English history is full of tales about famous, heroic knights. From the legendary King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table to the rebellious Harry Hotspur and Black Prince of Wales, there are enough chivalric stories to fill hundreds of books.

But the Chivalric Code was a real way of life for thousands of people over the course of the Middle Ages, and many of them lived awesome lives that are sadly forgotten now. Here, we’ve hunted down ten of the greatest knights you’ve probably never heard of.

10 Gilbert De Clare

In many ways, Gilbert de Clare was the archetypical English knight.^[1] A descendant of William the Conqueror and a relative of both the king of England and, by marriage, Robert the Bruce of Scotland, Gilbert was also the head of the powerful de Clare family. And at the age of 23, he already had several years of military service in Scotland under his belt.

It was only natural, then, that he was one of the leaders in Edward II’s doomed Scottish campaign in 1314, the one which ended in defeat at Bannockburn. Having been involved in a skirmish the day before the battle, de Clare was one of the generals who urged Edward to be more cautious. Outraged, Edward accused him of cowardice.

Eager to prove his courage to the king, de Clare led the charge against the Scots the next day. He was surrounded and separated from the main force and killed. His death was considered a tragedy by both sides; he was the first English earl to be killed in battle in nearly 50 years. Robert the Bruce personally stood vigil over his body in the aftermath and allowed Gilbert’s remains to be returned to the English.

Whether or not we think de Clare’s actions were brave or foolish, it is hard not to appreciate his commitment to the Chivalric Code and its requirement that knights show bravery in the face of adversity, and his death would have far-reaching consequences for the king when his lands ended up in the hands of the hated Despenser family.

9 Thomas Of Lancaster

Concerned about the king’s judgement and how susceptible he was to manipulation, Thomas of Lancaster was one of the key figures behind the Ordinances of 1311, which imposed severe restrictions on King Edward II’s authority, and was also involved in the execution of one of the king’s closest friends, Piers Gaveston, in 1312.^[2] Edward was easily swayed by those who impressed him, and Lancaster considered this a threat to the realm.

He rebelled in 1321 in protest against the power of the Despenser family, who many believed were controlling the king behind the scenes, but he was defeated at the Battle of Boroughbridge. At his trial, which was judged by the Despensers, the king, and their allies, Lancaster was not allowed to speak in his own defense. He was beheaded at his own castle in Pontefract.

Lancaster had always been popular with the common folk for supporting the Ordinances, which they thought protected them from royal exploitation. A cult rose up around him following his death, and he became a saint. Edward II sent a group of armed guards to the church where his body lay to prevent people from making the pilgrimage to see him. The route obviously continued to be popular, however, as a riot broke out outside his tomb in 1323.

8 Henry Of Grosmont

Of all the knights on this list, Henry of Grosmont is probably the one we know most about—in terms of his personality, at least.^[3] Henry wrote a book, Livre de Seyntz Medicines, which tells us much about his everyday life.

Henry was the nephew of Thomas of Lancaster and was just as brave and stubborn. Henry was an avid jouster and obviously loved a thrill. He celebrated Christmas in 1341 by taking part in a joust without armor. Naturally, the contest resulted in two deaths and a serious injury—but Henry came out of it unscathed.

Later in life, his successes in France led to him being made lieutenant of Gascony, and he won key victories at battles with the French at Bergerac and Auberoche, which netted him enough money in ransoms to eclipse the king’s own annual income and made him one of the richest men in England.

But it is perhaps the insights into his daily life that make him so interesting: Henry was a self-confessed braggart who loved to talk about himself and thought he was great at dancing. He loved the smell of flowers, getting drunk, and reading “trivial” books—though he admits he didn’t learn how to read until later in life. And then there’s perhaps his most hilarious trait, one we can all sympathize with: He struggled to wake up early every day.

7 Andrew Harclay

Andrew Harclay was a knight for whom principle was everything.^[4] Like many others on this list, his life revolved around war, and he spent much of his life fighting the Scots on the border, especially after he was made sheriff of Cumberland in 1311. He led the defense against the Scots in 1313 and defeated Robert the Bruce outside Carlisle in 1315, halting Bruce’s counter-invasion that followed the disaster at Bannockburn. This stopped Bruce from rampaging through Northern England, and for it, Edward II lavished Andrew with money.

Despite his warm relationship with the king, he had been an ally of Thomas of Lancaster at court, and when he rebelled in 1321, Thomas must have expected Andrew to join him. Andrew and his army confronted Thomas at Boroughbridge in 1322; before the battle, Thomas asked Andrew to join his rebellion, but he refused. Remaining loyal to the king, Andrew defeated Thomas and captured him, which led to the latter’s trial and execution shortly after.

