Wisconsin School for the Deaf - Tattler Yearbook (Delavan, WI)

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THE TATTLER to fight that particular knight. The knight wo forced to light. At these toumuments the champion of the first day chose the Queen of Love and of Beauy. The same champion, if he won the second day, received the Chaplin of Honor from the queen. This crowned him champion above all other . Chivalry really was n system of education for the nobles as it taught them the best social and moral ideas which the time could understand. Chivalry is what made Washington, Lincoln, Peary and other work for the good of their country. Even our flag is a symbol of chivalry- The brave men who fought in the World War were knights because they gave up their live for the helpless. Wc should see to it that this spirit lives on and hear ourselves with courtesy, honor, and goodwill to all. A SAXON HALL By LEONA LUEPKE The Hall of Rotherwood, located in eastern England near the River Don, was in the midst of a dense forest. This was n Saxon manor house, or, as it was commonlv culled, the Hall This particular hall, of which I am thinking, wa built of stone und timber with a roof of thatch. The low, irregular building, which enclosed several courtyards, was entirely surrounded by a moat with a drawbridge across it from the outer palisade on the further edge of the ditch to the innur stockade. The roof was thatched with straw stubble over heavy beams and rafters. A well-fortified castle or hall of that day sometimes had wattled walls of grout height. Wattling is strong sticks or slabs of wood interwoven, one with another, to the necessary height. Such a barrier was used instead of a stone wall to protect the enclosed structure. Inside the building there was a great hull which was used os a sitting, an eating, and often as a sleeping room. Bundles of straw or some skins were thrown on the floor to make hods. Huge fireplaces were seen at either end of the long, wide hall. There were no chimneys for carrying out the smoke like those of today, but rude clay affairs were often aided by holes in the roof. If the owner was wealthy, us in the case of Cedric, the Saxon, the wnlU were decorated with brightly colored tapestries or curtain- On the side of the apartment hung implements of war and of the chase. However the rough plastered walls were often left bare as they were at the lower end of the Hall of Rotherwood. The rude, earthen floor, compost'd of earth mixed with lime and trodden into a hard substance such as is often found in the floors of bams today, was uncarpeted. Heavy, rough-wooden benches supplied the places of chuirs. For about one quarter of the length of the upurtment. the floor was elevated by a step, and this apace was called the dais. It was covered with a gaudy carpet. A table, richly covered with a scarlet doth, was placed through the long way of tho ilatform, and another extended from the middle of tbi mauler’s table well toward the bottom of the Hall. The whole formed u huge letter T. Most of those ancient dinner tables were arranged on the same principle. Massive chairs and settles of carved oak were placed on the dais for the matter and member of the family and for guests of nobility. To each of these chairs was added a footstaa! '••iriotuly carved and inlaid with ivory. The floor umier the table below the dais. being covered with bono thrown to the dogs during men Is, was in quite u filthy condition. Gottrtl of a lower order of society took their places with the servants at the farther end of the huge greasy surface of the long table, ilark with stains and littered with crumbs, for they did not make a practice of removing them after meals. The feast which was spread upon the long table was indeed a bounteous meal. Swine’s flesh, cooked und served in several modes, appeared on the lower part of the bourd, as also thut of fowls, deer, goats, and hares as well as various kinds of fish. Huge loaves und cakes of different kinds of bread could have friut jellies or jams and honey served with them. The smaller sorts of wild-fowl were not served on platters hut were brought in upon email wooden spits, upon which they had been roasted whole and were offered by the pages and servants to each gueet. one after another, who cut from them such as a portion us he pleased. The master used a small white truncheon or staff, which lay by his trencher, to beat the dogs to calm. Re- K6! Page twenty-one

