| Dates | Tournament | Course |
|---|---|---|
| 5-11 | Rust-Oleum Championship | Ivanhoe Club |
| 12-18 | Air Capital Classic | Crestview Country Club |
| 19-25 | Lincoln Land Charity Championship | Panther Creek Country Club |
| 26-2 | Nashville Golf Open | Nashville Golf & Athletic Club |
The Knights Templar—also called the Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon —were one of two military orders that played an important role in the Crusades. (The other order was the Hospitallers, also known by other names, such as the Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem and the Knights of Malta.) The Templars were established to accompany and protect Christian pilgrims on the way to the Holy Land. In Jerusalem, however, they were barracked in the king's palace, which had previously been the Temple of Solomon , and took on the task of defending the Crusader states. Despite their vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the order soon became rich and powerful.
All knights, whether secular or religious in nature, were expected to follow the code of chivalry, and the notion of chivalry is much discussed in Ivanhoe. Originally, the term chivalry referred specifically to mounted knights—the cavalry of their day. There was no such thing in England before the Norman Conquest in 1066. France in the Middle Ages was characterized by violent behavior on the part of knights, or chevaliers, and the church developed a code of conduct to restrain their tendency to violence. The code was named after them. Over time chivalry became synonymous with the courteous behavior expected from knights. The chivalric code encompassed how knights should behave both on the field of battle and off it.
"The Author of the Waverley Novels" decided to change topics so as not to wear out his welcome with his readers. At first he intended to publish Ivanhoe "as a new production of the Author of Waverley" but changed his mind.
Scott wrote this introduction to his own edition of the novel in 1830. In 1827 he had admitted to the authorship of all his novels. Therefore, he is talking about himself when he writes "The Author of the Waverley Novels," and his readers know it.
The subject of language comes up again and again in Ivanhoe. People don't speak one another's languages; even being born in England is no guarantee a person can communicate with other English people; there are two distinct languages—Saxon and Norman. Cultural conflicts—including over language—between the Saxons and Normans contribute to growing animosity. Cedric, although he understands Norman French, refuses to speak it. For political reasons he speaks only Saxon. This means that the most haughty of his Norman neighbors cannot understand him. Richard, however, speaks three languages: Norman French, Saxon, and the new blend of both, English. This is fitting since as king he must reign over all his subjects, Norman and Saxon alike, and lead them into a unified English nation. (Still, Scott points out in the last chapter that it was not until much later that English replaced French as the language spoken at court.) Other languages also play a role in the book: Latin, Spanish, Arabic, and Hebrew. Rebecca 's use of Hebrew, for example, is used against her in her trial; it is claimed she is performing spells. Yet, it is her mastery of these languages that have enabled her to become so skilled a healer.
His sources include Shakespeare and other writers whose works were created much later than the 1100s, when Ivanhoe takes place. Much of Scott's language is also borrowed from Shakespeare; it sounds old, but it isn't as old as the setting. He also invents details. For example Gurth's iron collar showing he's Cedric's serf from Chapter 1 is a product of Scott's imagination. Also in Chapter 1 Wamba mentions King Oberon and Fairyland. This is not a reference to Shakespeare , but it's still anachronistic; it refers to a 13th-century French romance, Huon of Bordeaux. In this epic Huon of Bordeaux accidently kills Emperor Charlemagne's son, but he will survive the punishment of death if he can complete several impossible tasks. In Chapter 27 Wamba says he has "not a doit"—a doit is a Dutch coin first minted in the 1600s.
Disguise is a constant motif in Ivanhoe and is essential for the protection of the characters. Some characters disguise themselves as unknown knights, others as simple English yeomen, still others as pilgrims or outlaws to hide their identities. Ivanhoe himself starts the novel in disguise as a pilgrim so that he can return home without being recognized by his father, who has disinherited him, or his enemies, who are likely to kill him. His use of disguise is mirrored in Richard, who protects himself by dressing in unadorned black armor and allowing himself to be known only as "the Black Knight ." Robin of Locksley has a myriad of identities, such as Locksley and Diccon Bend-the-Bow—all to avoid being recognized as the infamous outlaw Robin Hood. Wamba masquerades as a monk, and then Cedric takes over the disguise. Isaac habitually travels in the disguise of a poor man. In each of these cases the disguise is also a protection. At a much higher level, Sir Walter Scott himself was in disguise: He wrote the novel under the pseudonym Laurence Templeton.
Heraldry refers to a knight's practice of symbolically representing and displaying his character and genealogy. A knight's shield provides one medium for this practice by featuring an image on it called a device. A device is an image that symbolically connects the knight with his ancestors, a place, or, in this book, a defining trait. The Disinherited Knight, for example, uses the device of an uprooted oak tree to illustrate his having been torn from the soil of his home. Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert begins the tournament at Ashby with a shield bearing the device of the Knights Templar. But, having forfeited his armor after losing the first day's joust, the second day he uses a completely new device—one that is more revealing of his dangerous character: "a raven in full flight, holding in its claws a skull, and bearing the motto, 'Gare le Corbeau'" (Chapter 8). Then there is the Black Knight. His shield is black like his armor and bears no device at all; this rejection of heraldry makes his anonymity complete.