For this, Andrew was made earl of Carlisle, but the king’s favor was short-lived. Having fought on the border for many years, Andrew decided the war with the Scots could not be won. Seeking to protect his lands and people from further damage, he negotiated a peace with Robert the Bruce in the king’s name (but without his permission) in 1323. Edward was livid. Eager to show the upstart knight his place, the king had Andrew stripped of his symbols of knighthood by having his spurs sawed off and breaking his sword over his head. He was tried by a royal justice in his own castle of Carlisle and then hanged, drawn, and quartered. At his trial, he maintained his dignity, continuing to claim that he only acted in the best interests of his people and the country.

The king signed a 13-year truce with the Scots just three months later.

6 William De Warenne

William de Warenne began life as an arrogant man.^[5] Buoyed by the power of his father, he seems to have thought himself untouchable. He rarely attended his lord’s court and even mocked King Henry I behind his back, calling him “Stagfoot” because of his obsessive love of hunting. Needless to say, when he was caught trying to support an aborted rebellion, he was banished from the kingdom in 1101, his lands seized.

Though an intervention by his friend Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, got him his lands back, William seems to have learned his lesson, because he and the king slowly became friends. By 1110, William was one of the king’s closest confidantes, accompanying the royal court almost constantly. In 1119, when the king was at war with France, and many of his own lords had rebelled, William said to him: “There is nobody who can persuade me to treason [ . . . ] I and my kinsmen here and now place ourselves in mortal opposition to the king of France and are totally faithful to you.”

While there is no doubt that William gained from being the king’s friend, being granted a large tax exemption—the third-largest in the kingdom—the friendship was more than just political: William was by the king’s side when he died in 1135 and was one of just five men who escorted his body to Rouen in preparation for his burial.

5 Aymer De Valence

By the time Edward II was crowned, Aymer de Valence was one of the most experienced and respected members of the king’s court, having been one of the last king’s closest advisors.^[6] So when the court split in two over the situation around the king’s friend, Piers Gaveston, it was Aymer who held the middle ground. Torn between his loyalty to the king and the king’s failure to govern properly, Aymer seems to have been the linchpin of a middle party who tried to hold the kingdom together.

The situation worsened, however, and soon, people were calling for Piers to be banished—or worse. Knowing that Aymer was respected by both sides, the king chose him to escort Gaveston to York, where he would be tried. However, the journey took them close to the place where Aymer’s wife was staying, and he left Gaveston alone one night to visit her, trusting that Gaveston’s enemies would respect that he was under Aymer’s protection and leave him alone.

But they were not as honorable as Aymer expected, and they seized Piers. Accounts of Gaveston’s murder are graphic: He was driven from the house in his bedclothes and forced to march on foot ahead of the other knights, who shouted insults and blew horns. He was ultimately impaled with a sword and beheaded in the wilderness. His body was left by the side of the road.

This event had a massive impact on Aymer. Disgusted that the rebels had betrayed his honor and the knightly code, from that day on, he was a staunch supporter of Edward. He was a key advisor to the king even through the years of the Despensers, when nearly everyone abandoned Edward, and also seems to have acted as a kind of personal protector: He personally escorted the protesting king from the field of battle at the disaster of Bannockburn. In a time when both the king and his enemies resorted to violence to achieve their means, Aymer was a rock of morality, guided by his knightly principles and always doing what he believed to be right.

4 Roger De Mortimer

The Baronial War of 1264 to 1267 was a disastrous civil war in medieval England. Fueled by anti-Jewish sentiment, dissatisfaction with the king and his government, and famine, it tore England in two. And one of the most obvious supporters of the barons was Roger de Mortimer.^[7] Roger was due to inherit a large amount of land, but King Henry III was slow in processing the legalities, which pushed Roger onto the side of the rebels.

Roger never truly fit in with the rebels, either, however, especially after he lost a castle one of the rebel barons had trusted him to keep. He flipped sides several times throughout the war, destroying other lords’ estates and suffering the same in return. He found himself commanding a portion of the royal army at the pivotal Battle of Evesham (where he was supposedly the one who killed the chief rebel, Simon de Montfort) and from that point onward was firmly on the royal side. His ambition to punish the rebels and seize as much land from them as possible was extreme and brought him into conflict with Gilbert de Clare (an ancestor of the one mentioned above).

However, Roger seems to have regretted the damage the war did to the realm in later life. He was one of the three men trusted to govern the kingdom while King Edward returned from crusading. Their reign was marked by cooperation and peace, and Roger made serious efforts to make amends for the damage caused by the war. He and Gilbert de Clare buried the hatchet and even went on a yearlong tour together in Southern England, where they helped to reconstruct bridges destroyed by conflict.

