document_title: Knight

question_text: term for a knight commanding troops under his flag

question_tokens: term for a knight commanding troops under his flag

text: Knight

text: Etymology[edit]

text: The word knight, from Old English cniht ("boy" or "servant"),[4] is a cognate of the German word Knecht ("servant, bondsman").[5] This meaning, of unknown origin, is common among West Germanic languages (cf Old Frisian kniucht, Dutch knecht, Danish knægt, Swedish knekt, Norwegian knekt, Middle High German kneht, all meaning "boy, youth, lad", as well as German Knecht "servant, bondsman, vassal").[4] Middle High German had the phrase guoter kneht, which also meant knight; but this meaning was in decline by about 1200.[6]

text: The meaning of cniht changed over time from its original meaning of "boy" to "household retainer". Ælfric's homily of St. Swithun describes a mounted retainer as a cniht. While cnihtas might have fought alongside their lords, their role as household servants features more prominently in the Anglo-Saxon texts. In several Anglo-saxon wills cnihtas are left either money or lands. In his will, King Æthelstan leaves his cniht, Aelfmar, eight hides of land.[7]

text: A rādcniht, "riding-servant", was a servant delivering messages or patrolling coastlines on horseback.[citation needed]

text: A narrowing of the generic meaning "servant" to "military follower of a king or other superior" is visible by 1100. The specific military sense of a knight as a mounted warrior in the heavy cavalry emerges only in the Hundred Years' War. The verb "to knight" (to make someone a knight) appears around 1300; and, from the same time, the word "knighthood" shifted from "adolescence" to "rank or dignity of a knight".

text: An Equestrian (Latin, from eques "horseman", from equus "horse")[8] was a member of the second highest social class in the Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. This class is often translated as "knight"; the medieval knight, however, was called miles in Latin (which in classical Latin meant "soldier", normally infantry).[9][10][11]

text: In the later Roman Empire, the classical Latin word for horse, equus, was replaced in common parlance by the vulgar Latin caballus, sometimes thought to derive from Gaulish caballos.[12] From caballus arose terms in the various Romance languages cognate with the (French-derived) English cavalier: Italian cavaliere, Spanish caballero, French chevalier (whence chivalry), Portuguese cavaleiro, and Romanian cavaler.[13] The Germanic languages have terms cognate with the English rider: German Ritter, and Dutch and Scandinavian ridder. These words are derived from Germanic rīdan, "to ride", in turn derived from the Proto-Indo-European root reidh-.[14]

text: Evolution of medieval knighthood[edit]

text: Pre-Carolingian legacies[edit]

text: In ancient Rome there was a knightly class Ordo Equestris (order of mounted nobles). Some portions of the armies of Germanic peoples who occupied Europe from the 3rd century AD onward had been mounted, and some armies, such as those of the Ostrogoths, were mainly cavalry.[15] However, it was the Franks who generally fielded armies composed of large masses of infantry, with an infantry elite, the comitatus, which often rode to battle on horseback rather than marching on foot. When the armies of the Frankish ruler Charles Martel defeated the Umayyad Arab invasion at the Battle of Tours in 732, the Frankish forces were still largely infantry armies, with elites riding to battle but dismounting to fight.

text: Carolingian age[edit]

text: In the Early Medieval period any well-equipped horseman could be described as a knight, or miles in Latin.[16] The first knights appeared during the reign of Charlemagne in the 8th century.[17][18][19] As the Carolingian Age progressed, the Franks were generally on the attack, and larger numbers of warriors took to their horses to ride with the Emperor in his wide-ranging campaigns of conquest. At about this time the Franks increasingly remained on horseback to fight on the battlefield as true cavalry rather than mounted infantry, with the discovery of the stirrup, and would continue to do so for centuries afterwards.[20] Although in some nations the knight returned to foot combat in the 14th century, the association of the knight with mounted combat with a spear, and later a lance, remained a strong one. The older Carolingian ceremony of presenting a young man with weapons influenced the emergence of knighthood ceremonies, in which a noble would be ritually given weapons and declared to be a knight, usually amid some festivities.[21]

text: These mobile mounted warriors made Charlemagne’s far-flung conquests possible, and to secure their service he rewarded them with grants of land called benefices.[17] These were given to the captains directly by the Emperor to reward their efforts in the conquests, and they in turn were to grant benefices to their warrior contingents, who were a mix of free and unfree men. In the century or so following Charlemagne's death, his newly empowered warrior class grew stronger still, and Charles the Bald declared their fiefs to be hereditary. The period of chaos in the 9th and 10th centuries, between the fall of the Carolingian central authority and the rise of separate Western and Eastern Frankish kingdoms (later to become France and Germany respectively) only entrenched this newly landed warrior class. This was because governing power and defense against Viking, Magyar and Saracen attack became an essentially local affair which revolved around these new hereditary local lords and their demesnes.[18]

text: Crusades[edit]

text: In the course of the 12th century knighthood became a social rank, with a distinction being made between milites gregarii (non-noble cavalrymen) and milites nobiles (true knights).[22] As the term "knight" became increasingly confined to denoting a social rank, the military role of fully armoured cavalryman gained a separate term, "man-at-arms". Although any medieval knight going to war would automatically serve as a man-at-arms, not all men-at-arms were knights. The first military orders of knighthood were those of the Knights Hospitallers and of the Holy Sepulchre, both founded at the First Crusade of 1099, followed by the Order of Saint Lazarus (1100), Knights Templars (1118) and the Teutonic Knights (1190). At the time of their foundation, these were intended as monastic orders, whose members would act as simple soldiers protecting pilgrims. It was only over the following century, with the successful conquest of the Holy Land and the rise of the crusader states, that these orders became powerful and prestigious.

text: The great European legends of warriors such as the paladins, the Matter of France and the Matter of Britain popularized the notion of chivalry among the warrior class.[23][24] The ideal of chivalry as the ethos of the Christian warrior, and the transmutation of the term "knight" from the meaning "servant, soldier", and of chevalier "mounted soldier", to refer to a member of this ideal class, is significantly influenced by the Crusades, on one hand inspired by the military orders of monastic warriors, and on the other hand also cross-influenced by Islamic (Saracen) ideals of furusiyya.[24][25]

text: Knightly culture in the Middle Ages[edit]

text: Training[edit]

text: The institution of knights was already well-established by the 10th century.[26] While the knight was essentially a title denoting a military office, the term could also be used for positions of higher nobility such as landholders. The higher nobles grant the vassals their portions of land (fiefs) in return for their loyalty, protection, and service. The nobles also provided their knights with necessities, such as lodging, food, armour, weapons, horses, and money.[27] The knight generally held his lands by military tenure which was measured through military service that usually lasted 40 days a year. The military service was the quid pro quo for each knight's fief. Vassals and lords could maintain any number of knights, although knights with more military experience were those most sought after. Thus, all petty nobles intending to become prosperous knights needed a great deal of military experience.[26] A knight fighting under another's banner was called a knight bachelor while a knight fighting under his own banner was a knight banneret.

text: Page[edit]

text: A knight had to be born of nobility – typically sons of knights or lords.[27] In some cases commoners could also be knighted as a reward for extraordinary military service. Children of the nobility were cared for by noble foster-mothers in castles until they reached age seven.

text: The seven-year-old boys were given the title of page and turned over to the care of the castle's lords. They were placed on an early training regime of hunting with huntsmen and falconers, and academic studies with priests or chaplains. Pages then become assistants to older knights in battle, carrying and cleaning armour, taking care of the horses, and packing the baggage. They would accompany the knights on expeditions, even into foreign lands. Older pages were instructed by knights in swordsmanship, equestrianism, chivalry, warfare, and combat (but using wooden swords and spears).

text: Squire[edit]

text: When the young boy turned 15, he became a squire. In a religious ceremony the new squire swore on a sword consecrated by a bishop or priest, and attended to assigned duties in his lord’s household. During this time the squires continued training in combat and were allowed to own armour (rather than borrowing it).

text: Squires were required to master the “seven points of agilities” – riding, swimming and diving, shooting different types of weapons, climbing, participation in tournaments, wrestling, fencing, long jumping, and dancing – the prerequisite skills for knighthood. All of these were even performed while wearing armour.[28]

text: Upon turning 21, the squire was eligible to be knighted.

text: Accolade[edit]

text: The accolade or knighting ceremony was usually held during one of the great feasts or holidays, like Christmas or Easter, and sometimes at the wedding of a noble or royal. The knighting ceremony usually involved a ritual bath on the eve of the ceremony and a prayer vigil during the night. On the day of the ceremony, the would-be knight would swear an oath and the master of the ceremony would dub the new knight on the shoulders with a sword.[26][27] Squires could also be conferred knighthood early if they showed valor and efficiency in battle.

