9 terrible things medieval knights were waiting for

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

Forget about lush balls and dances with ladies - in the life of a real warrior there are more hardships than romance.

1. Dangerous and sometimes wasted preparation

If you think that a man of noble birth became a knight for beautiful eyes, then you are mistaken. A young man who intended to ride a horse and perform military feats (well, or rob and humiliate commoners, whichever you prefer) required special training.

It started 1.

2.

3. when the future chevalier (fr. Chevalier, horseman) was 7-10 years old. Children of nobles became pages and were assigned to the service of some more noble knight.

Naturally, he was in no hurry to put them on a horse and hand them over to the lance, but gave the pupils more useful tasks. For example, the pages helped the gentleman get dressed, served at the table, cleaned his weapons, worked in the stables. It was not considered humiliating - on the contrary, being the errand boy for tough guys in armor was kind of honorable, albeit tedious.

By the age of 14, the page was transferred to the squire. To do this, he had to master the seven "arts of dexterity." These included fencing, wrestling, shooting, horse riding, swimming and diving, rock climbing, long jumping, tournament fighting and dancing. Some clever men added to the list chess, hunting, the ability to read poetry and behave gallantly with noble ladies.

If you noticed, there are more than seven points - because each mentor taught his subordinate as he saw fit.

In general, the knights, who often hit on the head with clubs, had problems with logic and mathematics. And there are seven arts just because it is a beautiful number.

Somewhere between the removal of horse dung and the polishing of swords, there was grueling training. Combat training was difficult and traumatic. Training armor and weapons were deliberately made heavier than combat ones - sometimes twice. They could weigh up to 40 kilograms. This was necessary to develop endurance, as well as reduce the risk of injury in sparring.

By the age of 18-21, the squire was finally knighted. Before that, the candidate spent a sleepless night in prayer, was re-baptized, confessed and, finally, received the coveted slapping of the sword on the shoulders.

If you're lucky. Because sometimes the overlord could decide that it was not yet time, and indeed the young man was not ready yet. Some poor fellows lived their whole lives as squires, never becoming knights. For example, Jeffrey Chaucer did not wait for initiation, spat on everything and became a poet.

2. Fatal falls from a horse

There is a fairly widespread myth that if a rider in armor falls from a horse, then he will not be able to get to his feet on his own. The equipment is supposedly very heavy. This is not so: the knight could well 1.

2. in their combat armor and get up, and run, and even walk with a wheel.

But nevertheless, often the warriors, having turned from the horse, could not sit back on it. Because of their untimely death.

Fatal falls from horses were one of the leading causes of death among knights. Believe it or not, google the list of medieval historical figures who died in a four-legged vehicle accident. Philip of Bavaria, King of Jerusalem and Count Anju Fulk, William the Conqueror, his namesake Wilhelm III, Landgrave of Hesse-Marburg, Marquis Boniface IV of Montferrat and dozens of other nobles died as they got off their horses.

This happened on the hunt, at tournaments, during training, in the war and just while traveling. An innocent horse ride could kill even a high-born nobleman, and no one considered the minor minor knights who died under such circumstances.

Falling from a horse led to fractures, and injuries could easily become fatal. In addition, the knight could be finished off or captured by satisfied opponents running by.

The armor did not save much - rather, it interfered. Still, they were needed to protect against weapons, and not from traffic injuries, like modern motorcycle equipment.

3. Tournaments that look like a small war

We usually imagine knightly tournaments as magnificent festive competitions in which handsome men in armor fight on horseback and on foot, fighting for the attention of beautiful ladies.

The noble knight immediately stretches out his hand to the losing opponent, helping to rise, sacredly respecting both his own and someone else's dignity. And after the competition, a grand feast is rolled up, where everyone drinks and waltzes courtly with the ladies.

Perhaps it was something like this in the 16th century, when horse collisions disappeared from tournaments. They were replaced by festive equestrian ballets, in which riders in lush costumes demonstrated to the audience the training of their horses. But real knightly tournaments in the harsh Middle Ages were a much tougher spectacle: people died almost in batches.

Sudden injuries and deaths were common. And sometimes the killings did not happen by accident.

The fact is that the loser has a defeat in tournament 1.

2. a knight, the winner could legally take away armor, weapons, horse or an impressive cash rate - and this is a huge financial loss. Therefore, not very rich fighters, realizing that defeat was inevitable, could begin to fight to the death, only to save their property.

There were also frequent conflicts on ethnic grounds. For example, once at a big tournament two groups of horsemen, the French and the British, came together - 200 fighters from each side. And these hotheads staged a showdown that almost ended in bloodshed.

Observance of the rules on the equestrian field was supervised 1.

2. special noble marshals, but they could not keep up everywhere. And sometimes it happened that a group of knights from one team attacked alone from another, took away his weapon and took him prisoner, demanding ransom from relatives, as in a real war.

One or two accidents at the tournament was not surprising, but sometimes the number of victims became simply indecent.

