Edward Windsford

March 1, 1189

 

Hello journal. The month is March. I am currently living on a small piece of land in England given to me from Lord Stanley. He is the first and only Lord I have pledged my loyalty to so far. Mrs. Windsford and I currently have two boys, a six-year-old and five year old. Samuel who is six has a birthday in April and will go to train to be a knight soon after. My youngest son Jonathon is jealous that his older brother will be attending his training to be a knight and that he still has to wait two years. I feel that my wife is finding it somewhat difficult to accept that her first son will be going to train to be a knight. She feels he is still too young and not yet ready. I feel much differently since I began training at his age, but telling my wife this does nothing and usually ends in an argument. I am now tired as it is quite late and I need to get to bed since I have to get up early.

 

April 1,1189

 

Hello journal. It is now April and it seems just like yesterday I was talking to you. My oldest son Samuel turned seven last weekend. His birthday was fun and he enjoyed spending the day with the family. He is getting packed and ready to leave for his training to become a night. Samuel is excited for his training and I am excited too, but my wife isn’t to excited and still wishes he didn’t have to leave yet. Samuel’s younger brother Jonathon has been sad since he won’t be seeing his brother for a while. I think he is a little disappointed he isn’t the one that is packing for his training to become a knight, but I reminded him that his time would come. I am going to enter the local jousting tournament that will be held next week. I am very excited about the tournament. My wife doesn’t want me to enter the tournament since knights have been known to die, but I told her I need the practice and the prize money. Then I can purchase some knew equipment. Once she was reminded of this her opinions on the situation soon changed. Even though I am very excited for the tournament, I am just as nervous. I really need to win the tournament since my current armor can’t protect me well enough against the new and more powerful crossbows.

 

May 1, 1189

 

Hello journal. The month is now May. The jousting tournament that happened in the last week of April was a huge success and I finished in first place. The prize money gave me enough to pay for my new armor. This new armor is really quite amazing. It’s the same weight as my old armor but can now stop event the most powerful crossbow from penetrating my armor. I am not yet sure what I will do with the old armor since it is old.  I will probably just give it to the blacksmith to see if he can alter it and then sell it to another knight. Since I finished the tournament in first place, I got more money than expected. I was able to add more money to the money I had saved to buy yet another horse. I will want as many horses as possible if we go to war soon. I am now considering to pledge loyalty to another Lord because I will need more land. Once I get another horse, my hope is to be able to keep one of the older horses hear so I can teach Jonathon how to ride before he attends his training. I have spoken with Samuel only once since he left. He told us he loved everyone and that he missed us. He said he has been doing very well and that he is one of the better fighters and riders in his training camp. He also told me to tell his mom that he was fine and that only a few of the boys were older than he was. Well I must now retire and go to sleep, goodnight.

 

June 1, 1189

 

Hello journal. It is now the month of June. Summer seems to have arrived and the days are getting hotter and longer. I have now almost saved up enough money to buy another horse so I will be pledging my loyalty to my second Lord tomorrow. I hope all goes well and that I do indeed get another piece of land.  The land we are on now is getting to be quite crowded for my younger son Jonathon, my wife and I.  My oldest horse Brownie died last night, which means my hopes of teaching Jonathon how to ride, is now ruined. I now need to raise the money for a new horse. I now only have four young healthy horses. I will miss Brownie, because she was my first horse and my favorite.  Jonathon is also sad since he will not be able to ride Brownie and be taught how to ride by me. I told him that he would learn to ride at his training, but he was still upset and mad I wouldn’t be teaching him. Well I must be going to bed as I am pledging loyalty to Lord Fredrick.

