In 1191, during the Third Crusade, Saladin demolished the city of Ascalon in the Holy Lands because of its potential strategic importance to the Christians, but the leader of the Crusade, King Richard I of England (Richard The Lionheart), constructed a citadel upon the ruins. Legend has it that sometime during 1192 skirmishes took place between the opposing factions as they attempted to negotiate a settlement to the conflict. Richard Parsons (or Persons) was one of the King’s own body of battle axe guards. He saved the life of King Richard at Ascalon, where he killed two of the enemy with a single blow of his battle-axe. He was knighted in the field by King Richard and was granted three tigers heads for his arms and a battle-axe for his crest. His motto, being his own words on that day, that he fought for God and his King, Pro Deo et Rege. No historical accounts or heraldic registers of the era record this however and it is not surprising due to the tumultuous times and the trouble the King encountered while returning to England, meaning that many battlefield knighthoods went unrecorded. Records subsequent to The Domesday Book mention a William Persons who was living in County Norfolk in 1273. The current documents available show a Sir Richard Parsons of Antingham in Norfolk in the 17th year of Edward III, 1344. By this time the name had been anglicised to Parsons. John Parson is recorded as Rector of Yaxham, County Norfolk in 1425.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 23:16:06 +0000
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