Re: Religion and society

["Brett W. McCoy" <bmccoy@CapAccess.org>]

On Tue, 2 May 1995 kuijt@umiacs.UMD.EDU wrote:

> I've never heard of the Order of the Dragon.  Knights Templar and Teutonic
> Knights are historical orders; the usual practice is to allow anyone to
> have a Templar persona or whatever if they like, but you can't call
> yourself a Knight Templar/Hospitaller/Teutonic unless you are (in the
> SCA) a Knight.  I'm not aware of any such people in this kingdom, but
> there are a few in other kingdoms.

The Order of the Dragon was an Eastern European Order, more likely than
not an offshoot of the Teutonic Knights (it was bestowed by the Holy Roman
Emperor).  Vlad Tepes of Walachia's father was a member of this Order,
hence he was called Drakul.

I guess the Templars would be approximately the same as the Chinese
Shaolin, warrior-monks, or the Hashashim of the Islam world (with whom the
Templars are rumored to have had dealings with during the Crusades.).  But
you are saying that there are specifically Orders of Knights within
kingdoms.  I thought so, but I wasn't sure.  Are they Orders in which one
must be initiated into by the King or "Grand Master" of the Order, then? 
Or do different Orders have different requirements?

> Within the SCA there is no equivalent of the Order of the Garter--I'm not
> sure what you are referring to there.  There are a few Companies that
> you might be referring to that have recently (last three years?)
> formed to re-create Tournament Societies of the 14th-15th centuries
> within the SCA.  In Trimaris there is the Company of the Star; in
> the West the Company of St. George; in the East the Company of St.
> Michael; in the Middle the Tenons of Noble Folly and (I think) the
> Company of the Peacock; and here in Atlantia the Company of St. Mark.
> Although there are variations from group to group, these companies
> generally attempt to live up to higher standards of authentic armour
> (i.e. less sports equipment) and attempt to foster more authentic
> tournaments within the SCA.  If anyone wishes more information about
> the Company of St. Mark they may contact me, as I am its Captain.

OK.  What I was speaking of was an order that was both monastic (like,
say, the Order of Cistercians monks) as well as knightly, which is how the
Templars were organized.  But his may not be possible within the SCA,
there are very strong religious overtones here.

Istvan Dragosani                     | "Go not to the Elves for counsel,
bmccoy@capaccess.org                 |  for they will say both yes and no"
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