3 Henry Percy

The Percy family were famous (or infamous) for their persistently independent, ambitious, and rebellious nature. The most well-known Percy, known as Hotspur, made Henry IV king and eventually rebelled against him. But Henry Percy, third Lord Percy, was different: He was a loyal, unambitious lord who did as he was asked and acted with honor in battle.^[8]

He fought in the Battle of Crecy in France, one of the most crucial battles in the Hundred Years’ War, at the age of 25. He remained in France until his father’s death in 1352, when he was made warden of the March and sent back home to guard the Scottish borders, as his father and grandfather had. Unlike them, however, he seems to have had little ambition for expanding his own lands at Scottish expense, and when he took part in the 1356 invasion of Scotland, his most significant achievement was in securing the Treaty of Berwick, which brought an end to the war in England’s favor. He followed Edward III’s orders to the letter and was successful in ending the Scottish war that had dragged on for decades.

It seems that his lack of personal ambition was not because he lacked military skill because by 1355, he was the marshal of the English army in France and took part in Edward’s campaign to capture Rheims in 1360. With his talent and his dedication to duty, he was in many ways the model of a high-class baron, serving in the king’s army when asked and policing the border in peacetime. His family’s chronicler said of him: “Content with the lordship left him by his father, he wished to obtain the lands or possessions of no one.” By 1362, the king’s opinion of Percy was so high that he gave Percy’s son, yet another Henry Percy, the authority to negotiate with the Scottish government on his behalf.

2 Thomas De Beauchamp

Thomas de Beauchamp was one of the founding knights of the Order of the Garter, the highest honor a medieval knight could aspire to, and was by all accounts a shrewd tactician and one of England’s greatest generals during the Hundred Years’ War.^[9]

He was part of the English campaigns in France, where he led the English center at the Battle of Crecy and was entrusted with personally looking after the prince of England, the Black Prince, on the battlefield. Edward III later paid Thomas 1,000 marks on the condition that he would serve the king in war whenever required, which tells us how great a warrior he was.

Many knights chose to retreat from the battlefield as they got older, but Thomas continued to relish combat. He accompanied the Black Prince at Poitiers in 1356 despite being older than 40, and it was said that he and William Montagu struggled like lions to see which one could spill the most French blood.

By the height of his career in 1369, the same year in which he would ultimately die of the Black Death, he didn’t even have to fight to defeat his enemies: The Duke of Burgundy, hearing that “the devil Warwick” was in the English army, retreated under the cover of darkness to avoid him!

1 Jean III De Grailly

Like de Beauchamp, de Grailly was present at the Battle of Poitiers, where he led the English cavalry.^[10] Seeing an opportunity in the way the battle was going, Jean led an attack around the side of the French army that resulted in the capture of the French king and many of his nobles. That’s quite a feat, especially since Jean was actually French himself!

He was captured by the French in 1364, who were anxious to keep him from commanding the English. At first, they refused to ransom him, and then the French king offered him considerable lands and titles to join his side. Jean accepted but swore loyalty to Edward III again soon after, abandoning his new titles.

He rejoined the English campaigns in France but was captured again in 1372. The French king once again offered him land and titles in exchange for his support, but he refused them, unwilling to break his oath to the king of England. He was said to have been so feared by the French that they kept him under close confinement in Paris. He remained in captivity until 1376, when, after hearing of the Black Prince’s death, he was said to have refused food and water, dying some days later.

The legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table has been popular for centuries. King Arthur himself emerged as a literary figure sometime after 800 when he started to appear in manuscripts such as the Y Goddoddin in Wales.

The history of his loyal knights, however, is much less clear. They first appeared in the works of the French writer Chretien de Troyes in the 12th century, which was also the first mention of Lancelot and the quest to find the Holy Grail. Historians have speculated about the source of Chretien’s ideas—or whether they are all his own creations.

Although the origin of the knights is disputed, no one can argue that they didn’t have a significant impact on Western literature. Tales of Arthur and his knights became popular across medieval Europe. Writers from Portugal to Germany translated the works into their own languages and wrote new tales which added to the now-colossal Arthurian canon.

Depending on which stories we count, there are 12–150 named Knights of the Round Table. Most of them have unique personalities and stories. Some knights, like Percival and Galahad, are known everywhere. But many of these figures have fallen out of common knowledge or remain niche, regional figures.

In this list, we’re going on a trip deep into the Arthurian cycle to explore the tales of 10 knights of Arthur that you’ve probably never heard of.

10 Sir Lamorak

Alongside Lancelot and Tristan, Sir Lamorak was one of the three strongest Knights of the Round Table but, for whatever reason, is much less famous today than his brother Percival. Lamorak was one of the sons of King Pellinore, who was himself sometimes included on the list of Round Table knights.

