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

KNIGHT
Opposite: The top left
corner of this illustration
shows King David as
a knight from the 13th
century. Medieval artists
had no qualms about
depicting figures from
the past in contemporary
clothing and armour, but
there was also a strong
desire to see an ancient
pedigree for knighthood.
(Scala)
20
Many pre-industrial societies had a social and political elite whose position was
based upon their role as warriors; because they supplied their own equipment the
wearing of the best protection available was not only desirable, but also a way of
displaying their wealth and status. The development of mounted combat, using
chariots at first, then horseback cavalry, was another way of reinforcing the status
and superiority of the warrior and of the elite within that dominant class. The mount
and its attendant equipment were expensive to obtain and maintain, and it took time
to master the necessary riding skills to take a chariot or horse into battle: time and
resources that only the elite could afford. More than this, in mounting a horse or
chariot the warrior was able to achieve superhuman speed and power and towered
over his opponents (and his own lesser warriors), appearing to them as physically
superior.
In both classical Greece and republican Rome, the warrior was still responsible
for supplying his own arms and armour, and so the aristocracy continued to use their
wealth to take them to the field on horseback and in the finest armour. Even though
their dominance of the battlefield was lost to the more numerous infantry, mounted
service was still an important validation of their social position, and the drstinction
outlasted the restructuring of the Roman army and the political changes of Rome's
Principate and Empire.
There are a number of similarities between the medieval knight and the classical
Roman 'equestrian' class. In both cases, membership was initially based upon service
as cavalry. Increasingly, however, the status of these men crystallized so that they
became a social and political elite, whilst military service as cavalry was performed
by a broader group of people. The knightly classes in both perrods provided the
leadership cadre for the army, although the medieval knight continued to serve as
cavalry to a much greater extent than the Roman equestrians. In both cases, the
membership of the knightly elite fluctuated and changed as the socio-political situation
also developed. In the third century AD it appears that the equestrian order was
expanded by the entry of a class of knights who gained their position through junior
military command in the provinces, and who replaced the traditional Italian
aristocracy in the top military and civilian jobs. Similarly, the knightly class of high
medieval Western Europe saw its numbers expand in the 14th century when the non-
knightly squires and gentry began to acquire similar status as a result of their military
service. In both cases, men of equestrian or knightly lamilies might also find service
within the civilian administration or as priests. In the late Roman period, after the
reign of the Emperor Constantine, just as in Europe in the Renaissance, the equestrian
class became almost completely divorced from its martial origins, becoming merely a
social, aristocratic elite.