Chevaliers Right Panel European Wall Tapestry, 26"x38"

Chevaliers is a jacquard wall tapestry made in Belgium. This piece comes from a 13th century fresco from the church of St. Jacques-des-Guí©rets representing the departure of the Knights Templar to the second crusade (1146-1148). Here Thibaut de Montmorency caries the crest of the Bouchard family. A knight was a gentleman soldier or member of the warrior class of the Middle Ages in Europe. In other Indo-European languages, cognates of cavalier or rider are more prevalent (e.g. French chevalier and German Ritter) suggesting a connection to the knight's mode of transport. Since antiquity a position of honor and prestige has been held by mounted warriors such as the Greek hippeus and the Roman eques, and knighthood in the Middle Ages was inextricably linked with horsemanship.