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THE TATTLER KNIGHTHOOD By ALDEN RAVN Knight nood cnmc into existence in the Middle ages when military feudalism originated in Gcr-mnny and later spread into France, England, and other countries. Whenever knighthood was spoken of, one understood that it meant courtesy, protection to the helpless especially women and children. It stood for courage, honesty, and nobility. True knighthood seem to belong to the past for so many of our men of today seem to be sadly larking in those quulititios with which the knights of older times were endowed. The training of a knight was as follows: When a boy of high birth reached the age of seven, he was sent away from homo to be trained in the castle of some noble or lord. There he spent a number of years in attendance upon the lord and lady of the custle nnd was taught how to bear himself in a mannerly way. During this period of time he was called a page. When he became older, he attended his lord, learning to ride, hunt and use the arms of a knight—the sword, shield and lance. In some castles be might have been taught the uso of the ciuarterstnif, cudgel, long bow, crossbow, knife, nnd dagger and the art of wrestling. Then he was called an esquire. A few esquires were special attendants upon the lord and Indy, holding such positions as body squires, cup bearers, carvers nnd, sometimes, the olhcc of chamber-lain. Others were trained in nrms and served as body-guards. After he was skilled in the use of nrms. he became a sejuiro. Hi duty was to uccompany his lord to the tournament or battle, to help him put on his armor, to provide him with a fresh lance or horse in the combat, and, in case of need, give him nid. Sometimes the squires were divided into three classes, first, squires of the body, who waited upon the Earl; second, squires of the household, who had regular hours assigned for excercisos in the pratice of arms, and third and last, a class called bachelors, young men ranging from eighteen to twenty years of age. This class supervised the younger lads by keeping them in order and saw that arms and equipment were kept in good shape. They called the roll for chapel in the morning and sent those not upon duty out for their daily exccrcise of urms. Orders to squires were generally transmitted htough the bachelors and the head of this bouy was expected to nmkc weekly report of happenings in their quarters to the chief captain of that body. After several years of such Service, having ranched the age of twenty-olie, nnd having proved his skill und courage, he was ready to become a knight. Often the ceremony of conferring knighthood was not performed until the squire had won his spurs by some heroic deed. The highest ambition of the squire was to be knighted on the field of battle us a reward for bravery. If this was done the ceremony was simple. Some famous knight would strike the kneeling youth on the shoulder and say, I dub thee knight.' The ordinary ceremony took place with much more pomp. The first step in this was n bath which signified purification. Then the squint put on garments of red, white, nnd black. Red stood for the blood he munt shed in defense of the church; white, for purity of mind; black, in memory of death, which comes to all. Then come the vigil of arms in the church, where he watched and prayed all night, either standing or kneeling before the altar on which lay his sword. At dawn the priest come. The squire confessed his sins, heard mass, and took part in the holy sacrament. Then perhaps, he listened with the other candidates for knighthood, to a sermon on the duties of a knight. Later in the morning he appeared before his lord or some well-known knight, his spurs were fastened on his hoots, and the sword girded about him. Then he knelt before his lord, and the latter gave him the accolade; that is, he struck the squire a blow upon the neck with his fist, or with the fiat of his sword and said. “In the name of God and Snint Michael and Sadat George, I dub thee knight. Be brave nnd loyal. After the ceremony, the knight gave an exhibition of his skill in riding and in the use of weapons, nnd the day ended with feasting and merry-making. The knight was expected to be loyal to his church and lord, to he just and pure in his life, and to be kind to all in need of protection, especially helpless women. During the time of knighthood, tournaments were held yearly near some large city. At these tournaments champions met challengers. The chnmpions were those who wore noted as the best fighters. The challenger were those who wanted to take the championship from the chnmpions so that they themselves might receive the honor of being one of the best fighters. If n challenger struck the shield of a champion with his lance, it showed he wanted Page twenty

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THE TATTLER aide neh person of rank wu placed n goblet of silver; the lower hoard had largo drinking horn instead. Several different kinds of wines were served as well os mead, a drink used by l ,e Saxon and made of honey and water, strong ale, rich moral made of honey flavored with mulberries, sparkling cider, and pigments which were sweet and rich liquors composed of highly spiced wine and honey, Guests often drank to the health of the lady of the hall saying. “Waeahnll. ’ (Be in health.) This Saxon custom continued in England for many years and at Christmas time the wassail bowl io even now a part of the holiday celebration. Another Saxon custom was the grace cup, a cup of wine, which was passed from guest to guest as a final health after the grace concluding the meal. The sleeping rooms for the master's family were behind the dais and were reached by a hull and rude stairway, the steps of which were formed by beams of solid oak. In the Indies’ bedrooms, the walls were usually covered with colorful embroidered hangings or tapestries interwoven with silk and gold thread and which pictured scenes from the popular sports of hunting and hawking. The hod might be adorned with the sumo rich tapestry and surrounded with purple curtains or those of some other rich hue. The rude, uncomfortable seats about the room also and stained coverings, and the one for the Indy might be higher than the rest and he completed with a footstool of carved ivory. No fewer than four silver cundelnhrns, holding great waxen torches, served to illuminnte such an apartment. Yet no girl of today would envy the magnificence of u Saxon princess for the walls of the apartment were so ill-finished and so full of crevice or cracks that the rich hangings shook to the night blast, and, in spite n sort of screen intended to protect them from the wind, the flame of the torches streamed sideways into the air like the unfurled pennon of a chieftain. In case of visitors to the lady, the maidens in attendance upon her, without leuving the a-puritnenl, retired to its further end. and sat down on a small bench against the wall, where they remained mute h« statues, even though at such a distance that their whispers could not have interrupted the conversation of their mistress. The master’s bedroom was furnished almost the same us the ladies’ bedrooms except tlint the hangings were of more somber hue. Sleeping apartment In this large and Irregular mansion stretched backward from the hall From an ante-room the guests were conducted to their sleeping rooms by a servant with a torch. Tho. e of importance were taken to fine rooms, while those of lesser degree were led with more haste than ceremony to an exterior part of the building surrounding an open courtyard whore a number of small apartments or rather colls, served for sleeping places for the domestics and to strangers of mean degree. The door of the cell of the cage-llke cell was closed before the torch was placed in a candlestick made of wood. The furniture, which was of the most simple kind, consisted of a rude wooden stool and sti I ruder hutch or bed-frame, stuffed with clean straw and covered with two or three sheepskins by way of bed clothe ami a short wooden log which served ns a pillow. The sun beams found their way through the little grated window which served to admit both air and light to the uncomfortable cell. The Saxon hall of England were slowly succeeded by Norman castles, as the victor of old Englnnd were given the land of the conquered Englishmen in return for loyalty and military service to the powerful William and his successors. But in spite of the destruction of the Saxon hall, Saxon customs could not be stamped out entirely by the conquering Normans, so that today we still find some trace of the Saxon hull in some of the living rooms of our modern homes with their beamed or vaulted ceilings and large fireplaces. THE TOURNAMENT By LEROY E1NBERGER The tournament was a common sport of the Middle Ages in which two armed bands of knights combated each other with lunces or swords in order to exhibit their strength, skill and courage, or for the honor of the ladiea. These combats were very popular during the eleventh, twelfth and fifteenth centuries. The first combats, however, were held in Franco in the ninth and tenth centuries, hut the custom spread to England, Germany, and the southern part of Europe. They 19 3 4 Page twenty-two