Osprey - General Military - Knight - The Warrior and ... - Brego-weard

dislocation From the field as both hearing and vision were constrained by helmet and
visor; the fear and apprehension must have been almost palpable.
One of the commentators on Courtrai noted that 'our knights were very much
afraid of these foot-soldiers armed with lances [pikes], whom they had to fight with
their swords and short weapons. The [pikes] were longer than the swords and daggers
and their impenetrable ranks ... were as strong as wall.' Such fear is rarely described
openly in the sources and certainly not by those who were there. The dishonour
attached to cowardice and fear was too great for it to be mentioned. Perhaps the closest
Joinville comes to telling of his fear in battle comes when he describes having to guard
the two towers protecting the crusaders' causeway. Joinville and his retinue were
tasked with mounting guard on them at night, but the Egyptians used their engines to
throw both Greek fire and stones against them in an attempt to burn the towers down.
Joinville tells us that he and his men were sick at heart' but that, during the Count
of Anjou's watch of the towers during the day, the Saracens succeeded in destroying
them. 'God showed himself very gracious towards myself and my knights in this
matter,' says Joinville, for if they had mounted guard that night they would have been
in great danger of death.
That fear was somewhat offset by the self-confidence and sheer arrogance of the
knight. Some of this came from the effectiveness of their armour. Feeling invulnerable
they were encouraged, indeed expected, to fight bravely. There is in the Bishop of the
Orkneys' battlefield oration before Northallerton, at least as it is recorded by Henry of
Huntingdon, a sense of derision in his statement Your head is covered by a helmet,
your breast by a hauberk, your legs by greaves, your whole body by a shield. The enemy
cannot find where to strike when he looks closely and discovers that you are enclosed
in steel. What is there to doubt as we march forward against the unarmed and naked?
Wearing armour also changed the posture of the wearer. It made him stand more erect,
square his shoulders and lift his head, forcing him into a more aggressive stance. Not
only would all this make him appear more fearsome, it would also make him feel more
confident and powerful. The Italian chronicler Filippo Villani writes ofthe 14th -century
English condottieri mercenaries 'when they take off their armour, the pages presently
set to polishing, so that when they appear in battle their arms seem like mirrors, and they
so much more terrible.' The defenders of Montferrand Castle, besieged by Louis the Fat
of France in 1 126, 'found themselves in dread of this awesome army of the French,
which was so different from theirs. They marvelled at the splendour of hauberks and
helmets gleaming in the sun. Taken aback by this sight alone, they gave up the outer
defences and took themselves just in time into the tower and the area around it.'
The knight's arrogance was also based on the knowledge ol his ability and power.
Although he might fear a tightly packed wall of spears, he also believed in the ferocity