text: Chivalric code[edit]

text: Knights were expected, above all, to fight bravely and to display military professionalism and courtesy. When knights were taken as prisoners of war, they were customarily held for ransom in somewhat comfortable surroundings. This same standard of conduct did not apply to non-knights (archers, peasants, foot-soldiers, etc.) who were often slaughtered after capture, and who were viewed during battle as mere impediments to knights' getting to other knights to fight them.[29]

text: Chivalry developed as an early standard of professional ethics for knights, who were relatively affluent horse owners and were expected to provide military services in exchange for landed property. Early notions of chivalry entailed loyalty to one's liege lord and bravery in battle, similar to the values of the Heroic Age. During the Middle Ages, this grew from simple military professionalism into a social code including the values of gentility, nobility and treating others reasonably.[30] In The Song of Roland (c. 1100), Roland is portrayed as the ideal knight, demonstrating unwavering loyalty, military prowess and social fellowship. In Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival (c. 1205), chivalry had become a blend of religious duties, love and military service. Ramon Llull's Book of the Order of Chivalry (1275) demonstrates that by the end of the 13th century, chivalry entailed a litany of very specific duties, including riding warhorses, jousting, attending tournaments, holding Round Tables and hunting, as well as aspiring to the more æthereal virtues of "faith, hope, charity, justice, strength, moderation and loyalty."[31]

text: Knights of the late medieval era were expected by society to maintain all these skills and many more, as outlined in Baldassare Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier, though the book's protagonist, Count Ludovico, states the "first and true profession" of the ideal courtier "must be that of arms."[32] Chivalry, derived from the French word chevalier ('cavalier'), simultaneously denoted skilled horsemanship and military service, and these remained the primary occupations of knighthood throughout the Middle Ages.

text: Chivalry and religion were mutually influenced during the period of the Crusades. The early Crusades helped to clarify the moral code of chivalry as it related to religion. As a result, Christian armies began to devote their efforts to sacred purposes. As time passed, clergy instituted religious vows which required knights to use their weapons chiefly for the protection of the weak and defenseless, especially women and orphans, and of churches.[33]

text: With the rise of Renaissance humanism and moral relativism, the knight–and chivalry along with him–lost much of his relevance to society, and the idealism of chivalric romance was fundamentally rejected in Niccolò Machiavelli's Il Principe (1532) and more directly derided in Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote (1605–1615). The medieval literary genre of chivalric romance had been the high-water mark of idealism and romanticism in literature, but in the 16th century Machiavelli instructed aspiring political rulers to be ruthlessly pragmatic and to apply the principle that the ends justify the means, directly counter to the high-flown idealism of late medieval chivalry. Later, the high-flown values of chivalric romance were heavily satirized in Cervantes's Don Quixote, which portrayed the charmingly idealistic protagonist as a lovable but hopelessly delusional imbecile.

text: Tournaments[edit]

text: In peacetime, knights often demonstrated their martial skills in tournaments, which usually took place on the grounds of a castle.[34][35] Knights can parade their armour and banner to the whole court as the tournament commence. Medieval tournaments were made up of martial sports called hastiludes, and were not only a major spectator sport but also played as a real combat simulation. It usually ended with many knights either injured or even killed. One contest was a free-for-all battle called a melee, where large groups of knights numbering hundreds assembled and fought one another, and the last knight standing was the winner. The most popular and romanticized contest for knights was the joust. In this competition, two knights charge each other with blunt wooden lances in an effort to break their lance on the opponent's head or body, or unhorse them completely. The loser in these tournaments had to turn his armour and horse over to the victor. The last day was filled with feasting, dancing and minstrel singing.

text: Besides formal tournaments, they were also unformalized judicial duels done by knights and squires to end various disputes.[36][37] Countries like Germany, Britain and Ireland practiced this tradition. Judicial combat were of two forms in medieval society, the feat of arms and chivalric combat.[36] The feat of arms were done to settle hostilities between two large parties and supervised by a judge. The chivalric combat was fought when one party's honor was disrespected or challenged upon in which the conflict cannot be resolved in court. Weapons were standardized and must be of the same caliber. The duel lasted until the other party was too weak to fight back and in early cases, the defeated party were then subsequently executed. Examples of these brutal duels were the judicial combat known as the Combat of the Thirty in 1351, and the trial by combat fought by Jean de Carrouges in 1386. A far more chivalric duel which became popular in the Late Middle Ages was the pas d'armes or "passage of arms". In this hastilude, a knight or a group of knights would claim a bridge, lane or city gate, and challenge other passing knights to fight or be disgraced.[38] If a lady passed unescorted, she would leave behind a glove or scarf, to be rescued and returned to her by a future knight who passed that way.

text: Heraldry[edit]

text: One of the greatest distinguishing marks of the knightly class was the flying of coloured banners, to display power and to distinguish knights in battle and in tournaments.[39] Knights are generally armigerous (bearing a coat of arms), and indeed they played an essential role in the development of heraldry.[40][41] As heavier armour, including enlarged shields and enclosed helmets, developed in the Middle Ages, the need for marks of identification arose, and with coloured shields and surcoats, coat armoury was born. Armourial rolls were created to record the knights of various regions or those who participated in various tournaments.

text: Medieval and Renaissance chivalric literature[edit]

text: Knights and the ideals of knighthood featured largely in medieval and Renaissance literature, and have secured a permanent place in literary romance.[42] While chivalric romances abound, particularly notable literary portrayals of knighthood include The Song of Roland, Cantar de Mio Cid, The Twelve of England, Geoffrey Chaucer's The Knight's Tale, Baldassare Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier, and Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote, as well as Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur and other Arthurian tales (Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, the Pearl Poet's Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, etc.).

text: Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), written in the 1130s, introduced the legend of King Arthur, which was to be important to the development of chivalric ideals in literature. Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur (The Death of Arthur), written in 1485, was important in defining the ideal of chivalry, which is essential to the modern concept of the knight, as an elite warrior sworn to uphold the values of faith, loyalty, courage, and honour.

text: Instructional literature was also created. Geoffroi de Charny's "Book of Chivalry" expounded upon the importance of Christian faith in every area of a knight's life, though still laying stress on the primarily military focus of knighthood.

text: In the early Renaissance greater emphasis is laid upon courtliness. The ideal courtier—the chivalrous knight—of Baldassarre Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier became a model of the ideal virtues of nobility.[43] Castiglione's tale took the form of a discussion among the nobility of the court of the Duke of Urbino, in which the characters determine that the ideal knight should be renowned not only for his bravery and prowess in battle, but also as a skilled dancer, athlete, singer and orator, and he should also be well-read in the Humanities and classical Greek and Latin literature.[44]

text: Later Renaissance literature, such as Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote, rejected the code of chivalry as unrealistic idealism.[45] The rise of Christian humanism in Renaissance literature demonstrated a marked departure from the chivalric romance of late medieval literature, and the chivalric ideal ceased to influence literature over successive centuries until it saw some pockets of revival in post-Victorian literature.

text: Decline[edit]

text: By the end of the 15th century, knights were becoming obsolete as countries started creating their own professional armies that were quicker to train, cheaper and easier to mobilize.[46][47] The advancement of high-powered firearms eradicated the use of plate armour, as the time it takes to train soldiers with guns is much less compared to that of the knight. The cost of equipment is also significantly lower and guns give a reasonable chance to easily penetrate a knight's armour. In the 14th century the use of infantrymen armed with pikes and fighting in close formation also proved effective against heavy cavalry. An example of this was seen in the Battle of Nancy, when Charles the Bold and his armoured cavalry were decimated by Swiss soldiers only armed with pikes.[48] As the feudal system came to an end, lords saw no further use of knights. Many landowners found the duties of knighthood too expensive and so contented themselves with the use of squires. Mercenaries also became an economic alternative to knights when conflicts arose.

text: Armies of the time started adopting a more realistic approach to warfare than the honor-bound code of chivalry. Soon, the remaining knights were absorbed into professional armies. Although they have a higher rank than most soldiers because of their valuable lineage, they have lost their distinctive identity that previously set them apart from other common soldiers.[46] As the age of knights dissolved, some still survived as knightly orders who still exist even by the end of the Medieval Age. They adopted newer technology while still retaining their age-old chivalric traditions. Examples of holy orders that existed beyond the Middle Ages were the Knights Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights.[49]

text: Types of knighthood[edit]

text: Chivalric orders[edit]

text: Military orders[edit]

text:
Sovereign Military Order of Malta, founded during the First Crusade, 1099
Order of the Holy Sepulchre, also founded during the First Crusade in circa 1099
Order of Saint Lazarus established about 1100, defunct in 16th century
Knights Templar, founded 1118, disbanded 1307
Teutonic Knights, established about 1190, and ruled the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia until 1525

text: Other orders were established in the Iberian peninsula, under the influence of the orders in the Holy Land and the Crusader movement of the Reconquista:

text:
Order of Aviz, established in Avis in 1143
Order of Alcántara, established in Alcántara in 1156
Order of Calatrava, established in Calatrava in 1158
Order of Santiago, established in Santiago in 1164.

