For now: "There is nothing wrong with wanting very much to be a knight, but there is something wrong with wanting very much to be knighted. The latter desire confuses the form with the substance. Of course, if one wants to be a knight, it is certainly a nice thing to have the rest of the world decide that you have succeeded, but that should not be the real objective. Kings don't make knights, they recognize them."
—Cariadoc of the Bow (Middle)
On What Maketh a Knight, by Ælflæd of Duckford, written for and published in Facets of Knighthood, a compendium of articles, poetry, and stories on knighthood and related matters, edited by Cormac the Traveller (Peter Martin) of Lochac, in 1996. |