In 1240, in an equestrian festive battle near the German city of Neuss, the competing knights were so carried away that they killed each other. About 60 people died.

It was not only the enemy or the stumbling horse that could finish off the horseman, but also the weather. For example, in 1241, at a summer tournament, as many as 80 German knights fell ill and subsequently died from heatstroke, exhaustion and heat.

Even monarchs and noblemen were persecuted: in 1559, at the races, King Henry II of France was struck in the eye with a spear. In England, the Earl of Salisbury was killed in a duel in a horse race, as was his grandson, William Montague. Straight generic curse of some kind.

But the worst thing is that a knight who suffered terrible injuries could sometimes … survive. For example, here is a portrait of the Hungarian knight of the 16th century Gregor Bachi - be careful, the faint of heart is better off not looking. He received a spear in the eye at a tournament (according to another version, in a battle with the Turks). The weapon passed by the brain, and the nobleman survived. Imagine what it would be like to walk with a broken spear in your head.

4. Unsuccessful swims in armor

In the memorable Game of Thrones, there is an episode when Jaime Lannister and Bronn the Blackwater jump into the river, fleeing the dragon's flame, and swim away. And the armor does not bother them. After a while they get out on the shore downstream, clear their throats and continue the conversation.

In reality, forcing the river, if it was impossible to wade, was a real problem for the knights. Moreover, the infrastructure in medieval Europe was slightly inferior to modern Europe and bridges were not very common in those days. And swimming in armor is very difficult: after all, this is not a life jacket, but an extra 20-25 kilograms of load.

Iron doesn't add buoyancy, you know.

For example, the entire Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa drowned while trying to cross the Salif River in 1190, during the Third Crusade. The horse slipped, the majesty was in the water and disappeared there.

Or the crusaders under the command of the famous Richard the Lionheart. On the march to Ascalon, they lost a lot of people during the flooding that happened due to heavy rainfall. Poor fellows, according to the chronicler Jeffrey Vinsauf, "plunged into mud and sodden earth never to get up again," while "the bravest of men shed tears like rain."

Although, strictly speaking, with a certain physical preparation, it is still possible to swim in armor - reenactors confirm. True, they spent theirs in the pool, and not in a stormy stream.

5. Killing food on the hikes

The word "scurvy" is usually associated with sea pirates - those who supposedly loved rum and walked under the black flag with skulls and bones. However, medieval knights in their campaigns suffered from this disease no less, if not more.

A healthy, balanced diet with fruits, fiber and vitamin C among the Crusaders, few people thought about.

Then the European knights leaned more and more on meat, cereals and corned beef. The food was of mediocre quality and poorly stored, so they suffered from scurvy. It was this disease, and not the troops of Sultan al-Kamil, that killed one sixth of the French army during the Fifth Crusade.

In 1218, the crusaders surrounded the Egyptian city of Damietta. The siege was long, provisions were scarce, and scurvy raged in the Christian camp. The knights, as their contemporaries wrote, "were seized with severe pain in the feet and ankles, their gums were swollen, their teeth were loose and useless, and their thighs and shins turned black." The sick crusaders suffered a "peaceful death": before the campaign, Pope Innocent III forgave them all their sins, so the poor fellows went to paradise.

Not only ordinary crusaders perished from scurvy - King Louis IX also fell victim to it. True, he had enough provisions, including healthy fruits.

But Louis was very devout and adhered to fasting and abstinence in food, as the church prescribed to the righteous knight. And he finished his meal. Having fallen ill with scurvy, he and his soldiers used the services of barbers, without being distracted from the siege of Tunisia in the Eighth Crusade in 1270.

The barbers treated the affected gums to the poor, which is why, as the chronicler Jean de Jouinville wrote, the king and his knights "cried and cried like women in labor." But unsuccessfully. But then Louis was canonized - at least some plus.

6. Problems with hygiene on the marches

The stories that people in the Middle Ages never washed and generally dipped only once in their lives - during baptism, are nothing more than a myth. Washing existed even then, although, of course, it was difficult without a modern water supply system. But nothing, the knights coped: it was always possible to send servants to warm up their bath.

But during the hikes, you can't really wash yourself. Especially if the campaigns are crusading: sometimes there was not enough water in the hot Holy Land even for drinking, what can we say about bathing.

The European knights who were at war for a long time suffered more from non-combat losses than from the swords and spears of the Muslims. For example 1.

2., in the Seventh Crusade, a significant part of the army of the aforementioned Louis IX, himself, and his retinue were struck by dysentery and diarrhea. The poor man had to go to the toilet so often that he ended up cutting off the back of his breeches so he wouldn't waste time taking them off.

The reason for the epidemic was that the knights did not have enough clean water and they often drank from sources contaminated with waste. The idea of boiling water and not walking close to where you eat was too innovative for these sufferers.

