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

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12th-century knights, wearing the crusaders' cross on their surcoats, ride out from a fortified town in this contemporary fresco. (The Art Archive) Turks and the Fatimid Egyptians, the individual cities commanded by semi-independent governors who knew they could not rely on their respective lords for help. It came through the support of the Byzantines from whose territory supplies and intelligence arrived. Antioch had fallen by luck, when a tower captain betrayed the town. The belief of the crusaders that they were doing God's work was also a major factor. The miraculous discovery of the Holy Lance during the army's time besieged in Antioch became a focus of morale, even if not everyone believed in its authenticity. As the sieges dragged on, it was the exhortations of Adhemar and the priests, with their days of fasting and processions, as much as the charisma of their military commanders, that inspired the crusaders to victory. The success of the First Crusade had huge implications for the development of the medieval knight. In the crusading ideal the Church arguably found the key to reconciling the knightly desire for prowess with the Church's concepts of 'just war' and the Peace of God. Whilst it would not stop warfare between Christians, and became as much a political tool as an ideological one, crusading established itself deep within the psyche of knighthood, shaping chivalry into a more pious and spiritual ethos.
loricati and armati, mail-clad' or 'armoured' men, making this connection clear. As we have seen, Gerald of Wales notes that in mainland Europe armour is a mark of distinction'. In the romance and epic tales, the quality and virtue of the hero is represented by the quality and decoration of his armour. In the tale of Erec and Enide, when the Arthurian hero Erec is about to ride out to defeat a haughty opponent and claim a prize for his love Enide, he asks his future father-in-law il he might borrow some armour 'old or new, I care not, ugly or beautiful'. The man responds that Erec need have no fear on that count as he had 'good and beautiful armour' that he would gladly lend him. As the hero rides through the streets with the beautiful Enide at his side everyone declares that he must be a very fine warrior because the fine armour suits him so well. In such tales there is invariably a scene in which the knight is depicted being armed for battle; each piece of armour is lovingly described as it is strapped on, culminating with the girding on of a sword, the donning of the helmet and the mounting of his horse. There is a sense of ritual about such scenes, as if in putting the armour on the hero was becoming the essence of the knightly order of which he was a part. Later in his tale, when Erec realized that his household believed he had lost his knightly prowess because he preferred the company of Enide over the pleasures of tournament or battle, his first act before riding out to a series of ever-larger encounters with robber-knights was to put on his armour. Similarly in the 15th-century tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight there is a detailed passage full of symbolism describing Gawain's arming before he travelled off to find the Green Knight's castle. But on a more practical level the armour, weapons and mounts the knight required cost a substantial amount. Prices and values differed considerably but one can think of the full equipment of the knight, including his weapons, armour, horse and harness, as being around a year's income; around £20 for an English knight in 1250 (roughly equivalent to £200,000 or $300,000 in modern terms). Whilst this might not have been beyond the means of the knightly classes, particularly when we take into account the passing down of arms from father to son, the acquisition of equipment as gifts from lords or as booty in battle or in tournament or the market for hiring armour or buying it second-hand, it is clear that serving as a knight or man-at-arms was beyond the reach of the majority of the lower orders and those of middling rank. Some did rise beyond their humble origins, particularly in the 14th century when, as we shall see later, the distinction between the social class of knights and that of the gentry became blurred, but they were sometimes looked down upon by those born to knightly rank. Similarly, it is possible to see disdain for those who were of knightly status but who appeared improperly armed. Jean le Bel tells us that the English knights of the 1320s were held in scant regard by their French cousins because they still wore outdated mail armour and great helms.
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The Warrior and World of Chivalry R
Page 3 and 4: iCS.
