‘An I.O.G.T. Idyll’
Crusades, doggerel, idyll, I.O.G.T., drunkenness, military order, Order of Knights Templar, Order of the Temple, sobriety, Soldiers of Christ, templar, templar knights, temperance, temperance society, The International Order of Good Templars
This amusing temperance ‘ditty’ describes the adventures of “a burly Templar chief†whose carefree night of drinking turns out to be more than he expected or bargained for. The I.O.G.T. was a temperance society (The International Order of Good Templars). There were people from all walks of life and religious persuasions involved in the temperance movement in 1880s Australia, Britain, America and Sweden. Presumably the I.O.G.T. hierarchy viewed themselves as crusader knights fighting the “Good Fight,†and clearly a good fight was one that ended well for ‘true believers’ and badly for their foes (i.e. ‘winebibbers’, ‘publicans’ and ‘sinners). However, it should be noted that the Order of Knights Templar, a powerful military order and charitable organisation in the Middle Ages, was never actually forbidden the use of wine, and occasionally instances of over-indulgence were recorded (See Dominic Selwood, Knights of the Cloister: Templars and Hospitallers in central-southern Occitania c.1100-c.1300, Woodbridge, Boydell, 2001, p.205). This oversight reveals the mindset of those who supported the adoption of quasi-medieval terminology and ceremony in the nineteenth-century, without fully appreciating the history and behaviour of those whose names they had chosen to adopt.
Anon.
The Bulletin
The Bulletin
11 November 1882 (p. 8)
Public Domain
Journal (Microfilm)
English
The Esford Armoury ‘Knights Templar’ Range
arms, armoury, Brisbane, chain mail, chainmail, cloak, Crusades, dagger, Esford Armoury, Holy Land, hood, knights, Knights Templar, mail coat, medieval clothing, military order, Order of the Temple, Queensland, QLD, re-enactment society, red cross, shield, soldiers of Christ, surcoat, sword, war, warfare, weapons
This website advertises a range of Knights Templar garb and weaponry that has been designed with the guidance of ‘The Knights Templar’, a Brisbane-based re-enactment society. The Knights Templar formed what was arguably the most powerful and well-known of the Christian military orders in the medieval period. The order was endorsed by the Catholic Church in the early twelfth century and was particularly active during the Crusades. The clothing adopted by the Templar Knights was distinctive, consisting of a white surcoat with a red cross. Most of this ‘war gear’ is visually self-explanatory, thanks to films such as The Kingdom of Heaven (2003), which depicts crusading knights playing politics and fighting Saladin in the Holy Land. The Esford online catalogue promotes their version of the Templar sword, dagger, helmet, gambeson, surcoat, and hooded cloak. The purpose of the surcoat was initially to protect the wearer from the sun, although the practice was quickly adopted elsewhere, even in the northern lands where the climate did not warrant such precautions (See Mark Cruse, ‘Material Culture’ in Albrecht Classen, ed. Handbook of Medieval Studies: Terms, Methods, Trends, Vol. 1., Berlin, De Gruyter, 2010, p.841). Curiously, there are two essential items missing from the Templar’s equipment: a mail coat and a red cross emblazoned triangular shield.
Esford Swords and Armoury, Brisbane
November, 2011
Esford Swords and Armoury, 2011
Hyperlink
English