The 16th century, the end of the middle ages. The great Plague routes much of England, Copernicus declares the Sun is the center of the solar system and not the Earth and Martin Luther nails his 95 thesis on a church door in Saxony declaring the start of the protestant reformation. Although wars were still very common, Henry the VIII defeats the French, Cortes invades Mexico; things were starting to change in the world. Magellan was killed in the Philippines, the Ottomans took control, the Ming Dynasty gains more power in China. Anyway, this is the back drop to the fact that putting on Armor was very common place among men. However, less and less for medieval style battles. However, people still had to had to have someone stand behind them and put the buckle to their Armor. Yes, armor was buckled on.
When you needed an act of bravery, when you were ready to test your skills in a contest, you might often use the phrase that you needed to buckle to. Yes, I need the buckle to. Meaning, I needed to gird my loins and get ready for battle.
As the brutal medieval type wars slowed down, by no means did they stop. The Ottomans expended their empire, those pesty Scottish were still causing problems. The French would not give up, several Pope’s came to blows and Ann Boleyn lost her head. However, by the time the 18th century rolled into being, people were becoming much more civilized. The brutal contests that were common were in the streets by common children playing a new game, called Marbles. Yes, you might remember Marbles. I think I am old enough where this was still a bit of thing when I was young. Nowadays, Marbles are outlawed as choking hazards and considered relics of the past. However, when boys would play marbles they had to exhibit a lot of bravery when they would go to battle. You see, you could really lose all your marbles in a contest and that was bad.
You may not remember, but I do. One of the rules of the contest is that you had to kneel down to shoot when it was your turn. You were required to place a knuckle on the ground, and this indicated the proper stance for play. You had to place a knuckle down, and that indicated it was your turn to shoot, to try to knock your opponents marble out of the circle made in the dirt or drawn with chalk on the ground. It did not take very long, for the age old terms of bravery in the days of chivalry to make its way to the dusty streets of London. Pretty soon, young boys who were ready to go to battle, had to buckle down. You get it? You see the phrase buckle to did not make much sense any more, but putting a knuckle down did. There you have it, buckle down.
So, you ready to throw all your marbles in and buckle down!
Lets go!
Guy Reams