A bold, confident man who was quick to anger, Lamorak was an exceptionally skilled knight on the field of battle. But in peacetime, he sometimes caused trouble. In Arthurian legend, it is said that he could fight off more than 30 other knights at once, making him one of Arthur’s most valuable allies.

His actions off the field of battle brought about his demise. As part of a long-running family feud between himself and the brothers Sir Gawain, Sir Agravain, Sir Mordred, and Sir Gaheris, Lamorak seduced their widowed mother and bedded her.

Sir Gaheris caught them in the act and is said to have killed his mother on the spot. Gaheris only spared Lamorak because he was unarmed. After rejecting King Arthur’s offer to settle the dispute for them, Lamorak was ambushed by the brothers and murdered.^[1] Sources vary as to which brother actually killed Lamorak.

9 Sir Agravain

Sir Agravain was one of the major antagonists of early Arthurian tales. He was an arrogant, proud man who had a sharp wit and little love for other people. His actions often brought him into conflict with the other knights, particularly his brother Gaheris, and Agravain was embroiled in the deaths of several other figures at Arthur’s court.

But in his early days, Agravain was a noble and valiant knight. A relative of King Arthur, Agravain proved himself by liberating the prisoners on the Hill of Wretches, thereby earning his place at the Round Table. He made a name for himself by fighting in the Saxon Wars and became known as a skilled and prestigious knight.

His pride would be his downfall, however. Jealous over the knighting of his brother Gaheris, Agravain secretly followed Gaheris on a quest and tried to kill him twice, both times being bested in hand-to-hand combat. Agravain bragged in front of his brothers on several occasions, turning them against him.

When Gaheris killed their mother, Agravain was pleased to finally have a reason to kill Gaheris and pursued him again, only being stopped by Gawain, who asked Agravain to take pity on his kin.

A jealous man, Agravain hated Lancelot because he was the greatest knight alive. After discovering Guinevere and Lancelot’s affair, Agravain was the first knight to break the news to Arthur and was part of the plan to ambush and murder Lancelot. He failed, however, and Lancelot slew him.^[2]

8 King Cador Of Cornwall

One of the handful of British kings who were also Knights of the Round Table, Cador has been listed as one of Arthur’s close allies since his earliest appearance in literature. Cador was the son of Gorlois, making him Arthur’s maternal half-brother and the brother of Morgan le Fay.

In other sources, however, Cador is described as being “of Roman stock.” This may mean that he wasn’t a relative of Arthur at all and was simply a close friend.

Cador is most famous for hosting Guinevere in her youth, educating her, and ensuring that she acquired the skills required as a noblewoman. One of Arthur’s most trusted generals, Cador commanded the army of Britons who relieved the Siege of Mount Badon and drove the invaders back to their encampment on the Isle of Thanet.

He was trusted to lead campaigns as far afield as Scotland and Gaul, where he commanded the rear guard at the Battle of Soissons. Together with Lancelot, Cador resisted the Roman emperor who ambushed them while they carried prisoners back to Paris.

At the Battle of Camlann, as Arthur was reeling from his wounds, he granted the kingship of Britain to Cador’s son Constantine as a sign of his trust. Cador ultimately met his end at Camlann while fighting to defend Arthur.^[3]

7 Sir Daniel von Blumenthal

Unlike most Arthurian literature, Sir Daniel first appears in a German tale, Daniel von dem bluhenden Tal, which was written around 1220 by Der Stricker. In the story, Arthur allows Daniel to join the Knights of the Round Table after he proves himself by defeating Sir Percival and Sir Gawain.

Shortly after, Arthur receives an ultimatum from a giant, who reveals that his lord has built a palace on the back of an elephant and is marching with an army of giants to conquer the kingdom. This lord, King Matur, uses a mechanical dragon with a horrendous scream to force his enemies to cover their ears, making them unable to fight.

While Arthur and his knights are contemplating what to do, Daniel decides to prove himself by going to defeat Matur alone. Daniel faces many obstacles along the way which initially seem like distractions, but they lead Daniel to a magic sword that is crucial in the final defeat of Matur. This sword seems to have been inspired by the Arthurian myth of Excalibur.

As a reward for his efforts, Arthur gives Matur’s old kingdom to Daniel, making him one of the most powerful knights in his court. While popular in Germany at the time, the tale fell out of fashion quickly across Europe because Daniel resembled a dark age Germanic hero rather than a medieval knight of chivalry and honor.^[4]

6 King Urien Of Gorre

King Urien was a Celtic monarch who ruled Rheged, the region southwest of Hadrian’s Wall. He was included in one of the famous poetic Welsh Triads as one of the three greatest warrior-kings in Britain. His death was lamented as one of the three unfortunate assassinations in British history.

