tionally Arthur's court during the 500's when he is represented to have been the ruler of England. The stories of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table played an important part in the literature of medieval chivalry. Many later writers retold the romantic tales. The next division page depicts a ioust. Jousting was the favorite sport of knights in the Middle Ages, such as is baseball or football today. Strange as it may seem, this bloody sport was also the favorite among ladies fair. A ioust was either fought until one of the knights was struck off of his horse, or until death-depending upon the choice of the challenger. Mounted on spirited horses, the knights rushed together, and each tried to drive his spear through the other. Such contests took place when one knight felt that another had hurt his honor. Similar matches, or iousts, were held as sports events. ln these, each knight used a wooden lance, instead of a spear, and tried to knock his opponent from his horse. Great crowds from all walks of life, down to the serf, watched the iousting from seats in the arena. The final division page, which precedes the pages of snapshots, depicts two iesters. Each wealthy landowner in the Middle Ages had at least one such court fool at his disposal. These buffoons, serving as entertainers at meals and gather- ings, usually accompanied their masters wherever they went. .lesters were not free men, but, rather, serfs of the lord.