Page 5 and 6: First published in Great Britain in
Page 9 and 10: 8 THERE CAN BE NO WARRIOR QUITE SO
Page 11 and 12: KNIGHT The lists at the Eglinton To
Page 13 and 14: 12 KNIGHT THE AGE OF THE MEDIEVAL K
Page 15 and 16: 14 KNIGHT CHRONOLOGY What follows i
Page 17 and 18: 1202-04 The Fourth Crusade. Origina
Page 19 and 20: France. There are several key campa
Page 21 and 22: KNIGHT Opposite: The top left corne
Page 23 and 24: Given these apparent similarities i
Page 25 and 26: KNIGHT Opposite: Carolingian soldie
Page 27 and 28: 26 KNIGHT the incomes to afford to
Page 30 and 31: CHAPTER ONE ARMS AND ARMOUR
Page 32 and 33: iblical subjects in contemporary cl
Page 34 and 35: terms (after all the compiler of th
Page 36 and 37: padding being used to protect the t
Page 38 and 39: which had been developing along the
Page 40 and 41: Greek Corinthian helmet. Sallets co
Page 42 and 43: stopped the wearer's head from bein
Page 44 and 45: decorating. The shield was held by
Page 46 and 47: there may be others which cannot be
Page 48: made stronger without a huge increa
Page 51 and 52: normal sharp points. Some tournamen
Page 53: hen in March of 1095 Pope Urban II
Page 57 and 58: KNIGHT The fluting on this gothic a
Page 59 and 60: skirt, the underlying mail chausses
Page 61 and 62: 60 KNIGHT weapon impacts on real ar
Page 63 and 64: The knight would have different hor
Page 66: Windsor Park in 1278. In the 1322 i
Page 69 and 70: CONTRARY TO THE POPULAR IMAGE KNIGH
Page 71 and 72: KNIGHT The high pommel and cantle o
Page 73 and 74: eins. It is clear that it is intend
Page 75 and 76: KNIGHT Combat in a 13th-century Ger
Page 77 and 78: it seems clear that retinues would
Page 79 and 80: ... teams of equal numbers first ru
Page 81 and 82: earlier, Wace writes that the Norma
Page 83 and 84: KNIGHT Knights awaiting the start o
Page 86 and 87: A similar device, but for mounted c
Page 88 and 89: hedgerows, barns, hills and the tow
Page 90 and 91: English knights at a disadvantage a
Page 92: imit^S^VWSEqVES'BRrrANNLVSWXAElATK
Page 96 and 97: CHAPTER THREE CAMPAIGN AND BATTLE
Page 98 and 99: the raising of a royal field army t
Page 100 and 101: separate organizations drawn from s
Page 102 and 103: not that behind; presumably the sti
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With its snub nose and double chin,
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supported by Geoffrey de Brabant. T
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THE ARMY ON THE MARCH Many of the i
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with limited objectives, if any, be
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• * / h M / Images of the battle
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of wine, dozens of herds of live ca
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have seen, were self contained, wit
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made this a practical proposition.
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crusaders even threw the heads of c
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BATTLE In comparison to sieges and
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of Northallerton in 1138 the priest
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A 15th-century depiction of Agincou
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dttrnutir.'Xaefatrami r^Wuutrma era
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himself as a scholar. Similarly, th
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numerous nobles, gleaming with gold
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of his charge, the savagery and pow
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fought in 1461, showed a blade woun
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and facing a renewed attack in thei
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(as opposed to rebellion) was consi
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the survival of a number of great h
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THE MODERN USE OF THE WORD CHIVALRY
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shame, striving with the skill of y
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KNIGHT The Song of Roland is the ea
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KNIGHT Roger Mortimer, one of the f
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hen the theologians Augustine of Hi
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Hastings a set of penances was impo
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KNIGHT In a treaty on virtue and vi
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exposing his body to execute and ac
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160 KNIGHT A royal crusader, marked
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'WMItwm^.i CHIVALRY: THE KNIGHTLY C
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Indeed similar conversations were p
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marriage, such quarterings could be
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These were not individual symbols i
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Ulrich von Lichtenstein, depicted i
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were believed to be culturally infe
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eturned. In 1139, during the war be
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from sacking the town for much the
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THE KNIGHT WAS DEFINED BY HIS MARTI
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182 KNIGHT The seal of Henry II of
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squire was closer to the knight tha
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KNIGHT The royal court was a curiou
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ill-educated and uncultured individ
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0younger son of a minor nobleman wh
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KNIGHT Devotional works were not al
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KNIGHT Games like chess and backgam
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the tips of their toes where the bo
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he Black Prince's reputation as a c
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KNIGHT The secular orders each had
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BEYOND THE BATTLEFIELD: THE KNIGHT
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BEYOND THE BATTLEFIELD: THE KNIGHT
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would become over-tired. The quarry
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CHAPTER SIX THE DEATH OF KNIGHTHOOD
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men had been adopting them without
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KNIGHT By the time the Landsknecht
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e struggles between the Italian cit
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only for the tournament and pageant
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JtoimP^
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224 aketon arret de la cuiradde ave
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226 KNIGHT pell poleyn quintain rer
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228 KNIGHT The Rule of the Templars
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Liddiard, R. (ed.), Anglo-Norman Ca
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Cuhna, E. and Silva, Ana Maria, 'Wa
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Sherborne, J. W., 'Indentured retin
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KNIGHT champions 82 Chandos, Sir Jo
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KNIGHT Knights Templar, Order of 13
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KNIGHT sumptuary law (1363) 183-4,
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Osprey - General Military - Knight - The Warrior and ... - Brego-weard

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