a deep and abiding respect for tradition. This is not to say that Mary-
land lives in the past. You have only to look around you here—
at its teeming cities, its wealth of commerce and industry, its abundant
agriculture—to understand that Maryland lives in the present for the
future.

But we Marylanders do, I think, possess a special gift in our desire
and determination to preserve that part of our past which is meaningful.
It is fashionable nowadays to look with disdain upon the customs,
ideas and way of living of the people of past ages. The very term
"medieval" is used contemptuously to denote backwardness and de-
terioration. This is the meaningful part of the Middle Ages which we,
by reviving the traditions of knighthood, hope to conserve in our modern
life.

Such values as honor, duty, loyalty, and courage were so highly
prized in this "middle era" of our history that victory without them
was shameful. Battles were fought under rules and forms rigidly pre-
scribed. Any deviation from the forms and rules would bring the con-
tempt of the world down upon the head of the offender. Let us
contrast this attitude with the modern concept of warfare, where
madmen let loose by the force of circumstance are willing to wipe
out a whole race—men, women and children—to gratify a whim or an
insane ambition. We have had to invent a new word, "genocide, " to de-
scribe this total disintegration of moral and ethical principles which we
observed in a world war which most of us here remember vividly.

As we gather for this tournament, then, let us rekindle the spirit
of the medieval knight. Let us revive the ancient virtues of honor,
gallantry, loyalty, and duty to better serve us in a tormented age.

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