His many successes and victories are preserved today in the medieval manuscript The Book of Taliesin. Together with several other local kings, Urien resisted the northern expansion of the Anglo-Saxon invaders. He was eventually assassinated on the orders of Morgant Bwlch, another northern king, who was jealous of Urien’s power and reputation.

Over time, his exploits became popular in Welsh myth and he became King Urien of Gorre, a legendary figure and Knight of the Round Table. He was a peaceful vassal during the reign of Uther Pendragon, Arthur’s father, and happily married the wicked witch Morgan le Fay.

Upon Uther’s death, however, Urien and many other powerful men in the kingdom opposed Arthur’s rise to the throne and rebelled against him. Arthur defeated them, and Urien was one of his most loyal vassals thereafter and a trusted Knight of the Round Table.

Neither Morgan nor Urien was happy with their marriage. Morgan hatched a secret plot to steal Excalibur, murder Urien and Arthur, and install her lover, Sir Accolon, on the throne. She failed in her plan to kill Urien when his bastard son Owain caught her trying to stab him and forced them apart.^[5]

5 Sir Geraint

Sir Geraint was a young and brave knight who owned land in Dumnonia (modern-day Cornwall) that he inherited from his father, Erbin. Geraint and his wife, Enid, were good friends with both Arthur and Guinevere.

So when rumors began to spread around the court that Guinevere had developed feelings for Lancelot, Geraint remained silent. But he began to worry after learning that Guinevere and Enid were spending a lot of time together in Dumnonia.

Paranoid that Guinevere would lead his wife astray, he asked Arthur’s permission to leave the royal court and return home. Geraint told Arthur that he wanted to be a better ruler, but truthfully, Geraint wanted to keep an eye on his wife.

When he returned home, he spent all his time with Enid, to the point that his people began to whisper that he’d lost his manliness and was no longer a good ruler. Enid heard these rumors, and one morning, Geraint caught her crying that she’d been a bad wife. He jumped to conclusions and assumed that she was confessing her infidelity, but in truth, she was upset that she’d kept him from being a knight.

To prove his manliness, Geraint, accompanied by Enid, went on a tour of Dumnonia, facing many trials and proving to his people that he was a skilled and courageous leader. The journey strengthened the bonds between Geraint and his wife. They remained close for the rest of their lives, providing the rest of Arthur’s knights with a good example.^[6]

4 Sir Caradoc Short Arm

Caradoc Short Arm (whom we’ll just call “Caradoc”) was a powerful man in the kingdom of Gwent. (In some stories, he was its king.) He held great influence among the kings of Britain and was a loyal knight of Arthur’s father, Uther Pendragon. But Caradoc was also one of the kings who took up arms against Arthur in the early days because he didn’t think Arthur was fit to be king.

Arthur defeated Caradoc, and afterward, Caradoc became one of Arthur’s closest advisers. Caradoc was later described as one of Arthur’s three closest knights and Arthur’s chief elder at Celliwig. Caradoc’s wife, Tegau Eufron, was one of the most beautiful women in the country.

One day, a sorcerer named Eliavres appeared at Caradoc’s court and tempted him to try to behead Eliavres. If the knight couldn’t, the sorcerer would be allowed to take the knight’s head instead.

Caradoc tried to behead the sorcerer but couldn’t. Instead of killing the knight, however, Eliavres revealed that he was actually Caradoc’s natural father. Eliavres had bewitched Caradoc the Elder (the man whom Caradoc had believed to be his father), run away with Caradoc’s mother, and impregnated her.

Caradoc was distraught and, in typical knightly fashion, went on a long, perilous quest. There, he met his future best friend, King Cador. Eventually, Caradoc arrived in Caradoc the Elder’s kingdom and told him what the sorcerer had done.

They captured and imprisoned Eliavres, but before long, he made an escape attempt. When Caradoc tried to stop Eliavres, the sorcerer summoned a wicked serpent which wrapped itself around Caradoc’s arm, disabling the limb.

Caradoc traveled Britain in search of a way to remove the evil snake and learned that it would balk at the sight of vinegar. He, his wife, and Cador hatched a plan. His wife sat in a bath of milk, while Caradoc settled into a bath of vinegar nearby.

The snake tried to leap from one to the other, and Cador cut it down in midair. Unfortunately, Caradoc’s arm never recovered, and he was thereafter known as “Caradoc Short Arm.”^[7]

3 Sir Lucan

Sir Lucan (aka Lucan the Butler) is an overlooked knight in Arthurian legend. Though he lacks any lengthy tales of his own trials and adventures, he is consistently one of Arthur’s closest and most trusted confidants.

