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2002-05-23 - 3:18 p.m. Honor and ostrich feathers I found out where the ostrich feathers came from. When I was shopping for treadmills, one major desire was a reading stand - little plastic shelf on the display unit, suitable for propping books and magazines for perusal while walking. Exercise and entertainment at the same time. Not as good as having Gen and Mel on adjacent treadmills at the gym, but still, thumbs up. In fact, I took a book to the store to try the demo models while reading. Freaked out the salesman. I've never seen anyone bring a book. How else do you know the reading stand is at a good angle for reading? Never had anyone actually try to read while using a treadmill before. Sigh. To make matters worse, I grabbed whatever was top of the reading stack on the living room end table - which happened to be Margrete I. He stares at it. What kind of book is that? It's a collection of archaeological and historical essays on 14th century Scandinavia, I say. Walking very comfortable, reading angle is great. Yep, this is the model for me. What, is it for school? Roll my eyes. No, I just like reading about art and history. He stares. Stares hard. So did you go to school for art or something? Cause I'm not allowed to like art without a formal education? Sheesh. No, my degree is actually in engineering. Are you serious? C'mon sales guy, hand me more ammo. Yes, actually. I'm a rocket scientist. I build satellites. I just like to read up on art and history as a hobby. He invited more of the sales staff over to gasp at the girl reading a book on the treadmill. I felt like an exotic zoo animal. Man, you don't need to show her how to assemble that thing. Don't you know that she's a rocket scientist? Deep sigh. Now, that the treadmill is assembled and it's safe to read in the privacy of my own home. Current book is a biography of Edward, the Black Prince of Wales (who never actually set foot in Wales.) He's famous for the creating the three ostrich feather badge with the "Ich dien" [I serve] motto trailing across the front, a badge still used by the Prince of Wales today. 26 September 1346. The French and English are locked in battle at Crecy. A teenage Prince Edward is with the English vanguard, in the thick of the combat. They brace themselves for the second division of French calvary, in which rides the French ally, King John of Bohemia. John had urged King Philip of France to pursue the English rather than turn back across the Somme. When informed the French had fled, the blind monarch orders his attendant to take him into the thick of the battle rather than follow the retreat. He was followed by a group of Bohemian nobles; and both he and his countrymen were slain. King Edward was much sorrowed the death of his worthy adversary, for [King John] was full of years and worth and valiant in arms in his lifetime, and courteous enough to Englishmen captured in battle. The Prince was also much grieved, and, in his honour, took a badge of ostrich feathers. John Arderne, a doctor during the campaign writes� Edward the eldest son of Edward the king of England bore a similar feather above his helmet, and he obtained the feather from the king of Bohemia, whom he killed at Cresse in France. And so he assumed the feather which is called the 'ostrich fether' which that most noble king used to carry above his helmet. King John, of Bohemia sounds like a helluva a guy. Crecy was a brilliant victory for the English, and a humiliating defeat for the French, considered the premiere knights of Europe (or at least up until that point). Shortly after that, the French King established the Order of the Star and commissioned a manual of chivalry to educate his knights. Of course, among their tenets was the promise to 'never retreat', so at least a third of the founding members of the Order of the Star died within a year of induction. French style vs English practicality But, that, is a story for another day�. � � Scribble to Theo previous - next �