Henrey Bradley recently shared on Quora the remarkable tale of Sir John Chandos who rose from obscurity to become a hero of the Hundred Years War and a knight distinct from all others.

Born to a family of small nobility in Derbyshire, Chandos, from a young age, honed his combat skills and military knowledge to an exceptional level. As the Hundred Years War broke out, Chandos, still a young man, joined King Edward III’s defense campaign as an adventurer.

His military aptitude was evident during the Siege of Cambrai in 1339, where he bested a French knight in single combat and led a small troop of warriors to thwart an enemy attack. Word of his martial prowess spread and Chandos was soon knighted. This event marked the onset of an extraordinary military journey that lasted the initial three decades of the Hundred Years War.

Longbowmen…

Some Keep the Sabbath going to Church

I keep it, staying at Home

With a Bobolink for a Chorister

And an Orchard, for a Dome

Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice

I, just wear my Wings

And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church,

Our little Sexton – sings.

And the sermon is never long,

So instead of getting to Heaven, at last

I’m going, all along.

God preaches, a noted Clergyman

— Emily Dickinson, “Some keep the Sabbath going to church,” The Poems of Emily Dickinson Edited by R. W. Franklin(Harvard University Press, 1999

Notes:

chorister, n.
A member of a choir of singers. Of a church choir; now spec. a choirboy. Also: a choir-leader (U.S.).

This post was inspired by Mrs. WC’s collection of this Emily Dickinson poem, one of at least three in which Dickinson praises the bobolink and its song.