In this contribution, we meet Ysebrand Landfried, an impoverished knight and crusader from the thirteenth century. Noah Hackl created the character for historical live-action roleplay, drawing inspiration from the Morgan Bible and stories of the crusades, among other sources. His life story takes him from a youth full of chivalric ideals to the harsh reality of the Albigensian Crusade. Noah also describes the clothing, weapons and equipment that bring Ysebrand to life.
Noah’s story:
Fallen crusader Ysebrand
My character is the thirteenth-century impoverished knight and crusader Ysebrand Landfried. I created him so that I could one day take part in historical live-action roleplay. I was particularly inspired to create him after seeing the Morgan Bible, also known as the Crusader Bible and the Maciejowski Bible. Since childhood I have always been fascinated by the crusades, not only through Crusade in Jeans but also through Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven. Perhaps not the most historically accurate sources, but the stories captured my imagination. Later I learned about all kinds of crusades that took place, not only towards the Holy Land but also elsewhere within Europe, such as in eastern Europe around the Baltic states. There the knights of the Teutonic Order fought Europe’s last ‘pagans’. And of course in southern France, where the Cathars were exterminated on the orders of the controversial Pope Innocent III. It is a grim period, and therefore a fascinating setting for a character.
My sources of inspiration
Ysebrand grew up in the western Holy Roman Empire at the end of the twelfth century, surrounded by stories of successful and less successful crusades to the Holy Land. His head was filled with images of mysterious places in the east where he could be a hero. I imagine he already pictured himself climbing over Jerusalem’s walls like the knights of the First Crusade. As the youngest son in the large family of a wealthy nobleman, he was naturally destined for the priesthood. But his perceptive mother had long realised that the clumsy, adventurous Ysebrand was not made for that life. Thanks to her, he had the chance to become a page at the court of one of the vassals of Odo III, Duke of Burgundy. He showed himself at his best and became squire to the knight Robert Lamarck. Just in time, too, as the first Albigensian Crusade was about to begin.
Papal legate Arnaud Aumury led this crusade, and Odo III set out with his retinue to finally convert or kill the apostate Cathars. Ysebrand wanted nothing more than to prove himself on a crusade, and although this one did not go to Jerusalem, the Pope considered it just as important. But it did not become the honourable and exciting adventure he had hoped for. When the crusader army besieged Béziers and the inhabitants refused to surrender the Cathars, every man, woman and child in the city was slaughtered. It is said that when a soldier asked the papal envoy Amaury how to distinguish Catholics from Cathars, he replied: ‘Kill them all. God will know his own.’ This true hell on earth destroys all Ysebrand’s ideas of chivalry as he finds himself having to follow Lamarck into an outright massacre. After serving Lamarck for years until his death at the siege of Toulouse, Ysebrand was knighted, but the title no longer meant anything to him. Conflicted about his knighthood and impoverished by debauchery and drinking, he wanders Europe in search of a purpose.
Knight Ysebrand with his sword (Hartmut by Mytholon) and a Templars Enclosed Helmet. He wears a gambeson, hose and braies, with a mail coif beneath his helmet. The belt is not entirely historically accurate, but good enough until I buy the medieval leather belt from Celtic Webmerchant.
What will become of the newly knighted yet disillusioned Ysebrand? Will he become a cold-hearted mercenary in the wars to come, or an honourable knight protecting the innocent? Will he lay down his weapons and choose an honest life as a labourer, or turn to robbery and make the roads of France unsafe? Who can say…
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