9 misconceptions about real knights that movies and TV series imposed on us

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The whole truth about heavy armor, war horses, huge castles and the treatment of beautiful ladies.

1. The armor of the knights was so heavy …

Usually we imagine a knight as a huge mountain of rumbling iron on horseback and with a lance at the ready. It is believed that the knight is such a medieval tank. He is invulnerable and hits very hard, but if he accidentally falls, he is no longer able to get to his feet without the help of a couple of squires (and preferably a crane): his armor is so heavy and uncomfortable.

In fact, a full plate of hardened steel weighed 15-25 kg. This is a helmet, shoulder pads, gorget, mittens, cuirass, chain mail skirt, leggings, boots and some other little things.

All the same, the severity is considerable, you say? But thanks to the even distribution of weight over the body, the owner of the armor could not only walk freely, but also run and jump, and even stand up on his own if he suddenly fell. Some even knew how to perform all sorts of tricks in their armor - for example, dance or walk with a wheel!

Having forced modern people to run in armor on a treadmill, scientists have found that, although wearing armor increases the load, a prepared owner will be quite comfortable in it.

By the way, the knights' swords also weighed not much - 1–1, 5 kg.

In this video, you can see how modern explorers, wearing faithfully recreated replicas of medieval armor, walk, fall, stand, jump and fight.

So the knights were not at all clumsy and clumsy. True, they rang like cans, but in battle this is not a problem. Maybe it was possible to reduce the noise by covering yourself with a surcoat - this is a sleeveless cloak worn over armor.

2. … that the poor fellows were put on horses by a crane

Another myth that stems from the previous misconception. If the knight's armor was so heavy that he could hardly move, then how did he get on the horse? But in no way. He was allegedly put into the saddle with the help of a crane, because otherwise it would not be possible to move this whopper. Without squires, the poor knight could not get on a horse.

When director and actor Laurence Olivier was filming King Henry V with him in 1944, he approached Sir James Mann, master of the Armory in the Tower of London, with a request to help him recreate medieval armor as faithfully as possible.

Mann gladly helped, but when he saw the results of the filming, he was horrified.

The historian saw how, in one of the scenes, Henry V climbs a horse using a device similar to a crane. However, Mann, unlike the filmmakers, knew that real horsemen had never used anything like this.

A knight could easily climb on a horse, even without a squire. The myth of the heavy weight of armor may have originated from tournament armor, which was heavier than combat armor. But even in them, the knight climbed on a horse without cranes - a small stool was enough.

3. Each knight had a castle

We imagine that all self-respecting knights lived in castles, but this is not the case. The fact is that this is a very expensive structure, which takes an extremely long time to build. Especially when there are no bulldozers, cranes and trucks for transporting building materials, but only peasants and carts with horses. This is not a summer house in the country to build.

For example, in England in 1214 there were several thousand knightly estates, but only 179 baronial and 93 royal castles.

The knights usually owned their own villages, which fed them. But if there was no money for the construction and maintenance of the castle, they lived in their estates. Which, of course, were still richer than the average peasant hut.

4. Knightly tournaments are exclusively equestrian fights

What does a normal tournament look like in the opinion of a person who, for example, watched Game of Thrones? Two knights in armor mount their horses. The squires give them shields and pikes. The knights, at the signal of the trumpet, accelerate and crash into each other. Whoever sat in the saddle after that is the winner.

In principle, equestrian competitions in the Middle Ages were held in a similar way, but tournaments were not limited to this.

In addition to equestrian fights with pikes, there were also foot fights, joust a l’outrance. And sometimes even with different weapons: one knight with a sword, another with an ax or spear, and so on. Battles of the “squad by squad” type also happened both on horseback and on foot. And the winner in this case was the last representative of the team who stood on his feet.

5. Knights fought in tournaments for the attention of the ladies

It is believed that the knight who wins the tournament will receive a flower, scarf or other expression of favor as a reward from a beautiful lady watching the fight. There are records confirming that the winner was kissed by the most important beauty of the tournament or he received the right to share some exotic dish with her. For example, a cooked peacock.

But if in reality the reward for the tournament was limited only to this, the knights would hardly be so eager to participate in them.

In fact, they got involved in various competitions for the sake of money. After the tournament, the organizer threw a feast at which the winner received a good prize. Historian and reenactor Will McLean compiled a list of awards for knights in tournaments mentioned in various historical sources. Among them are rings with diamonds, gold clasps with rubies, cups, precious stones and coins and many other good things.

During the tournament, in Nordhausen in the 13th century, the Margrave of Meissen Heinrich installed an artificial tree with gold and silver leaves. If a participant broke a spear during an opponent's attack, he was awarded a silver leaf. And if the knight managed to drop the enemy from the horse, then he received gold. During the tournament, which lasted several days, one could earn some good money.