text: Honorific orders of knighthood[edit]

text: After the Crusades, the military orders became idealized and romanticized, resulting in the late medieval notion of chivalry, as reflected in the Arthurian romances of the time. The creation of chivalric orders was fashionable among the nobility in the 14th and 15th centuries, and this is still reflected in contemporary honours systems, including the term order itself. Examples of notable orders of chivalry are:

text:
the Order of Saint George, founded by Charles I of Hungary in 1325/6
the Order of the Most Holy Annunciation, founded by Count Amadeus VI in 1346
the Order of the Garter, founded by Edward III of England around 1348
the Order of the Dragon, founded by King Sigismund of Luxemburg in 1408
the Order of the Golden Fleece, founded by Philip III, Duke of Burgundy in 1430
the Order of Saint Michael, founded by Louis XI of France in 1469
the Order of the Thistle, founded by King James VII of Scotland (also known as James II of England) in 1687
the Order of the Elephant, which may have been first founded by Christian I of Denmark, but was founded in its current form by King Christian V in 1693
the Order of the Bath, founded by George I in 1725

text: From roughly 1560, purely honorific orders were established, as a way to confer prestige and distinction, unrelated to military service and chivalry in the more narrow sense. Such orders were particularly popular in the 17th and 18th centuries, and knighthood continues to be conferred in various countries:

text:
The United Kingdom (see British honours system) and some Commonwealth of Nations countries such as New Zealand;
Some European countries, such as The Netherlands and Belgium (see below).
The Holy See — see Papal Orders of Chivalry.

text: There are other monarchies and also republics that also follow this practice. Modern knighthoods are typically conferred in recognition for services rendered to society, which are not necessarily martial in nature. The British musician Elton John, for example, is a Knight Bachelor, thus entitled to be called Sir Elton. The female equivalent is a Dame, for example Dame Julie Andrews.

text: In the United Kingdom, honorific knighthood may be conferred in two different ways:

text: The first is by membership of one of the pure Orders of Chivalry such as the Order of the Garter, the Order of the Thistle and the dormant Order of Saint Patrick, of which all members are knighted. In addition, many British Orders of Merit, namely the Order of the Bath, the Order of St Michael and St George, the Royal Victorian Order and the Order of the British Empire are part of the British honours system, and the award of their highest ranks (Knight/Dame Commander and Knight/Dame Grand Cross), comes together with an honorific knighthood, making them a cross between orders of chivalry and orders of merit. By contrast, membership of other British Orders of Merit, such as the Distinguished Service Order, the Order of Merit and the Order of the Companions of Honour does not confer a knighthood.

text: The second is being granted honorific knighthood by the British sovereign without membership of an order, the recipient being called Knight Bachelor.

text: In the British honours system the knightly style of Sir is accompanied by the given name, and optionally the surname. So, Elton John may be called Sir Elton or Sir Elton John, but never Sir John. Similarly, actress Judi Dench DBE may be addressed as Dame Judi or Dame Judi Dench, but never Dame Dench.

text: Wives of knights, however, are entitled to the honorific pre-nominal "Lady" before their husband's surname. Thus Sir Paul McCartney's ex-wife was formally styled Lady McCartney (rather than Lady Paul McCartney or Lady Heather McCartney). The style Dame Heather McCartney could be used for the wife of a knight; however, this style is largely archaic and is only used in the most formal of documents, or where the wife is a Dame in her own right (such as Dame Norma Major, who gained her title six years before her husband Sir John Major was knighted). The husbands of Dames have no honorific pre-nominal, so Dame Norma's husband remained John Major until he received his own knighthood.

text: Since the reign of Edward VII a clerk in holy orders in the Church of England has not normally received the accolade on being appointed to a degree of knighthood. He receives the insignia of his honour and may place the appropriate letters after his name or title but he may not be called Sir and his wife may not be called Lady. This custom is not observed in Australia and New Zealand, where knighted Anglican clergymen routinely use the title "Sir". Ministers of other Christian Churches are entitled to receive the accolade. For example, Sir Norman Cardinal Gilroy did receive the accolade on his appointment as Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1969. A knight who is subsequently ordained does not lose his title. A famous example of this situation was The Revd Sir Derek Pattinson, who was ordained just a year after he was appointed Knight Bachelor, apparently somewhat to the consternation of officials at Buckingham Palace.[50] A woman clerk in holy orders may be made a Dame in exactly the same way as any other woman since there are no military connotations attached to the honour. A clerk in holy orders who is a baronet is entitled to use the title Sir.

text: Outside the British honours system it is usually considered improper to address a knighted person as 'Sir' or 'Dame'. Some countries, however, historically did have equivalent honorifics for knights, such as Cavaliere in Italy (e.g. Cavaliere Benito Mussolini), and Ritter in Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire (e.g. Georg Ritter von Trapp).

text: State Knighthoods in the Netherlands are issued in three orders, the Order of William, the Order of the Netherlands Lion, and the Order of Orange Nassau. Additionally there remain a few hereditary knights in the Netherlands.

text: In Belgium, honorific knighthood (not hereditary) can be conferred by the King on particularly meritorious individuals such as scientists or eminent businessmen, or for instance to astronaut Frank De Winne, the second Belgian in space. This practice is similar to the conferal of the dignity of Knight Bachelor in the United Kingdom. In addition, there still are a number of hereditary knights in Belgium (see below).

text: In France and Belgium, one of the ranks conferred in some Orders of Merit, such as the Légion d'Honneur, the Ordre National du Mérite, the Ordre des Palmes académiques and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France, and the Order of Leopold, Order of the Crown and Order of Leopold II in Belgium, is that of Chevalier (in French) or Ridder (in Dutch), meaning Knight.

text: In the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth the monarchs tried to establish chivalric orders but the hereditary lords who controlled the Union did not agree and managed to ban such assemblies. They feared the King would use Orders to gain support for absolutist goals and to make formal distinctions among the peerage which could lead to its legal breakup into two separate classes, and that the King would later play one against the other and eventually limit the legal privileges of hereditary nobility. But finally in 1705 King August II managed to establish the Order of the White Eagle which remains Poland's most prestigious order of that kind. The head of state (now the President as the acting Grand Master) confers knighthoods of the Order to distinguished citizens, foreign monarchs and other heads of state. The Order has its Chapter. There were no particular honorifics that would accompany a knight's name as historically all (or at least by far most) its members would be royals or hereditary lords anyway. So today, a knight is simply referred to as "Name Surname, knight of the White Eagle (Order)".

text: Hereditary knighthoods[edit]

text: Continental Europe[edit]

text: In continental Europe different systems of hereditary knighthood have existed or do exist. Ridder, Dutch for "knight", is a hereditary noble title in the Netherlands. It is the lowest title within the nobility system and ranks below that of "Baron" but above "Jonkheer" (the latter is not a title, but a Dutch honorific to show that someone belongs to the untitled nobility). The collective term for its holders in a certain locality is the Ridderschap (e.g. Ridderschap van Holland, Ridderschap van Friesland, etc.). In the Netherlands no female equivalent exists. Before 1814, the history of nobility is separate for each of the eleven provinces that make up the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In each of these, there were in the early Middle Ages a number of feudal lords who often were just as powerful, and sometimes more so than the rulers themselves. In old times, no other title existed but that of knight. In the Netherlands only 10 knightly families are still extant, a number which steadily decreases because in that country ennoblement or incorporation into the nobility is not possible anymore.

text: Likewise Ridder, Dutch for "knight", or the equivalent French Chevalier is a hereditary noble title in Belgium. It is the second lowest title within the nobility system above Écuyer or Jonkheer/Jonkvrouw and below Baron. Like in the Netherlands, no female equivalent to the title exists. Belgium still does have about 232 registered knightly families.

text: The German and Austrian equivalent of an hereditary knight is a Ritter. This designation is used as a title of nobility in all German-speaking areas. Traditionally it denotes the second lowest rank within the nobility, standing above "Edler" (Noble) and below "Freiherr" (baron). For its historical association with warfare and the landed gentry in the Middle Ages, it can be considered roughly equal to the titles of "Knight" or "Baronet".

text: The Royal House of Portugal historically bestowed hereditary knighthoods to holders of the highest ranks in the Royal Orders. Today, the head of the Royal House of Portugal HRH Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza bestows hereditary knighthoods for extraordinary acts of sacrifice and service to the Royal House. There are very few hereditary knights and they are entitled to wear a breast star with the crest of the House of Braganza.

text: In France, the hereditary knighthood existed in regions formerly under Holy Roman Empire control. One family ennobled with that title is the house of Hauteclocque (by letters patents of 1752), even if its most recent members used a pontifical title of count.

text: Italy and Poland also had the hereditary knighthood that existed within the nobility system.

text: Ireland[edit]

text: There are traces of the Continental system of hereditary knighthood in Ireland. Notably all three of the following belong to the Welsh-Norman FitzGerald dynasty, created by the Earls of Desmond, acting as Earls Palatine, for their kinsmen.