One of Arthur’s earliest followers, Lucan remained loyal to Arthur when many of the other kings raised their swords in rebellion. Being called the butler might seem like an insult today, but historically, the position of butler was very prestigious. One of the closest men to the king, the butler was in charge of the royal court.

Lucan was also a frequent attendee at tournaments, though he didn’t excel as much as the other knights of the Round Table. At one point, he was so badly wounded by Sir Tristan that Lucan had to be taken to a nearby abbey for medical treatment.

He was one of the knights who stuck by Arthur when Lancelot and Guinevere betrayed Arthur. Lucan often acted as a go-between for both sides in an effort to restore peace.

Always opposed to war, he was one of the few knights who counseled Arthur against going to battle with Mordred, which led to the deaths of many of Arthur’s best knights. Alongside his brother, Bedivere, Lucan was the last knight to fall protecting Arthur in the disastrous Battle of Camlann.^[8]

2 Sir Lanval

Sir Lanval, one of Arthur’s most unfortunate knights, was initially envied by the other knights for his beauty, generosity, and bravery. They feigned affection for Lanval while secretly hoping some misfortune would come to him.

Eventually, when Arthur was handing out gifts and wealth to his followers, he forgot about Lanval. However, Lanval, who was already far from his ancestral home, was too good to ask for a gift. The other knights disliked him so much that they didn’t tell Arthur that Lanval had been missed. As a result, he fell into poverty and sadness.

Lanval’s fortunes seemed to change when he drew the eye of a beautiful fairy mistress, who fell in love with him. They began spending time together, and she promised to give him all the gold and whatever else he needed. She would also come to him when he wanted as long as he kept her a secret.^[9]

Of course, this was never bound to last. Shortly after this, Guinevere, Arthur’s unfaithful wife, made advances toward Lanval. He refused her, and Guinevere, who was unused to being rejected by men, accused him of homosexuality. To protect his reputation, Lanval blurted out that he had a mistress and that she was even more beautiful than Guinevere.

Guinevere took the matter to Arthur. She told him that Lanval had tried to make her his lover and, when she refused, bragged that he had a more beautiful mistress. Enraged, Arthur put his knight on trial. If his supposed mistress appeared, he would be acquitted. But if she didn’t, he would be punished.

Just when it seemed that he was out of luck, Lanval’s mistress appeared. She told the king that Guinevere had lied and that his knight was honest and true. The other knights of the Round Table accepted her argument. Arthur was ready to welcome Lanval back to the Round Table. But instead, Lanval departed with his fairy mistress, who returned to Avalon.

1 Sir Gareth

Sir Gareth was one of the sons of King Lot and was therefore a brother of Gawain, Gaheris, and Agravain. Gareth seems to have disliked his brothers, however, because he came disguised as a peasant boy with no past when he first arrived in Arthur’s court.

Sir Kay put Gareth to work in the kitchen, teasing him for his soft hands and giving him all the worst jobs. Even so, he excelled as a knight from an early age, defeating the Green Knight, Red Knight, and many others and forcing them to swear fealty to Arthur.

Gareth even entered a tournament in disguise with the express purpose of defeating his brothers. He only revealed himself when he knocked down his brother Gawain in the final combat.

In later life, Gareth distanced himself from the unchivalrous actions of his brothers and sometimes intervened in their plans. He stopped Gawain and Agravain from killing their other brother Gaheris, condemned them for killing Sir Lamorak, and tried to stop them from revealing Lancelot and Guinevere’s affair.

Despite his loyalty to Arthur, however, Gareth often sided with Lancelot because it was Lancelot who first showed Gareth kindness and knighted him. In the end, he was accidentally killed by Lancelot as he attempted to save Guinevere from being burned at the stake.

Gaheris stood up for his brother and switched from Lancelot’s side to Arthur’s, urging him to go to war with Lancelot over his actions. Ultimately, this led to the Battle of Camlann and the deaths of many of Arthur’s knights.^[10]

Tales of their courage, valor, and piety have long captured our imaginations. Shrouded in mystery, the knights of the medieval world evoke romantic ideas of a time when noble quests and adventure seemed the norm. Yet, while some of these orders may sound familiar, others escape our attention, even though their power and influence were just as impressive.

Here are ten of the most powerful Orders of Knights that the medieval world had ever known.

