To give him a chance at a better life, his father, Lord Anghel of Ordo Negrum Equites, placed him at the tender age of eight and a half under the tutelage of Sir Ector, a French nobleman, as a young lad. When Sir Hector died after a freak blow to the head at a small-town jousting meet (c. 1450), Hernandos, now 20 and a squire with excellent swordsmanship skills, took the opportunity to compete in the final bout in his stead. After taking a blow to the head which bent his helmet onto his head, he used this to avoid showing his face at the award ceremony. Having decided to compete in the next tournament, he created the alias of Sir Ulrich von Liechtenstein, of Gelderland, to pass as a noble. His meeting with Geoffrey Chaucer, on the road to Rouen, provided him with an herald capable of for