In addition to dysentery, poor hygiene carried diseases such as tuberculosis and trench fever (carried by lice). According to the chroniclers, the pestilence struck not only the crusaders, but also their enemies, the Muslim Saracens. As a result, the unfortunate people on both sides were more concerned with how to survive in the conditions of epidemics than some kind of wars of faith.

7. Long confinement in captivity

In films and TV series about the Middle Ages or its fantasy counterparts, knights constantly fight to the death. However, in reality, defeated enemies were still more often taken prisoner.

This seems strange, since we are used to associating this era with cruelty. But in fact, the knights were captivated not out of philanthropy, but for economic reasons. After all, they were noble lords, which means that their families could give a rich ransom for them.

In addition, it was considered good manners for a noble to not kill another noble. These conventions, of course, did not apply to commoners.

Many curiosities are also associated with the capture of the knights. So, according to the historian Remy Ambul of the University of Southampton, there is evidence that a certain knight was captured 1.

2.

3.

4. as much as 17 times. Relatives gave a ransom, he was released, and then he was caught again. History, unfortunately, has not preserved information about what happened to this dumbass further - it is quite possible that he went bankrupt.

And the other poor fellow had been in captivity for 25 years before he was ransomed. I wonder how much money the winners lost on the hostage's meals? It might have been cheaper to get rid of it.

Duke Charles of Orleans, captured in the battle of Agincourt, was marinated by the British for 24 years in the Tower, and without the right of ransom. He, out of nothing to do, became interested in writing and composed more than 500 poems. Became a classic of medieval literature, by the way.

8. Problems with surrender

At the same time, you must still be able to successfully surrender. For example, once one knight did not have time to put on full armor before the battle, and he had to fight in simpler clothes. Yes, and on foot - so that he was indistinguishable from an ordinary archer.

And when he decided to surrender, he was not accepted, and without further reasoning, they stabbed him with a spear. He just didn't look very pretentious, and the winners did not believe that they could help out for him.

And if the prisoner was clearly of a status, 1 could be for him.

2.

3.

4. literally fight. Therefore, for example, the British during the Hundred Years War introduced strict rules on how to divide the ransom if several winners lay claim to the same hostage.

Sometimes a prisoner who did not have a family was released so that he could collect money for his release on his own.

Not only on parole - the winners left themselves some kind of pledge, such as a horse, armor, or something else of value. Again, not paying for your release meant sacrificing your reputation. Next time, they may not captivate, but without talking to smudge with an ax on the head.

And finally, the cherry on the cake. It was indecent for the knight to surrender to ignoble opponents. Consequently, he had to ask the commoner soldiers to call their commander to surrender to him. If there was no such person nearby, the question arose before the prisoner: either you will compromise your honor, or they will kill you.

And the nobles found an elegant solution - they quickly knighted the soldiers who had captured them, so that they would not be ashamed to surrender. However, later on with the Swiss pikemen and German Lansknechts, the technique ceased to work.

The scoundrels-mercenaries, not being tempted by dedication, silently finished off the surrendering knights on the spot, because they did not like them very much. This was expressed in them by class hatred, multiplied by personal enmity.

9. Keeping strange vows

Depending on which order they belonged to, the knights were obliged to follow different rules - that is, they took vows like monks. Basically, these were trivial tasks like maintaining austerity, which could be periodically violated. The Lord is merciful, will forgive.

But in some orders the vows were quite … extravagant. For example, according to the chronicler La Tour Landry, it was customary in the 14th century society to sit in fur coats by the fireplace, and walk half-naked in the cold in winter to show everyone their stamina. Those who caught a cold and died were considered martyrs.

To die from a common cold in the Middle Ages was as easy as shelling pears. There were no antibiotics, and doctors could offer patients only mercury and bloodletting.

In addition, members of the Order of the Voters offered their wives to their comrades for the night when they were staying with them - this was considered a sign of good form.

And the Earl of Salisbury, while his king Edward III's war with France lasted, went and fought with one eye closed. And his vassals also bandaged their eyes with a bandage. This was done to demonstrate their coolness to the French. Like, we will do you and "looking half-heartedly".

Some knights swore that they would not eat meat until they accomplished this or that feat. Or giving up shaving and bathing. Or they promised to eat only while standing. A certain unique person decided not to feed his horse on Fridays until he defeated all the Turks.

How useful a hungry steed is in battle is not entirely clear. But, perhaps, this motivated the knight for additional accomplishments.

Ladies also took vows. In 1601, Princess Isabella of Spain promised not to change until they captured the fortress of Ostend, and she wore the same shirt for three years. As you can see, in the Middle Ages, not only men, but also women were not alien to the spirit of adventurism.

There were also more boring vows that the church tried to impose on the knights. For example, do not steal livestock from peasants, do not beat up monks, do not burn people's houses without a good reason, do not help in committing crimes and beat women only if they are malicious against you.

But the knights did not like to observe them: it is impossible to throw out of life all the good that is in it, for the sake of ghostly piety?