A Modern-Day Knight Discusses What Knightly Service Means in 2023 (Essentially, Less Crusading and More Volunteering)

History Unplugged Podcast · Jan 5, 2023 · 30m

In 1348, King Edward III founded a charity for impoverished men-at-arms, who came to be known as the Alms Knights (or Poor Knights). These knights were destitute because their families ransomed them in foreign wars, and their sovereign didn’t see fit to leave them as beggars. He also wanted them to commit to praying for the souls of him and his descendants, setting up a chapel for this very purpose (all part of the Chantry Craze in the 14th century) In 1833, their name was changed by William IV to the Military Knights of Windsor.

The order has continued to this day, unbroken for nearly seven…