text:
Knight of Kerry or Green Knight (FitzGerald of Kerry) — the current holder is Sir Adrian FitzGerald, 6th Baronet of Valencia, 24th Knight of Kerry. He is also a Knight of Malta, and has served as President of the Irish Association of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
Knight of Glin or Black Knight (FitzGerald of Limerick) — now dormant.
White Knight (see Edmund Fitzgibbon) — now dormant.

text: Another Irish family were the O'Shaughnessys, who were created knights in 1553 under the policy of Surrender and regrant[51] (first established by Henry VIII of England). They were attainted in 1697 for participation on the Jacobite side in the Williamite wars. [52]

text: British Baronetcies[edit]

text: Since 1611, the British Crown has awarded a hereditary title in the form of the Baronetcy.[53] Like knights, baronets are accorded the title Sir. Baronets are not peers of the Realm, and have never been entitled to sit in the House of Lords, therefore like knights they remain commoners in the view of the British legal system. However, unlike knights, the title is hereditary and the recipient does not receive an accolade. The position is therefore more comparable with hereditary knighthoods in continental European orders of nobility, such as ritter, than with knighthoods under the British orders of chivalry. However, unlike the continental orders, the British baronetcy system was a modern invention, designed specifically to raise money for the Crown with the purchase of the title.

text: Women in orders of knighthood[edit]

text: England and the United Kingdom[edit]

text: Women were appointed to the Order of the Garter almost from the start. In all, 68 women were appointed between 1358 and 1488, including all consorts. Though many were women of royal blood, or wives of knights of the Garter, some women were neither. They wore the garter on the left arm, and some are shown on their tombstones with this arrangement. After 1488, no other appointments of women are known, although it is said that the Garter was conferred upon Neapolitan poet Laura Bacio Terricina, by King Edward VI. In 1638, a proposal was made to revive the use of robes for the wives of knights in ceremonies, but this did not occur. Queen consorts have been made Ladies of the Garter since 1901 (Queens Alexandra in 1901,[54] Mary in 1910 and Elizabeth in 1937). The first non-royal woman to be made Lady Companion of the Garter was The Duchess of Norfolk in 1990,[55] the second was The Baroness Thatcher in 1995[56] (post-nominal: LG). On 30 November 1996, Lady Fraser was made Lady of the Thistle,[57] the first non-royal woman (post-nominal: LT). (See Edmund Fellowes, Knights of the Garter, 1939; and Beltz: Memorials of the Order of the Garter). The first woman to be granted a knighthood in modern Britain seems to have been H.H. Nawab Sikandar Begum Sahiba, Nawab Begum of Bhopal, who became a Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India (GCSI) in 1861, at the foundation of the order. Her daughter received the same honor in 1872, as well as her granddaughter in 1910. The order was open to "princes and chiefs" without distinction of gender. The first European woman to have been granted an order of knighthood was Queen Mary, when she was made a Knight Grand Commander of the same order, by special statute, in celebration of the Delhi Durbar of 1911.[58] She was also granted a damehood in 1917 as a Dame Grand Cross, when the Order of the British Empire was created[59] (it was the first order explicitly open to women). The Royal Victorian Order was opened to women in 1936, and the Orders of the Bath and Saint Michael and Saint George in 1965 and 1971 respectively.[60]

text: France[edit]

text: Medieval French had two words, chevaleresse and chevalière, which were used in two ways: one was for the wife of a knight, and this usage goes back to the 14th century. The other was possibly for a female knight. Here is a quote from Menestrier, a 17th-century writer on chivalry: "It was not always necessary to be the wife of a knight in order to take this title. Sometimes, when some male fiefs were conceded by special privilege to women, they took the rank of chevaleresse, as one sees plainly in Hemricourt where women who were not wives of knights are called chevaleresses." Modern French orders of knighthood include women, for example the Légion d'Honneur (Legion of Honor) since the mid-19th century, but they are usually called chevaliers. The first documented case is that of Angélique Brûlon (1772–1859), who fought in the Revolutionary Wars, received a military disability pension in 1798, the rank of 2nd lieutenant in 1822, and the Legion of Honor in 1852. A recipient of the Ordre National du Mérite recently requested from the order's Chancery the permission to call herself "chevalière," and the request was granted (AFP dispatch, Jan 28, 2000).[60]

text: Italy[edit]

text: As related in Orders of Knighthood, Awards and the Holy See by H.E. Cardinale (1983), the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary was founded by two Bolognese nobles Loderingo degli Andalò and Catalano di Guido in 1233, and approved by pope Alexander IV in 1261. It was the first religious order of knighthood to grant the rank of militissa to women. However, this order was suppressed by Sixtus V in 1558.[60]

text: The Low Countries[edit]

text: At the initiative of Catherine Baw in 1441, and 10 years later of Elizabeth, Mary, and Isabella of the house of Hornes, orders were founded which were open exclusively to women of noble birth, who received the French title of chevalière or the Latin title of equitissa. In his Glossarium (s.v. militissa), Du Cange notes that still in his day (17th century), the female canons of the canonical monastery of St. Gertrude in Nivelles (Brabant), after a probation of 3 years, are made knights (militissae) at the altar, by a (male) knight called in for that purpose, who gives them the accolade with a sword and pronounces the usual words.[60]

text: Spain[edit]

text: To honour those women who defended Tortosa against an attack by the Moors, Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, created the Order of the Hatchet (Orden de la Hacha) in 1149.[60]

text: The inhabitants [of Tortosa] being at length reduced to great streights, desired relief of the Earl, but he, being not in a condition to give them any, they entertained some thoughts of making a surrender. Which the Women hearing of, to prevent the disaster threatening their City, themselves, and Children, put on men's Clothes, and by a resolute sally, forced the Moors to raise the Siege. The Earl, finding himself obliged, by the gallentry of the action, thought fit to make his acknowlegements thereof, by granting them several Privileges and Immunities, and to perpetuate the memory of so signal an attempt, instituted an Order, somewhat like a Military Order, into which were admitted only those Brave Women, deriving the honour to their Descendants, and assigned them for a Badge, a thing like a Fryars Capouche, sharp at the top, after the form of a Torch, and of a crimson colour, to be worn upon their Head-clothes. He also ordained, that at all publick meetings, the women should have precedence of the Men. That they should be exempted from all Taxes, and that all the Apparel and Jewels, though of never so great value, left by their dead Husbands, should be their own. These Women having thus acquired this Honour by their personal Valour, carried themselves after the Military Knights of those days.

text: Notable knights[edit]

text:
William Marshal
John Hawkwood
Henry Percy (Hotspur)
William Wallace
El Cid
Godfrey of Bouillon
Bertrand du Guesclin
Jean Le Maingre
Geoffroi de Charny
Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard
Joanot Martorell
Jean III d'Aa of Gruuthuse
Suero de Quinones
Adrian von Bubenberg
Franz von Sickingen
Götz von Berlichingen
Heinrich von Winkelried
Philip Riedesel zu Camberg
Heinrich von Bulow (Grotekop)
Zawisza Czarny
Stibor of Stiboricz


document_title: Friday Night Lights (film)

question_text: who did the permian panthers play in the state championship

root

text: Friday Night Lights (film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: Bissinger followed the team for the entire 1988 season. However, the book also dealt with—or alluded to—a number of secondary political and social issues existing in Odessa, all of which shared ties to the Permian Panthers football team. These included socioeconomic disparity; racism; segregation (and desegregation); and poverty.

tag: p

text: The coach, Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton), was constantly in the hot seat. Tied to the successes and failure of the coach and the team in general were the conflicts the players struggled with on and off the gridiron. The coach overused his star player, running back James "Boobie" Miles (Derek Luke), who was seriously injured (he tore his ACL, missed the playoffs, and had a limp for the rest of his life). When this happened, sports radio shows were flooded with calls for Gaines' resignation. Miles' once-arrogant attitude vanished as he saw his once-promising chance of playing big-time college football disappear, and he questioned his future after he noticed his not-so-promising academic standing. While recuperating on his uncle's veranda he observed the garbage collectors doing their rounds, got a glimpse of a different future, and burst into tears.

text: One of the themes of the movie depicted the coach as a father-type figure for the players. For example:

text:
Quarterback Mike Winchell (Lucas Black) struggled with being able to play consistently.
Fullback Don Billingsley (Garrett Hedlund) had a rocky relationship with his alcoholic and abusive father (Tim McGraw). Billingsley silently endured the abuse from his father, who won a state championship at Permian only to find himself unable to get into college and stuck working a dead-end job.
Third-string running back Chris Comer (Lee Thompson Young), who replaced the injured Miles, attempted to get rid of his fear of being hit and getting injured, made worse by seeing his predecessor's season-ending injury. Comer's obsession with fame and recognition also came at a high price that he was at first not ready to pay.
Safety Brian Chavez (Jay Hernandez) was easily the smartest player on the team and the most confident in his future after high school football. He ended up being accepted into Harvard College and Texas Tech Law School.

