by Simon Black
Sovereign Man
In the year 1348, after more than a decade of war with France, Kind Edward III of England noticed that many knights who returned home from the front lines had become completely impoverished.
The war had taken a massive financial toll on Edward’s men. Some of them had been captured in battle and forced to sell all of their property in order to ransom themselves. Others had become grievously wounded, and their permanent disabilities prevented them from earning a living.
So the King created a special foundation to care for some of these men, who became known as the ‘Poor Knights’.
Those who were admitted into the foundation received an annual pension of 40 shillings, worth roughly $3,000 in today’s money, plus free room and board at the College of St. George.