The Ehrentisch (Table of Honor) was a ceremonial institution developed by the Teutonic Order in Prussia as a means of honoring selected Western knights who participated in its campaigns against the pagan Lithuanians. It was probably established around 1350, possibly during the grand mastership of Winrich von Kniprode (1352-1382).
The Ehrentisch was hosted by the grand master, and
Organized by the order’s marshal, who sometimes also deputized for the grand master. Usually the ceremony was held in Konigsberg (mod. Kaliningrad, Russia) before a campaign started, but in exceptional cases it might also be held in other places during or after campaigns. The last known Ehrentisch took place in 1400; it cannot be verified whether a few later announcements actually led to events.
Only knights who had come to Prussia to fight against the Lithuanians at their own expense were eligible to sit at the Ehrentisch. A small number of them, usually ten to fourteen, were chosen by heralds who had seen them at venues of chivalric warfare, important tournaments, or famous destinations of pilgrimage (especially the Holy Land, Spain, or Rome). These distinguished knights were placed at a special table and ranked according to their chivalric achievements (in contrast to the Arthurian Round Table). They were specially served during the meal and received shoulder badges on which the motto “Honor conquers all” was written in golden letters.
The few participants known by name mostly came from the lesser nobility. The other “guests” of the order who had come at their own expense attended the meal at ordinary tables; those who served for payment were excluded from the event. The Prussian Ehrentisch added luster to the order’s campaigns and increased the fame of the participants. It was well known throughout Europe: when the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer listed the exploits of his exemplary warrior in the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, he included the fact that the knight had often begun the “board” (i. e., sat in the seat of honor) in Prussia.
-Axel Ehlers
Bibliography
Cook, Albert S., “Beginning the Board in Prussia,” Journal of English and Germanic Philology 14 (1915), 375-388.
Keen, Maurice, Chivalry, 2d printing (with corrections) (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984).
Paravicini, Werner, Die Preufienreisen des europdischen Adels,
2 vols. (Sigmaringen: Thorbecke, 1989-1995).
World History