 

July 1, 1189

 

Hello journal. It is now July. My last entry left off with thoughts of wondering how my meeting with Lord Fredrick would go. Well I have good news. Lord Fredrick accepted my pledge of loyalty and gave me a piece of land that nearly doubled my current piece of land. There are now miles for my horses to run and exercise. Another great thing that happened is that I saved enough money to buy myself another horse.  This gives me a total of five young healthy horses. They are all equally capable of carrying all of my armor and me. I do have a bit of bad news to report. Samuel is now currently injured from falling off his horse and breaking his arm. He told me that they have taken good care of him and that he is very anxious to get back to training. He told me that he has already learned so much. He has learned how to care for his weapons and what not to do with them. He said that he has become very skilled in fighting and that him falling and breaking his arm was an accident. I told his mother all of this and she was very upset and worried when I said Samuel had broken his arm. She soon calmed down and was happy to hear that he was having a good time. I am greatly worried about the amount of fighting that is going on North of us, we may be sent out for battle.

 

August 1, 1189

 

Hello journal. The month is now August and summer seems to be coming to a close. I have some horrible news to tell you and that is that we will be setting out for war next month. My wife is heart broken that I will be leaving. I told her that I would be back soon and she should enjoy the last few weeks before I leave. I will have a lot of work to do before I go. I must get my new armor out of storage and polish it up so it has a nice shine on it. I will also be preparing my horses by making sure they get extra food and that their horse shoes are on securely and not worn out. I will then be gathering some blankets and getting together other items I will need. I am pretty nervous since this will be my first battle in a few years. I am also worried since the number of deaths that knights have had in the last few wars has been quite great. I guess I will now be going to bed as I have a busy couple of weeks ahead of me.

 

September 1, 1189

 

Hello journal. It is now the month of September and I have left home. We are now hiking to the location of where we will be setting up camp. I am very tired from our hike today and we will continue hiking for another three days until we reach our destination. I have no way of communicating with the family and have not heard from Samuel either. He should be better now and ready to continue his training. My horses are taking the hike very well so far and are still in good health. I am glad I brought more than one blanket, it is a cold night out and will only be getting colder as we progress. I am a bit hungry as the meal was not very big but I must get used to it because it will be like this for the next few months. It is now late and I will have to go to bed since we will have a long day tomorrow.

 

October 1, 1189

 

Hello journal. It is now October. We have now reached our location and have begun to fight. After our first day of battle we had 20 casualties. This frightens me since this was the first day of many days of fighting. This makes me think and wonder if I will be lucky and fortunate not to get hurt or even killed. Our men are in good shape for now, but if the battles continue to be as gruesome and as fierce as they were today, then I question how much longer our troops can go on without surrendering. Our food supplies and water supplies will only last us so long and then we will have to surrender. I am sore from the day’s battles and still hungry. After our meal I question how long I can continue this daily routine of fighting. Nightfall has now reached and I just now realized how long I have been writing in my journal. I am now the only knight still awake, the rest have somehow found a way to sleep. I must leave now and try to fall asleep. I will need the rest for the battle tomorrow.

 

November 1, 1189

 

Hello journal. The month is now November. I am afraid I have only a little good news to report. I have now been badly injured and have developed a case of the flu. My left arm has been badly injured from the powerful blow given to me from the opposing knight in battle. My wife will soon be informed of my condition and will most likely not sleep until my arrival home. The flu I have seems to be going around the camp. Many men seem to have developed the symptoms of it. The change in seasons is not a good thing either. The nights and days are growing much colder because it is winter. The only positive news I have to write is that the enemy is beginning to retreat from Lord Fredrick’s land. We will be heading home if all stays the same before the winter weather becomes much worse.

 

 

December 1, 1189

 

Hello Journal. The month is now December. I have nothing but good news to tell in this month’s entry. We have recently arrived home from the war and were victorious in defending Lord Fredrick’s land. My wife is now at ease with me being home from the war and is even happier to see that my arm is improving. I am very relieved that I came home alive and that I am in good health. I am also happy my five horses are still in good health as well. My wife has informed me that Samuel is doing well in training and is now back to the camps daily routine after his mishap. Jonathon’s birthday is coming up and we are all looking forward to that. He will be six years old. We will now be spending a lot of time inside our house as winter is becoming quite fierce.

 

 

 

Kevin Young

Mr. Haskell

History E-core

October 11, 2004