tag: ul

text: Coach Gaines triumphed and struggled with winning football games and connecting with his players numerous times during their tumultuous season. His job depended on the Panthers' making the playoffs, and his team was in a three-way tie with two other teams at the end of the regular season. Under Texas rules for ties, the tiebreaker was a coin-toss. Permian got a spot. Meanwhile, after Don Billingsley's father drunkenly threw away his championship ring, he broke down and confessed that his failures in life caused him to push his son harshly, pointing out that he wanted his son to at least have one big moment of triumph before dealing with the real world. The team made it to the finals, where they narrowly lost to powerhouse Dallas Carter High School. The movie ended with the coach removing the departing seniors from the depth chart on his wall. Notably, the depth chart has "Case" at quarterback. This referred to Permian's real-life backup quarterback in 1988, Stoney Case, who led Permian, along with Chris Comer, to the 5A state title the following year, and still later made it to the NFL.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Billy Bob Thornton as Coach Gary Gaines
Lucas Black as Mike Winchell
Garrett Hedlund as Don Billingsley
Derek Luke as James "Boobie" Miles
Jay Hernandez as Brian Chavez
Lee Jackson III as Ivory Christian
Lee Thompson Young as Chris Comer
Tim McGraw as Charles Billingsley
Grover Coulson as L.V. Miles
Connie Britton as Sharon Gaines
Julius Tennon as Coach Freddie James
Connie Cooper as Ms. Winchell
Amber Heard as Maria
Kasey Stevens as Flippy
Rutherford Cravens as Kansas Weslyan Recruiter
Stephen Bishop as Loie Harris
Katherine Willis as Booster Wife
Christian Kane as Brian
Brad Leland as John Aubrey

text: Championship game officials: Tim Crowley, Gary Vaught, Lee Mack Turner

text: Differences between the movie and events[edit]

text: Players[edit]

text:
In the movie, Boobie Miles was depicted as one of the team's three captains, but that honor was held by Ivory Christian, Mike Winchell and Brian Chavez in real life.
In the movie, some of the players' numbers and positions were changed: Boobie Miles was #45 and played tailback in the movie, but in the book he was playing fullback (while Don Billingsley was the tailback) and #35. In the movie, Brian Chavez was the #4 strong safety, while he was the #85 tight end in the book, and Ivory Christian was a defensive end and wore #90, while he was the #62 middle ("Mike") linebacker in the book. At the beginning of the film, as the camera panned over Coach Gaines' depth chart, 'Miles' name was listed under the FB tag. Chris Comer was also the backup fullback in the book, not a third-string tailback. One of the athletic directors in the stadium booth said, "I think he's a sophomore", when Comer was a junior at the time. Comer also wore #45 in the real season, but in the movie he wore #42. Alan Wyles was depicted as a wide receiver when he was the placekicker.
Don Billingsley's father Charlie was depicted in the movie as having won a state championship. In reality, as a junior, the 1968 Permian team lost in the finals.

text: The regular season[edit]

text: In the movie, the team was depicted as practicing in full pads and with full contact on the first day of practice. Under rules of the University Interscholastic League (UIL), the governing body for Texas public school sports, teams cannot use pads or hit until the 4th day of practice (however, in the deleted scenes included in the DVD, a non-pad practice was shown).

text:
A Permian booster was heard toasting Coach Gaines' second season as Permian's head coach. It was his third.
Boobie Miles, in the book, injured his leg by getting his foot caught on the Astroturf during a pre-season scrimmage against Amarillo Palo Duro at Jones Stadium in Lubbock. In the movie, he was tackled by two players at the knee during a blowout non-district game at Ratliff Stadium.
In the movie, the top-ranked Permian Panthers defeated the hapless Marshall Bulldogs in a non-district game. In real life, the third-ranked Marshall Mavericks (whose colors are red and white, not purple and gold) defeated fourth-ranked Permian 13-12. In the movie, the game was the season opener and played on a Friday night in Odessa. In real life, it was Permian's second game of the season, and played at Maverick Stadium in Marshall on a Saturday afternoon. Permian's football team chartered a jet for the 500+ mile trip from Odessa to Marshall, spawning controversy on the cost of the trip. Played before a crowd of more than 12,000 fans at Maverick Stadium, the game was on a searing September afternoon where the temperature topped 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 °C). The footage shown in the movie was from a game against the Midland High Bulldogs, who weren't mentioned in the movie. Permian defeated the Dawgs 42-0 in district play, but the two teams ended up in a three-way tie along with Midland Lee for the district title.
In the movie, district play began in week 2. In the real regular season, district play began in week 4.
In the movie, Permian defeated "North Shore Galena" in a mid-season (presumably district) game. In reality, North Shore High School was within the Galena Park Independent School District located in the Houston suburbs over 500 miles (800 km) southeast of Odessa. Although North Shore and Permian have both been 5A football powerhouses, they have never played. Furthermore, North Shore did not start seeing football success until the mid 1990s.
In reality, the three teams tied for best district record were Permian, Midland Lee, and Midland High, all with 5-1 district records. In the movie, Permian and Lee were joined not by Midland but by Abilene Cooper, and each team had two district losses. The tie breaking coin flip was held at a truck stop outside of Midland, and Midland High lost (Cooper in the movie), so Permian and Lee went on. Midland High's missing the playoffs was poignant as it had not been to the playoffs since 1951 and did not get back to post-season play until 2002.
A Permian player was shown with coach Gaines at the coin toss. In reality, no players from any of the three schools were allowed at the coin toss. All of Permian's players were on the team bus returning from the game that evening at San Angelo Central. Permian assistant coach Mike Belew drove with Gaines from San Angelo to the site of the coin toss.
In a few scenes, players were shown wearing Under Armour apparel and facemask shields, although in 1988, Under Armour and visors hadn't been invented yet. (Under Armour founder Kevin Plank was in high school in 1988.) The book says they wore green visors, which are now outlawed for high school and college teams.
In the movie, the annual duel against Permian's archrival Midland Lee was portrayed as Lee having a handy lead throughout the game with Permian never having a shot at the victory. In real life, Lee had to come from behind with a late-game touchdown to win the game 22-21.

text: The playoffs[edit]

text:
Permian's first opponent in the playoffs was Amarillo Tascosa and not Dallas Jesuit as in the movie. In 1988, Texas Public Schools (such as Permian, Carter, and Tascosa) and private schools (such as Jesuit) competed in separate leagues with separate playoffs. Jesuit was not allowed to join the previously all-public school UIL until 2003, starting football competition in 2004. Dallas Jesuit and Strake Jesuit of Houston were the only private schools who currently play in the UIL, the rest competing in leagues such as TAPPS and the SPC. Also, with the district setup at that time, it would have been impossible for Permian to play a team from the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex until the third round for the playoffs. Nowadays, Permian could play Fort Worth-area teams in the first round of the playoffs, but still could not play Jesuit until round 3. Permian played Dallas Jesuit in Odessa during the regular season in 1988, winning 48-2. Jesuit's only points came on a missed-PAT return, which was a rule instituted that year (the defensive conversion was not allowed in high school football under National Federation of State High School Associations rules, but Texas played by NCAA rules). Jesuit's helmet was shown as white and orange with a sort of wildcat's head logo on it, but in real life they are solid gold without a logo.
In the movie, it was said that Carter was the state's top-ranked team, when Carter was never ranked higher than No. 3 in the Associated Press poll.
Carter played "Hays" High School in the playoffs, which was depicted as wearing green and white and nicknamed the Rams. The real Jack C. Hays High School, located 15 minutes south of Austin in Buda, used red, white, and blue as its colors, and their nickname was the Rebels. Hays was a Class 4A school in 1988 and did not become 5A until 2000. Hays was in the movie because the makers filmed crowd shots at Hays High during a Rebels home game against the Austin Westlake Chaparrals, another team depicted as a Permian playoff victim.
Permian was depicted as playing "San Angelo" in the quarterfinal round. There were two high schools in the San Angelo Independent School District; until 1998, San Angelo Central High School, the district's only 5A school had been in the same district as Permian (having since been transferred, for football only, to the district with Lubbock and Amarillo schools), and could only have played Permian in the quarterfinal round (owing to the structure of UIL playoffs) if they had qualified. However, Central finished 5th in the district that year, and as only two teams from each district qualified in 1988, Permian and Central did not play in the 1988 playoffs. Instead, Permian played Arlington Lamar in the quarterfinals.
On the playoff brackets it shows just the word "Baytown". There were two high schools in Baytown in 1988 (there are now three), the team in the playoffs was Baytown Lee.

