Who are the Knights of St. John (when it comes to Faires)

The Order of the Knights of St. John in this article is about the Ren-community/cross-faire honorific order of Knighthood (and not to be confused with either the California Reenactment Guild of the Knights of St. John, or the Real-World contemporary Order of Knighthood or it’s branches).

Given the acting, recreation, and construct that is the current Renaissance Faire scene in the United States, there are a range of Knighthoods running around. Many groups and orginizations have their own, each recognizing various achievements by it’s members. Those can range from simply being a member of a group, to being honors for achievement, service, merit, battle, or any other criteria.

In the mid-80s, Ken Weipert (former Guildmaster of Clan Iain Abrach MacIain), and Theo d’Estes (former Guildmaster of St. Andrews) came up with the idea for an honorary order which was a peer-granted recognition of long service not just to any one group, but to the wider faire-community. They could be individuals who helped bring various groups together to help them perform better, or those volunteer coordinators that went from faire to faire helping wrangle cats to create the magic when everyone else was fast asleep or still partying on. As such they formed the Knights of St. John, and began bringing Knights into the order as time passed.

There are now over 150 knights in the book, many long having left regular service at faires, and over a third women (with more being added in the last several years as the Dames of the Order formed their own council to help identify and nurture those individuals who were most adept at helping grow their groups and the faires as a whole).

The Order isn’t about special privledges or being a Knight at faire (many KoSJJ knights are characters that are peasents, ottomans, or others who simply would not have any reason to ‘play’ a knight) - it’s about honoring those who have spent years working hard so that others may play - so that the audience has a better experience - and so that the vendors, staff, and performers at faires of all kinds get something more out of the experience than they had before those individuals came into it.

Ranging from Washington to Southern California, and East to Utah and Nevada, the Order is now working to branch out, to identify candidates to help begin Priories in other areas of the Country. If you know of people who would be good candidates, either as Knights or Dames (they can be vendors, performers, producers, staff, or anyone who helps create one or more faires), please drop us a note.

Bill Watters
Grand Master, Knights of St. John of Jerusalem