Chapter Klabotermann to Knights of K by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Knight of the Blade, a bully; so called because, when swords were worn, a bully was for ever asserting his opinions by an appeal to his sword.

Knight of the Burning Pestle, a comedy in ridicule of chivalrous romance, by F. Beaumont (1611).

Knight of the Ebon Spear, Britmart. In the great tournament she “sends sir Artegal ove r his horse’s tail,” then disposes of Cambel, Triamond, Blandamour, and several others in the same summary way, for “no man could bide her enchanted spear.”—Spenser: Faërie Queene, iv. 4 (1596).

Knight of the Fatal Sword, Emedorus of Granada. Known for his love to the incomparable Alzayda.

“Sir,” said the lady, “your name is so celebrated in the world, that I am persuaded nothing is impossible for your arm to execute.”—Comtesse D’Aulnoy: Fairy Tales (“The Knights-Errant,” 1682).

Knight of the Invincible Sword. So Amadis of Gaul styled himself.—Vasco de Lobeira: Amadis of Gaul (fourteenth century). He cleft in twain, at one stroke, two tremendous giants.

Knight of the Leopard. David earl of Huntingdon, prince royal of Scotland, assumed the name and disguise of sir Kenneth, “Knight of the Leopard,” in the crusade.—Sir W. Scott: The Talisman (time, Richard I.).

Knight of the Lions, the appellation assumed by don Quixote after his attack upon the van containing two lions sent by the general of Oran as a present to the king of Spain.—Cervantes: Don Quixote, II. i. 17 (1615).

Knight of the Pestle, an apothecary or druggist.

Knight of the Pestle an apothecary or druggist.

Knight of the Post, one who haunted the purlieus of the courts, ready to be hired to swear anything. So called because these mercenaries hung about the posts to which the sheriffs affixed their announcements.

I’ll be no knight of the post, to sell my soul for a bribe;
Tho’ all my fortunes be crossed, yet I scorn the cheater’s tribe.
   —Ragged and Torn and True (a ballad).

Also a man in the pillory, or one that has been publicly tied to a post and whipped.

Knight of the Rainbow, a footman; so called from his gorgeous raiment.

Knight of the Roads, a foot-pad or highwayman; so termed by a pun on the military order entitled “The Knights of Rhodes.”

Knight of the Rueful Countenance. Don Quixote de la Mancha, the hero of Cervantes’s novel, is so called by Sancho Panza his ’squire.

Knight of the Shears, a tailor, Shires (counties), pronounced shears, gives birth to the pun.

Knight of the Sun, Almanzor prince of Tunis. So called because the sun was the device he bore on his shield.—Comtesse D’Aulnoy: Fairy Tales (“Princess Zamea,” 1682).

Knight of the Swan, Lohengrin, son of Parzival. He went to Brabant in a ship drawn by a swan. Here he liberated the princess Elsen, who was a captive, and then married her, but declined to tell his name. After a time, he joined an expedition against the Hungarians, and after performing miracles of valour, returned to Brabant covered with glory. Some of Elsen’s friends laughed at her for not knowing her husband’s name, so she implored him to tell her of his family; but no sooner was the question asked than the white