text: Permian vs. Carter[edit]

text:
Since 1982, the UIL Class 5A (now 6A) football playoffs have had six rounds (though a second, parallel playoff bracket of five rounds was added in 1990, later also expanded to six rounds in 2006), so while Permian played Dallas Carter in the fifth round, it was a semi-final and not a final. In the Texas playoffs, a team from North or Western Texas always plays a team from the Houston area or Southern Texas in the final[2], so the Carter vs Permian final was not possible. The real-life final featured Carter versus Converse Judson (which defeated Permian in the 1995 state championship). The Carter-Permian game was played in front of 10,000 people in a heavy downpour at The University of Texas at Austin's Memorial Stadium, not in front of 55,000 in the Astrodome in Houston. While the game in the movie was a high-scoring affair (34-28), the real score was 14-9 in favor of Carter. In real life, Permian held a 9-7 lead for most of the game and Carter made the dramatic fourth quarter comeback to win. On the last play of the game, Winchell threw the ball incomplete, rather than running it himself close to the goal line.
The meeting between officials from Permian and Carter at the Midland airport occurred the Sunday prior to the game. Not shown in the movie was the Carter officials changing their minds about a home site from Texas Stadium in Irving to the Cotton Bowl within the Dallas city limits. Under UIL rules, if the schools cannot agree to a neutral site, each side picks a "home" site and a "neutral" site, and two coin tosses are conducted. The first was to determine whether a "home" or "neutral" site will be used, and the second to determine which team's site will be used. After a tense battle between the sides, they agreed to play the game at Austin.
In the movie, Gaines suggested at first suggests San Antonio as a potential neutral site, which would have meant playing the game at Alamo Stadium, since the Alamodome did not open until 1993. The other neutral site suggestion in the movie was College Station, presumably meaning Kyle Field at Texas A&M.
The revocation of Carter's state championship following their use of an academically ineligible player was never mentioned, nor was the prolonged legal battle that Carter went through to enable them to play in the playoffs. Officially, the 1988 state champions were Converse Judson, which lost 31-14 in the final to Carter. Furthermore, Carter was portrayed in the movie as a stereotypical "inner city thug" team (likely due to the shocking series of armed robberies committed by several players after the season ended); Carter at the time was located in a middle-class African-American neighborhood and was not known for dirty play.

text: The school and the city[edit]

text:
Permian was portrayed in the movie as a single large high school in a small, one-horse town in West Texas. In reality, Odessa was a city of nearly 100,000 people at the time of the events portrayed in the movie, and part of a metropolitan area of nearly 250,000 combining the populations of Midland and Ector counties. (The quaint downtown shown in the trailer for the movie was Manhattan, Kansas.) Also, Permian was (and still is) only one of two large Class 5A high schools in Odessa. The other and first high school in the city, Odessa High School (mascot: the Bronchos), was never mentioned in the movie, despite the fact that they have played Permian every year, as the two schools have been in the same UIL district since Permian opened in 1959 and shared Ratliff Stadium with Permian. An entire chapter in the book was devoted to the "Civil War" between the schools.
In the movie, Odessa was portrayed as being a mostly Anglo town with a sizable African-American population and virtually no Hispanics. In 1988, out of the almost 100,000 people that lived in Odessa, one-third were Hispanic while African-Americans made up only 5% of the population.
Ratliff Stadium was depicted as the location for Permian football practices. In reality, the team practiced mostly on campus, and the stadium, used by both Permian and Odessa, was on the outskirts of town in a fairly unpopulated area about three miles (five km) away from the Permian High campus. It was also unlikely that children would be playing touch football near the stadium, as depicted in the movie, as few houses were nearby at that time. The area around the stadium has grown dramatically since then (which caused an anachronism in the movie—the houses seen near the stadium did not yet exist in 1988).
While Ratliff Stadium has had artificial turf since its opening, in 1988 it had the original AstroTurf, not the modern FieldTurf surface seen on the stadium in the film.

text: Cameo roles[edit]

text:
Former NFL wide receiver Roy Williams (a Permian alumnus) had a cameo in the movie as an assistant coach for Midland Lee, Permian's arch-rival.
Some sequences during the state playoffs showed highlights from high school football games in Texas. In one of those highlights, NFL Pro Bowl cornerback Aqib Talib can be seen.
Ty Law played a wide receiver for Dallas Carter, the team Permian played in the movie's state championship game (as noted earlier, the real Permian-Carter game was a semifinal). He wore jersey #2, his last name was Graf, and he caught a one-handed touchdown pass.
The real James "Boobie" Miles played a Permian assistant coach in the film. Although he has no lines, he was seen several times. In the locker room scene at halftime of the state championship game, he was seen standing next to the fictional "Boobie" Miles as Coach Gaines gives his speech.

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text: The soundtrack for the film predominantly featured post-rock band Explosions in the Sky. Music by Daniel Lanois and rock band Bad Company were also included. Other songs in the film were "Just Got Paid" by ZZ Top during the montage of the Panthers' road to the finals; the pump up song featured as the team ran through the tunnel in the game against Dallas Carter was "New Noise" by the seminal Swedish punk band Refused. During the start of the third quarter during the Championship game, the song "I Wanna Be Your Dog" by The Stooges was used. Three songs from Public Enemy's album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back were also used prominently.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Critical reception[edit]

text: Reviews of the film were highly positive. The film received an 81% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 168 reviews, and the consensus stated: "An acute survey of the football-obsessed heartland that succeeds as both a stirring drama and a rousing sports movie."[3] The film also has a score of 70/100 on Metacritic, based on 35 reviews.[4]

text: While the residents of Odessa held a negative reception of the book, they eagerly anticipated the release of the film.[5]

text: Accolades[edit]

text: The film was recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

text:
2004: AFI'S Top 10 Film of the Year
2008: AFI's 10 Top 10:

Nominated Sports Film[6]


document_title: Field goal

question_text: who has the longest field goal in the nfl

text: Field goal

text: Strategy[edit]

text: As a field goal is worth only three points, while a touchdown scores at least six (which usually becomes seven with a successful conversion, and potentially 8 with a two-point conversion), teams will generally attempt a field goal only in the following situations:

text:
It is fourth down (third down in Canadian rules), especially if the offense is more than a yard or two from a new first down, and within about 45 yards of the goal posts.
In the first half, there is enough time remaining to execute only one more play.
In the second half, there is enough time remaining to execute only one more play, and the team on offense needs three points to win or tie (four points in a few leagues given special circumstances).
The game is in overtime, and a FG is the quickest, easiest, and least risky way to end the match.

text: Except in desperate situations, a team will generally attempt field goals only when keeping a drive alive is unlikely, and its kicker has a significant chance of success, as a missed field goal results in a turnover at the spot of the kick (in the NFL) or at the line of scrimmage (in the NCAA). In American high school rules and Canadian football, where a missed field goal is treated the same as a punt, most teams still opt not to attempt field goals from very long range since field goal formations are not conducive to covering kick returns. Even under ideal conditions, the best professional kickers historically had difficulty making kicks longer than 50 yards consistently (the NFL record is 64 yards and the CFL record, 62 yards).[2] If a team chooses not to attempt a field goal on their last down, they can punt to the other team. A punt cannot score any points in American football unless the receiving team touches the ball first and the kicking team recovers it (though it can result in a single in Canadian football), but it may push the other team back toward its own end.

text: The longest field goal kick in NFL history is 64 yards, a record set by Matt Prater on December 8, 2013. The previous record was 63, originally set by Tom Dempsey and then matched by Jason Elam, Sebastian Janikowski, and David Akers. High school, college and most professional football leagues offer only a three-point field goal; however, some professional leagues have encouraged more rare kicks through four-point field goals. NFL Europe encouraged long field goals of 50 yards or more by making those worth four points instead of three (much like Australian rules' Super Goal or basketball's three-point line), a rule since adopted by the Stars Football League. Similarly, the sport of arena football sought (unsuccessfully) to repopularize the drop kick by making that worth four points; it failed, since only one kicker (Brian Mitchell) was able to do it with any semblance of proficiency. (In six-man football, where there is no offensive line, all field goals are worth four points instead of the usual three.)

text: The overall field goal percentage during the 2010 NFL season was 82.3. In comparison, Jan Stenerud, one of only two pure kickers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (along with Ray Guy), had a career field goal percentage of 66.8 from 1967 to 1985.[2]

text: How field goals are kicked[edit]

text: When a team decides to attempt a field goal, it will generally line up in a very tight formation, with all but two players lined up along or near the line of scrimmage: the placekicker and the holder. The holder is usually the team's punter or backup quarterback.[citation needed] Instead of the regular center, a team may have a dedicated long snapper trained especially to snap the ball on placekick attempts and punts.

text: The holder usually lines up seven to eight yards behind the line of scrimmage, with the kicker a few yards behind him. Upon receiving the snap, the holder holds the ball against the ground vertically, with the stitches away from the kicker. The kicker begins his approach during the snap, so the snapper and holder have little margin for error. A split-second mistake can disrupt the entire attempt.

text: The measurement of a field goal's distance is from the goalpost to the point where the ball was positioned for the kick by the holder. In American football, where the goalpost is located at the back of the end zone (above the end line), the ten yards of the end zone are added to the yard line distance at the spot of the hold.