Related: 10 Awesome Medieval Knights You’ve Never Heard Of

10 The Order of Santiago

The Christian religious Order of Santiago was founded in Spain sometime around 1160. The primary purpose of the order was to fight Spanish Muslims and protect pilgrims traveling to the shrine of St. James at Compostella. The rules of this Christian military-religious order were based on those of the Augustinian monks and the Templars. However, unlike all other medieval orders, they didn’t lead a monastic lifestyle. The Knights of Santiago could marry and own personal possessions.

Officially founded in the city of Caceres, the order quickly expanded to become a formidable force within the Reconquista, the series of wars that re-Christianized the Iberian Peninsula. While always remaining fairly small in number, the knights gained extensive fame and land across Europe. You could say they were the celebrities of their day.^[1]

9 The Knights of Saint Stephen of Tuscany

Founded in 1561, the full name for this Roman Catholic Tuscan dynastic military order is the Holy Military Order of Saint Stephen Pope and Martyr! Saint Stephen was the first ever Christian martyr trialed and stoned to death after being accused of blasphemy by the supreme Jewish law court, the Sanhedrin. Stephen was likely a Greek Jew who converted to Christianity.

The Knights of Saint Stephen were created by the first Tuscan Grand Duke Cosimo de Medici, and they followed the rule of the Benedictine Order. Cosimo de Medici himself was the first grandmaster of the order, and his successors to the role were the ensuing grand dukes of Tuscany.

The main role of the knights was to fight the Ottoman Turks at sea and the Corsair pirates of the Mediterranean. They played a crucial role in securing victory at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, which marked a turning point in preventing the expansion of the Ottoman Empire. Given the power of the Ottoman Empire up until that point, it takes a pretty badass order of knights to help turn the tables of history like that!^[2]

8 The Order of Saint James of Altopascio

This Italian warrior brotherhood was also known as the Order of the Tau due to the use of the Tau symbol as its official emblem. Their origins lie within the foundation of a hospital by Augustinian monks at Altopascio, Italy, sometime around 952. Set apart from the general clergy, a group of physicians known as Clerics comprised the majority of the order. They provided spiritual, medical, and military assistance to pilgrims along the perilous roads between the cities of Genoa and Lucca.

Although the Order of the Tau had become fully militarized sometime in the 1050s, only in 1239 did it gain papal recognition as a military order. Despite the fact that the Knights of the Tau were never particularly large in number, they built numerous hospitals elsewhere, were very effective, and generally rather ahead of their time. Without a doubt, these guys were the trendsetters of Medieval Europe.^[3]

7 The Livonian Brotherhood of the Sword

Alongside their pretty epic-sounding name, this Cistercian order of monastic warriors was one of the most significant knightly orders in Eastern Europe. The Brethren of the Sword, as they were also known, was established in the Livonian colony of Riga in 1202. The city of Riga had been settled the year before in what is now Latvia and Estonia to support the eastward Christianization of Europe. With the pope’s permission, the Livonian Brotherhood was founded as a permanent military body in Livonia to protect the conquests of the Christian Church. They were also tasked with forcibly converting the native pagans to Christianity—and force them they did!

The Knights of the Livonian Brotherhood were required to be of noble birth and had to take vows of obedience, poverty, and celibacy. Membership wasn’t just limited to knights, however, as soldiers, clerics, and artisans also made up a portion of the Brotherhood. Their downfall came when they attempted to conquer lands belonging to groups known as the Curonians, Semigallians, and Samogitians.

After experiencing excruciating defeat in battle, the Knights received a further scolding from the pope and the Holy Roman Emperor. They had used conversion tactics that were far too brutal and were forced to disband and reorganize as a branch of the Teutonic Knights (more on them later!).^[4]

6 The Order of Calatrava

The Knights of Calatrava originated in 1158 as a result of the Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula. The area had been a battleground between Christendom and Islam long before the Crusades came to the Holy Land. Before the Knights of Calatrava emerged, no large Spanish order comparable with those from elsewhere in Europe had fought there. When the royal castle of Calatrava was abandoned, however, King Sancho III of Castile ceded it to the abbot of a Cistercian monastery. Within a year, a group of soldiers and Cistercian monks had not only successfully defended the castle against the Moors but had also cleared the surrounding region of bandits.

Forming a new military-religious brotherhood, the pope formally recognized the order in 1164. It became closely affiliated with the Cistercian abbey of Morimond but maintained its headquarters at Calatrava, despite its brief occupation by the Moors. The order played a significant role in the Reconquest of Andalusia and, by the 15th century, had a membership of 200,000.

