William Urban, "The Teutonic Knights: A Military History"

Urban, William. "The Teutonic Knights: A Military History". London: Greenhill Books. 2003.

This book is a narrative account of the history of the Teutonic Knights and their military campaigns. It is relevant to the Canterbury Tales because it discusses one of the most prominent campaigns that the Knight is said to have participated in. In particular, the book discusses the Order's Table of Honour that the Knight is said to have headed. "Ful ofte tyme he hadde the bord bigonne Aboven alle naciouns in Pruce." (Canterbury Tales, 4). Urban discusses how this Table of Honor was well known and that the place of honor was given for the greatest courage shown on the battlefield. If one looks at this example of the Knight's prowess and chivalry it seems to support the image that Chaucer creates of the Knight being the perfect example of what a chivalrous knight should be. Urban continues to discuss what the Teutonic Knights were like in the period that the Knight would have served, which Carleton Brown in his article puts to be from 1343-1367. Urban discusses this period in Teutonic Knight history as being one in which the chivalric ideals began to take over. He discusses how the participants in the crusade of the Teutonic Order became the epitome of Chivalry. This could perhaps be looked on in contrast to the campaigns that the Squire participated in, which were purely secular campaigns. It would be interesting to research into these differences and see if Chaucer is trying to make a distinction between these two different examples of Chivalry.

-Tyler Hill
-This book is available from me if anyone is interested.