text: In the early days of the sport, placekickers approached the ball straight on, with the toe making first contact with the ball. The technique of kicking the ball "soccer-style", by approaching the ball at an angle and kicking it with the instep, was introduced by kicker Pete Gogolak in the 1960s.[3] The Hungarian-born Gogolak, reflecting his roots in European soccer, observed that kicking the ball at an angle could cover more distance than kicking straight on.

text: Successful field goals[edit]

text: If there is any time left in the half, the method of resuming play after a successful field goal varies between leagues.

text: Missed field goals[edit]

text: A missed field goal is said to be "no good" if the kicked ball does not cross between the uprights and/or over the crossbar of the goal posts. If it misses to the posts' left it may be called "wide left" and "wide right" if it misses to the posts' right. A field goal attempt may be described as "short" if it does not have sufficient distance to go over the cross bar. Some commentators will only describe a field goal attempt as being short if it appears to have been aimed correctly while others will describe an attempt appearing to lack both accuracy and distance as being both wide and short.

text: If a field goal attempt is missed and does not go out of bounds, a defensive player may catch the ball and return it, like a punt or kickoff. This type of play usually occurs during an extremely long field goal attempt due to the distance the defense must travel to reach the returner. If there is a significant likelihood of a miss and the strategic game situation warrants it, the defense places a player downfield, in or near their end zone, to catch the ball. The risk in this is that the return man may be tackled deep in his own territory, at a considerably worse position than he could have gotten by letting the ball go dead (see below); furthermore, should the returner fumble the ball, the kicking team can recover it and gain a new set of downs (the advantage is that the kicking team is lined up very close together to stop kick blockers, and not spread across the field like a kickoff or punt team, and is therefore in poor position to defend the return). Thus, teams will usually return a kick only towards the end of a half (when the kick will be the final play) or in a particularly desperate situation.

text: If a ball caroms off one of the goal posts or the crossbar, but lands in the field of play, the ball is considered dead and cannot be returned. (This is not the case in arena football, where large "rebound nets" surround the goal posts for the explicit purpose of keeping the ball in play.) However, if the ball caroms off one of the goal posts or the crossbar and continues into the goal, the score counts.

text: Situations where the defense does not return a missed field goal vary between leagues and levels of play:

text: Blocked field goals[edit]

text: Occasionally, the defense will succeed in blocking a field goal. If a blocked field goal is in or behind the neutral zone, it is treated like a fumble and can be advanced by either team. Beyond the neutral zone, a blocked kick is treated like a punt and can be advanced only by the defense, unless a defensive player fumbles the ball, after which an offensive player can advance it.

text: History[edit]

text: In the early days of football, kicking was highly emphasized. In 1883, the scoring system was devised, with field goals counting for 5 points, and touchdowns and conversions worth 4 apiece. In 1897, the touchdown was raised to 5 points while the conversion was lowered to 1 point. Field goals were devalued to 4 points in 1904, and then to the modern 3 points in 1909. The touchdown was changed to 6 points in 1912 in American football; the Canadian game followed suit in 1956.

text: The spot of the conversion has also changed through the years. In 1924, NCAA rules spotted the conversion at the 3-yard line, before moving it back to the 5-yard line in 1925. In 1929, the spot was moved up to the 2-yard line, which the NFL had done until 2014. In 1968, the NCAA diverged from the NFL rules in moving the spot back to the original 3-yard line. Canadian rules originally spotted the conversion at the 5-yard line, which remains closer than in the American code as the goalposts are at the front of the end zone. In 2015, to make conversion kicks harder, the NFL and CFL moved the spot of the kick to the 15 and 25-yard lines, respectively. In addition, the CFL moved the spot for a two-point conversion up to the 3-yard line to entice more teams to go for 2 points as opposed to one.

text: The goalposts were originally located on the goal line; this led to many injuries and sometimes interfered with play, and the NCAA moved the goal posts to the rear of the end zone 90 years ago in 1927. The NFL (still following NCAA rules at the time) followed suit, but moved the posts back to the goal line starting in the 1932 NFL Playoff Game, a change made necessary by the size of the indoor Chicago Stadium and kept when the NFL rules stopped mirroring the NCAA rules in 1933. The NFL kept the post at the goal line until 43 years ago, when they were moved back to the rear of the end zone for the 1974 season. This was partly a result of the narrowed hashmark distance of 1972, which had made for easier field-goal angles. The Canadian game still has posts on the goal line.

text: The width of the goalposts and the hashmarks have also varied throughout the years. In 1959, the NCAA goalposts were widened to 23 feet 4 inches (7.11 m), the standard width for high school posts today. In 1991, the college goalposts were reduced in width to 18 ft 6 in (5.64 m), matching the NFL. For the 1991 and 1992 seasons, this meant potentially severe angles for short field goal attempts, since the hashmark width remained at 53 ft 4 in (16.26 m). In 1993, the NCAA narrowed the distance between the hashmarks to 40 ft (12.19 m), matching what was the width of hashmarks in the NFL from 1945 through 1971; the NFL narrowed the hashmarks in 1972 to goalpost width at 18.5 feet (5.64 m). In the CFL, the hashmarks are 51 feet (16 m), but the field is 195 feet (59 m) in width, 35 feet (11 m) wider than the American field.

text: The NFL increased the height of the uprights above the crossbar to 20 feet (6.10 m) in 1966 and 30 feet (9.14 m) in 1974. In 2014, they were raised five feet to 35 feet (10.67 m) after the adoption of a proposal by New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.[7]

text: The "slingshot" goalpost, with a single post curving to support the crossbar, was invented by Jim Trimble and Joel Rottman in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[8] The first were built by Alcan and displayed at Expo 67,[8][9] the World's fair in Montreal. The NFL had standardized the goalposts in 1966 and adopted the slingshot for the 1967 season;[8] the NCAA later adopted the same rule, but later allowed the use of "offset" goalposts, with two posts rather than one. Three schools in Division I FBS currently use dual-support posts: Florida State, LSU, and Washington State. A special exemption was allowed by the NFL for the New Orleans Saints to use the offset goalposts during the 2005 season, when they used LSU's stadium for home games after Hurricane Katrina.

text: Goalposts at the professional level today are sometimes equipped with a camera mounted to the stanchion immediately behind the center of the crossbar. Since these cameras are both above and slightly behind the crossbar, a field goal attempt will be judged good if it strikes this equipment.

text: In 1989, the NCAA banned the kicking tee, requiring kicks from the ground.[10][11]

text: During the 2011 NFL season, a record 90 field goals of 50 yards or longer were made.[12] In 2012, this record was increased to 92 field goals of 50 yards or longer.[12]

text: Longest field goal records[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

tag: table

text: As recorded in Guinness World Records:

text: The record for a field goal at any level is 69 yards. It was kicked by Ove Johansson of the Abilene Christian University Wildcats in the 1976 game against East Texas State University Lions (now Texas A&M University–Commerce) in Shotwell Stadium, Abilene, Texas.[13]

text: NFL[edit]

text: The longest field goal made was 64 yards by Matt Prater of the Denver Broncos on December 8, 2013.[14] The longest field goal attempt in an NFL game was 76 yards by Sebastian Janikowski on September 28, 2008.[15]

text: In the history of the NFL regular season, only 18 field goals have been made from at least 60 yards:[16]

text:
Distance
Kicker
Team
Result
Opposition
Date
Notes
Location
Elevation
Weather

64 yards
Matt Prater
Denver Broncos
51–28
Tennessee Titans
December 8, 2013
End of 1st half
Sports Authority Field at Mile High
5,280 ft (1,610 m)
13 °F; Sunny; Wind: S at 3 mph; Humidity: 72%

63 yards
Tom Dempsey
New Orleans Saints
19–17
Detroit Lions
November 8, 1970
Born with a stub for a right foot. Game-winning kick as time expired. Detroit kicker Errol Mann had kicked a field goal with :08 remaining to give Lions the lead.
Tulane Stadium
16 ft (4.9 m)

63 yards
Jason Elam
Denver Broncos
37–24
Jacksonville Jaguars
October 25, 1998
First field goal to tie record; soccer-style kicker
Mile High Stadium
5,280 ft (1,610 m)

63 yards
Sebastian Janikowski
Oakland Raiders
23–20
Denver Broncos
September 12, 2011
left-footed
Sports Authority Field at Mile High
5,280 ft (1,610 m)
Light rain early

63 yards
David Akers
San Francisco 49ers
30–22
Green Bay Packers
September 9, 2012
left-footed; end of first half; ball bounced off crossbar before crossing the plane
Lambeau Field
640 ft (200 m)
70 °F; Mostly Cloudy; Wind: N at 7 mph; Humidity: 43%

62 yards
Matt Bryant
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
23–21
Philadelphia Eagles
October 22, 2006
game-winning kick as time expired
Raymond James Stadium
35 ft (11 m)

61 yards
Sebastian Janikowski
Oakland Raiders
9–23
Cleveland Browns
December 27, 2009
left-footed
FirstEnergy Stadium
580 ft (180 m)