Although its numbers diminished leading up to its dissolution in the 19th century, the Knights of Calatrava were, at one point, one of the fiercest orders in Medieval Europe based on their sheer numbers alone. This was one big group of monks you wouldn’t want to mess with!^[5]

5 The Hospitallers of Saint Thomas of Canterbury

Named after Thomas Becket, the martyred Archbishop of Canterbury, the Hospitallers of St. Thomas was founded during the Third Crusade. During the siege of the city of Acre in 1191, a Christian chaplain was among Richard I’s English forces. He felt such sadness and compassion at the sight of so many Christian corpses that he rallied a small group to help him tend to the wounded and bury the dead. He soon formed an English order for the purpose of burying the Christian knights who had fallen in battle in the Holy Land. He also worked on raising the funds to bring home ransomed captives caught by the Saracens.

The English monks of the order were eventually pressed into service, replacing the knights who had fallen through death or disease. With this, they became military monks who fought alongside the knights of numerous other orders battling in the Holy Lands. For their bravery and valor, the Hospitallers were rewarded by King Richard I, who accorded them the status of an Order of Chivalry. A title like that was probably the ultimate status symbol of the Medieval world.^[6]

4 The Teutonic Knights

Like the Hospitallers of St. Thomas, the Teutonic Order was founded during the capture of Acre in 1191. During the siege, a group of German merchants formed a fraternity to nurse the sick. And they took over a hospital in the town from which to do so. The later withdrawal of a large number of German crusaders in 1197 caused the German princes and bishops to search for alternatives. So, in 1198, they militarized the fraternity to make it a military-religious order of knights.

The Teutonic Order grew incredibly popular and became one of the most powerful orders of knights in the Holy Land. Had it not been for the equally impressive might of other knightly orders also there at the time, then they undoubtedly would have gained even more land and influence.

Once the Crusades were over, however, the Teutonic Knights joined the movement to convert the pagans in Eastern Europe. Gaining major political power and land ownership, they quickly became the most important and dominant order of knights in that region. Little wonder then that the Livonian Brotherhood was eventually absorbed by them.^[7]

3 The Hospitallers of Saint John

The formation of the Hospitallers of Saint John was bound up with the founding of a hospital in Jerusalem around 1070. Established by a group of monks as a place of rest for pilgrims, anyone who became ill during their travels was cared for, regardless of race or religion. Those who worked there were officially recognized by the Church as members of a new religious order in 1113. Known as the Hospitallers, they eventually took on a military role once the Crusaders captured Jerusalem.

The Order was divided between those who retained a peaceful, religious role and those who fought and became known as the Knights of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. They briefly moved to Cyprus following the recapture of Palestine by Muslim forces in 1291, and then later to Rhodes and, finally, to Malta. They stayed in Malta until 1798, building the capital city of Valetta while they were there. The tiny island remained safe under their protection for so long, largely because the order was so effective in patrolling the Mediterranean with their ships. With those seafaring skills, they certainly could have given the Knights of Saint Stephen a run for their money.^[8]

2 The Order of St. Lazarus

Founded shortly after the Hospitallers, the origin of the Order of Saint Lazarus also took place during the First Crusade of 1099. It was initially based in Jerusalem, where members would help lepers within the leprosarium just outside the city walls. The order evolved to assume a military role at some point before the early 13th century, and its knights participated in the most important campaigns in the Holy Land. The order’s range of influence soon expanded, and it eventually acquired a church, a convent, and a mill in Jerusalem. They also constructed hospitals, chapels, and various other establishments, expanding their role into Europe.

Many of the knights were themselves lepers, and Hospitallers who caught the disease often had to transfer to the Order of Saint Lazarus. Even ordinary citizens who suffered from the disease were recruited to fight alongside the knights. This fact alone can make anyone appreciate what a tough bunch the Knights of Lazarus must have been.^[9]

1 The Knights Templar

No list of Medieval knights would be complete without a nod to the legendary Knights Templar. The sheer scale of notoriety for this wealthy, powerful, and mysterious order is what secures them the top spot. Setting a precedent for groups of warrior monks, the Knights Templar was formed in the Holy Land around 1118. After the Christian capture of Jerusalem during the Crusades, groups of pilgrims visiting from Europe were often robbed and killed during their journeys to the various holy sites. In order to escort and protect them, a French knight and eight of his friends and relatives established a military order. Setting up quarters on Jerusalem’s sacred Temple Mount, they adopted its name and called themselves the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon.

The Knights Templar, as they came to be known, quickly grew in size and prominence. Tales of their adventures, military prowess, and work on behalf of their faith fascinated the Medieval world. They even set up a successful network of banks, which gave them a reputation for their financial acumen. However, they led pretty disciplined lives and had to follow a strict code of conduct. Pledging poverty, chastity, and obedience, they had to pray every day and were forbidden from drinking, gambling, and swearing. With so much work and very little play, the Knights Templar are some of history’s most notorious badasses!^[10]