The Grand Master is the leader of the Knights of Solamnia. According to the Measure, the Grand Master is elected by each circle of knights sending two representatives. Seventy percent of all circles must send representatives for the election to go forward. The representatives form the Grand Circle of the Knighthood at the Whitestone Glade. They then make nominations and the three knights with the most nominations get to speak. After that all knights vote privately and the one with the most votes becomes the next Grand Master.

At the beginning of the War of the Lance, there was no Grand Master because there weren't enough members of to convene a Grand Circle to elect a new commander.

Past Grand Masters

• Vinas Solamnus (1775 PC - ?) founded the nation of Solamnia following the Rose Rebellion. He then founded the Knights of Solamnia to serve as warriors to serve and defend the nation with honor.
• Gregori uth Telan (? - 1634 PC) sent emissaries to Hylo requesting the kender stop the Knights of Balif thinking it was mocking the Knights of Solamnia.

Unknown Number of Grand Masters

• Trake of Baxtrey (? - 1018 PC) was the Grand Master of Knights during the Third Dragon War. He died as a result of the treachery of Rennard Oathbreaker, a fellow Knight of Solamnia who was secretly a cleric of Morgion. Rennard had been slowly poisioning Trake for a significant period of time, and the god of disease finally caught up with him.
• Oswal of Baxtrey (1018 PC - c. 1013 PC) succeeded his brother Trake as the Grand Master, following Trake's death. Rennard attempted to kill him as well, but was exposed and hunted down by the knights before he succeeded. Unknown Number of Grand Masters

• Leopold Gwyn Davis (c. 4 PC - c. 1 PC) was the Grand Master who put Loren Soth on trial for his crimes. Sir Leopold's fate after the Cataclysm is unknown, but he was the last Grand Master until Gunthar rose to power over 300 years later. Following the Cataclysm, there was no longer a Grand Master.

• Gunthar Uth Wistan (355 AC - 392 AC) became acting Grand Master in 352 AC near the end of the War of the Lance, and was officially elected by a Knight's Council in 355 AC. After his official election, he ordered that the Measure be revised to allow for more flexibility and to reflect the reality of the changing world. Both he and Liam Ehrling spent significant time working to revise the Measure prior to Gunthar's death. Gunthar was murdered as he worked to combine the orders of the Knights of Solamnia and the Knights of Takhisis.

• Liam Ehrling (392 AC - 424 AC) succeeded Gunthar uth Wistan as Grand Master following the latter's murder. Liam was instrumental in assisting Gunthar in his revision of the present-day Measure. Liam died of old age.

Current Grand Master

• Goddard Tasgall (424 AC to present) became the acting Grand Master until a full council could be summoned.

Alternate Sources

For roughly 1,500 years of the history of the Knights of Solamnia, nothing is definitively known about the individuals who held the title of Grand Master. While there is no authoritative published source on the subject, this article does contain a list of Grand Masters, created by the author.

References

• The Annotated Dragonlance Chronicles, Dragons of Spring Dawning (Novel)
• Dragonlance Campaign Setting (Sourcebook)
• Dragons of the Highlord Skies (PB) p. 38, 78
• Heroes of Defiance (Sourcebook), Book One, p. 90
• Knightly Orders of Ansalon (Sourcebook), p. 47-48
• The Legend of Huma (Novel)
• Lord Soth (Novel)
• The Rose and the Skull (Novel)
• Vinas Solamnus (Novel)