61 yards
Jay Feely
Arizona Cardinals
16–19 (OT)
Buffalo Bills
October 14, 2012
right-footed; longest game-tying field goal with 1:09 remaining in the 4th quarter, missed a 38-yard field goal that would have won the game at the end of regulation
University of Phoenix Stadium
1,150 ft (350 m)
Retractable roof closed

61 yards
Justin Tucker
Baltimore Ravens
18–16
Detroit Lions
December 16, 2013
Right-footed; game-winning field goal with 43 seconds remaining; sixth field goal of the game
Ford Field
601 ft (183 m)[17]
Dome

61 yards
Greg Zuerlein
St. Louis Rams
18–21 (OT)
Minnesota Vikings
November 8, 2015
Right-footed
TCF Bank Stadium
869 ft (265 m)
58 °F (14 °C); sunny

61 yards
Jake Elliott
Philadelphia Eagles
27–24
New York Giants
September 24, 2017
Right-footed; game winning kick as time expired. Second game of NFL career.
Lincoln Financial Field
39 ft (12 m)
91 °F (33 °C); sunny

60 yards
Steve Cox
Cleveland Browns
9–12
Cincinnati Bengals
October 21, 1984
straight-ahead kick; on AstroTurf
Riverfront Stadium
490 ft (150 m)

60 yards
Morten Andersen
New Orleans Saints
17–20
Chicago Bears
October 27, 1991
left-footed; on AstroTurf; first 60-yard kick done indoors
Louisiana Superdome
Sea level
Dome

60 yards
Rob Bironas
Tennessee Titans
20–17
Indianapolis Colts
December 3, 2006
Right-footed; game winner with six seconds remaining
LP Field
400 ft (120 m)

60 yards
Dan Carpenter
Miami Dolphins
10–13
Cleveland Browns
December 5, 2010
End of 1st half
Sun Life Stadium
5 ft (1.5 m)
77 °F (25 °C), wind SW at 14 mph (23 km/h)

60 yards
Greg Zuerlein
St. Louis Rams
19–13
Seattle Seahawks
September 30, 2012
in his rookie season ; longest field goal in third quarter; also kicked a 58-yard field goal in the first quarter
Edward Jones Dome
466 ft (142 m)
Dome

60 yards
Chandler Catanzaro
Arizona Cardinals
18–33
Buffalo Bills
September 25, 2016
longest field goal in career
New Era Field
600 ft (180 m)

text: Prior to Dempsey's 1970 kick, the longest field goal in NFL history was a 56-yard field goal by Bert Rechichar in 1953. A 55-yard field goal, achieved by a drop kick, was recorded by Paddy Driscoll in 1924, and stood as the unofficial record until that point; some sources indicate a 54-yarder by Glenn Presnell in 1934 as the record, due to the inability to precisely verify Driscoll's 55-yarder.

text: In a pre-season NFL game between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks on August 29, 2002, Ola Kimrin kicked a 65-yard field goal.[18] However, because pre-season games are not counted toward official records, this accomplishment is not the official record.

text: CFL[edit]

text:
62 yards, Paul McCallum, Saskatchewan Roughriders vs. Edmonton Eskimos, October 27, 2001[19]
60 yards, Dave Ridgway, Saskatchewan Roughriders vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers, September 6, 1987[19]

text: College football[edit]

text:
69 yards, Ove Johansson, Abilene Christian vs. East Texas State on October 16, 1976. (NAIA)
67 yards, Tom Odle, Fort Hays State vs. Washburn, 1988. (NCAA)
67 yards, Joe Williams, Wichita State vs. Southern Illinois, 1978. (NCAA Division I)
67 yards, Russell Erxleben, Texas vs. Rice, 1977. (NCAA Division I)
67 yards, Steve Little, Arkansas vs. Texas, 1977.[20] (NCAA Division I)
65 yards, J. T. Haxall, Princeton vs. Yale, 1882.

text: All of the above kicks were successful with the use of a kicking tee, which was banned by the NCAA prior to the 1989 season.

text: 65 yards, Martin Gramatica, Kansas State vs. Northern Illinois, 1998 - without a tee [21]

text: The longest known drop-kicked field goal in college football was a 62-yard kick from Pat O'Dea, an Australian kicker who played on the Wisconsin Badgers football team. O'Dea's kick took place in a blizzard against Northwestern on November 15, 1898.[22]

text: U Sports[edit]

text: The longest field goal in U Sports football history is 57 yards, by Jerry Foster of St. Mary's Huskies, playing against the Mount Allison Mounties on October 18, 1986.[23]

text: High school[edit]

text:
68 yards, Dirk Borgognone, Reno High School vs. Sparks High School (Nevada), September 27, 1985[24][25]
67 yards, Austin Rehkow, Central Valley High School (Spokane Valley, Washington) vs. Shadle Park High School (Spokane, Washington), October 18, 2012, game-tying FG with :02 left in 4th quarter (CV would go on to win 62-55). [26][27] (tied with two others)
62 yards, David Rosenbaum, Woodrow Wilson High School (Washington, D.C.) vs. Spingarn High School, October 3, 2003. While no records are kept, considered to be the longest extra point scored. Penalties due to excessive celebration, unsportsmanlike conduct, and taunting.[28]

text: Independent amateur[edit]

text: 68 yards, Fabrizio Scaccia, Treasure Coast Bobcats (FL), March 29, 2009[29] (world record for a kick without the aid of a tee, which was banned for field goal attempts in the NCAA in 1989)

text: Independent Women's Football League[edit]

text: 44 yards, Sarah Oliver, California Quake vs. New Mexico Menace, April 26, 2008.[30]

text: Longest missed field goal return records[edit]

text: NFL[edit]

text: Field goal returns are rare in the NFL, since an attempt with sufficient distance that misses the uprights will automatically be dead. Returns are possible when a field goal is short, but in that case returners will usually down the ball so as to scrimmage from the spot of the kick. Normally, a return will only be attempted when there is not enough time left in the half to run a play from scrimmage. Nevertheless, four field goals have been returned for at least 107 yards in the 21st century:

text:
Distance returned
Returner
Team
Opposing kicker
Opposing team
Distance attempted
Date
Location

109 yards[31]
Antonio Cromartie
San Diego Chargers
Ryan Longwell
Minnesota Vikings
58 yards
November 4, 2007
Metrodome

108 yards[32]
Devin Hester
Chicago Bears
Jay Feely
New York Giants
52 yards
November 12, 2006
Giants Stadium

108 yards[33]
Nathan Vasher
Chicago Bears
Joe Nedney
San Francisco 49ers
52 yards
November 13, 2005
Soldier Field

107 yards[34]
Chris McAlister
Baltimore Ravens
Jason Elam
Denver Broncos
57 yards
September 30, 2002
Ravens Stadium

text: CFL[edit]

text: Because the goalposts in Canadian football are on the goal line, and because downing the ball in the end zone results in the kicking team scoring a single point, field goal returns are much more common. The longest missed field goal return in the CFL is 131 total yards. Against the Montreal Alouettes on August 22, 1958, the Toronto Argonauts' Boyd Carter ran 15 yards, then threw a lateral to Dave Mann, who then returned it for the final 116 yards.[35] This return, which started 21 yards behind the goal line, was during the era of 25-yard end zones and therefore cannot be met or exceeded on the modern field with 20-yard end zones. Since the shortening of the end zones, a field goal has been returned for the maximum 129 yards on two occasions: by Tristan Jackson of the Saskatchewan Roughriders on July 14, 2012 [36] and by Trent Guy of the Montreal Alouettes on September 23, 2012.[37]

text: NCAA[edit]

text: In NCAA college football, only five missed field goals returns for touchdowns have ever been returned 100 yards or more:[38]

text:
September 17, 1966: Don Guest (California Golden Bears), 108-yard return for a touchdown after a failed 47-yard field goal attempt by Washington State.[38]
September 28, 1968: Richie Luzzi (Clemson Tigers), 108-yard return for a touchdown after a failed 47-yard field goal attempt by Georgia.[39]
September 7, 2013: Odell Beckham Jr. (LSU Tigers), 109-yard return for a touchdown after a failed 59-yard field goal attempt by UAB.[38]
November 30, 2013: Chris Davis, Jr. (Auburn Tigers), 109-yard return for a touchdown after what would have been a tie-breaking 57-yard field goal attempt by Alabama fell short as time expired, what some writers and fans call the greatest play in college football history.[40][41][42][43]
September 3, 2016: Brandon Wilson (Houston Cougars), 109-yard return for a touchdown after a failed 53-yard field goal attempt by Oklahoma.[44]

text: U Sports[edit]

text: In U Sports football, the longest possible missed field goal return is 129 yards, and this has occurred three times.[23]

text:
Jeremy Botelho of the Manitoba Bisons playing against the Simon Fraser Clansmen on September 11, 2009
Jedd Gardner of the Guelph Gryphons playing against the McMaster Marauders on October 8, 2010
Tunde Adeleke of the Carleton Ravens playing against the Ottawa Gee-Gees on October 5, 2013