In addition, the winner was sometimes presented with a talking parrot or a huge fish that can be cooked, as well as a riding horse or a hunting dog, and such animals also cost a fortune.

Finally, in many cases, a rider who defeated another in a tournament could take away his horse, weapons and armor from the loser. So for the poor knights, competition was a great way to earn extra money.

6. Armored gulfs protected genitals in battle

You may have seen in photographs of knightly armor such funny phallic protrusions, often decorated with patterns, images of faces and other things. This thing is called "codpiece", and many believe that it was intended to protect manhood.

But in fact, the codpiece is an extremely fashionable accessory that allows you to convince others of the size of a knight's courage and impress gullible ladies. He did not have a practical load - they sewed cuffs and sewn onto ordinary pants.

Knights, who cared more about safety than fashion, wore chain skirts and legguards without codpieces.

7. Knights used draft horses

In many modern drawings, knights are depicted sitting on huge draft horses. It looks, of course, very brutal. Imagine a huge warrior in armor, like the fearsome Grigor Kligan of the Mountain from Game of Thrones, riding a horse weighing under a ton.

True, you would not have found this in the Middle Ages for two reasons. Firstly, heavy trucks were brought out only by the 19th century. Secondly, they are not very mobile, do not differ in high shovel (that is, dexterity and maneuverability) and are not able to run at a gallop for a long time. Heavy trucks, as you might guess, were taken out for draft work, so their fighting qualities are not very good: you can't jump on a ram with a lance at the ready, you can't catch up with a fleeing enemy, you can't run away from an attacking one.

In general, no matter how strong a knight riding on some Bois de Boulogne, even if he had one, would only cause bewilderment among opponents.

Therefore, the knights used horses called destrie,. This is not a breed, but simply a designation of a sufficiently strong stallion capable of running when a person weighing 80 kg sits on it in 20 kg armor. And from such horses, by the way, went the modern breeds of heavy trucks.

8. Knights did not wash and defecate right in their armor

The myth of the "unwashed Middle Ages" lives on and thrives on the Internet. And in part it is even true - but only in part. There were really problems with cleanliness in the Middle Ages, but to say that people (especially nobles) did not wash at all and relieved themselves right under themselves is a little exaggeration.

Even an armored knight could well lower his pants and fulfill his natural needs - both Milanese and Gothic armor were adapted for such actions, although the former was slightly less convenient in this regard.

Another thing is that in protracted campaigns, during sieges and in the difficult life of a military camp, the knights sometimes faced various diseases, including dysentery.

The sick person could well not have time to run to the latrine, and even if the desire to defecate happened to him right in battle, on horseback …

However, such are the vicissitudes of war.

In the XIV-XV centuries, the knights developed the custom of making vows to restrain themselves in anything until they fulfilled their cherished goal. Among them are vows not to shave, not to drink alcohol, not to wear warm clothes in the cold. It is possible that there were enough of those who promised not to wash dirty, but it is wrong to think that all the knights were like that.

9. Knights were a model of gallantry

The opposite of the previous myth about the dirty Middle Ages is the Romantic Middle Ages, in which knights perform brave feats, swear allegiance to their beautiful lady and behave like real gentlemen, even with commoners. Obviously, the men are not the same now.

The problem is that modern ideas about medieval chivalry are largely based on courtly novels.

For example, here are some real points from the knightly code called "Peace of God" proposed by Bishop Varin of Beauvais: do not steal cattle from peasants (but you can kill other people's animals like cows and mules for food); not being too violent with villagers; do not burn other people's houses (for no good reason); beat women only if they commit misdeeds against the knight; refrain from ambushing unarmed knights. The last rule, however, is valid only during the period from Lent to Easter.

According to the decree of Emperor Henry IV of 1085, the knight should not attack anyone on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, on the feast days of the apostles, as well as from the ninth Sunday before Easter until the eighth day after Pentecost. The rest of the time you can have fun.

But it is not at all necessary to adhere to these rules if the overlord or the king is not looking.

The real knights, unfortunately, were engaged in cattle kidnapping, robbery, looting, rape and torture. And they did not even think about human rights, not to mention some kind of courtesy. Captured servants, wives or children of the enemy rider, if he did not have cool allies, the knights could well, simply sell into slavery to the Saracens. Or give it to your overlord.

True, sometimes a particularly distinguished warrior could be deprived of his knightly dignity - the procedure was accompanied by the reading of funeral prayers and resembled hanging, not by the neck, but by the body, so that the accused would stay alive, after which all titles were taken from him. However, such a punishment was due only for really serious crimes committed against the nobility, and not against commoners.