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Knights
Of the Medieval era By: Wesley T. and
Julia B.
Core:3
About the Knight
The knight was one of three types of
fighting men during the middle ages:
Knights, Foot Soldiers, and Archers.
The medieval knight was the
equivalent of the modern tank. He
was covered in multiple layers of
armor, and could plow through foot
soldiers standing in his way. No
single foot soldier or archer could
stand up to any one knight. Knights
were also generally the wealthiest of
the three types of soldiers.
About the Knight
This was for a good reason. It was
terribly expensive to be a knight. The
war horse alone could cost the
equivalent of a small airplane. Armor,
shields, and weapons were also very
expensive. Becoming a knight was part
of the feudal agreement. In return for
military service, the knight received a
fief. In the late middle ages, many
prospective knights began to pay
"shield money" to their lord so that they
wouldn't have to serve in the king's
army.
About the Knight
The money was then used to
create a professional army that
was paid and supported by the
king. These knights often fought
more for pillaging than for army
wages. When they captured a
city, they were allowed to
ransack it, stealing goods and
valuables.
Tournaments
Tournaments were, at first, simply
battles arranged between parties
of knights. From these bloody
conflicts there developed the
tournament conducted according
to a complex code of rules. In a
tournament a knight could enjoy
all the excitement, danger and
glory of war, with none of the dirt,
flies, disease or discomfort.
Tournaments
After the fight he could soak his bruised,
bloody limbs in a warm bath, eat a good
dinner and be accompanied, to a soft bed.
In war he might win fame and fortune; in
tournaments he could win these and much
more. Fundamental to the tournament was
the idea of chivalrous and romantic
conduct. A knight selected a lady;
beautiful and preferably married to a
husband of slightly higher rank. In her
honor he would fight. If he fought
successfully, he received his reward.
Melee Tournaments
The huge melee tournament which had
dominated the twelfth and most of the
thirteenth centuries began to lose
popularity as the small-scale joust
emerged towards the end of the
thirteenth century. Jousting came to be
a sport where the correct physical coordination of horse and rider resulted in
a safe but spectacular splintering of
lances. The manipulation of a powerful
horse and a heavy lance, complicated by
the restricted movement and vision
imposed by armor, was a skill acquired
only with patient practice at such
devices as the quintain and the ring.
Jousting
A fight with lances between two
knights. The rules were simple. If a
combatant struck either rider or
horse he was disqualified. A clean
hit to the center of the shield
shattering the lance, or unseating
the opponent scored points. A low
partition wall separating
contestants was introduced in
about 1420.A.D.strictly as a
measure to reduce injury to horses.
Practicing Jousting
Involved very little ceremony and few
rules. Practice targets were
provided by either a quintain or
rings. The quintain was a wooden
target mounted on a horizontal pole
at which the knight aimed his
lance. If the target was struck
accurately, it would swing
harmlessly aside; if struck off
center, the weighted arm swung
around with enough velocity to
unseat the knight.
Practicing Jousting
The other form of jousting in the
practice tournament was "riding at
the rings", the surviving form of
jousting with which we are most
concerned. A ring was suspended
on a cord, which was to be carried
off on the tip of the knight's lance.
Both the quintain and the ring joust
were exercises that developed
accuracy skills. Which also helped
aiming so they wouldn’t miss during
a competition
Knight’s Defense
The knight’s most
important and best
defense was his armor,
a knight’s armor was
usually steel and
covered all of his body
except for some small
cracks in between
plates. A knight’s
armor was very heavy
so he had to get used
to the armor and build
great muscle to fight
and what not in the
armor.
Knight’s Defense
A shield is used for
blocking long and
short ranged
weapons and
attacks, what the
armor couldn’t block
or defend against,
the shield could.
The shield also told
things about the
knight, like what
number son he is,
who his lord was,
what you stand for
or represent, and
who your family is.
Knight’s weapons
The medieval flail was a stick
or short metal pole that
had a chain with 1 to 3
spiked balls on the end,
specifically used against
armored opponents at
very close range.
The knight’s main weapon
was long sword, witch
was used against all
opponents at close range.
Knight’s weapons
This weapons was a
natural extension of
the blacksmith
hammer. It had a
hammer on one end
which could deliver a
shocking blow and on
the other end it often
had a pick like point
that could be used to
penetrate the armor
of an opponent.
Knight’s weapons
This was the basic weapon of a knight
and it was very popular in the early
middle ages because it was easy to
build, often it was made of wood with
no metal or with spikes sticking out
of the head. It was used to deliver
massive blows to the enemy. The one
shown here is called a flanged mace
and it had small flanged that came to
a point that could pierce armor. When
a mace had a ball on the end of it and
long spikes like nails it was called a
morning star mace.
Knight’s weapons
The crossbow was the sniper of
the medieval times and was
very deadly, shooting a
pointed, either metal or
wooden, spiked elongated
projectile with deadly
accuracy at very long range.
Vassals
Vassals were appointed by a lord
to protect him in exchange of land.
Knights were the most common
protectors of lords. Vassals were
given a certain number of serfs to
work their lord's lands.
Nevertheless, vassals not only had
to protect their lord. They also had
to pay a very high percentage of
their earnings. This somewhat
discouraged vassals from doing
business with lords; which, at
some point, helped the decay of
Feudalism.
Surfs
A serf was a person who worked for a
noble. The serf was bound to the land. If
the noble sold the land the serf went with
it. This was not much better than being a
slave.
About half the serfs time was spent working for
the lord. Jobs included working in the fields,
cutting wood, hauling water, spinning and
weaving, repairing buildings, and waiting on
the members of the lord's family. Peasant men
were even expected to fight in times of war.
Besides all the work peasants had to pay taxes
to their lord. This was usually given in wheat,
lamb, chicken, and other animals.
Nobles
How the Nobles Lived. The nobles of the
Middle Ages were fierce and proud
people. They had high-sounding titles,
such as Duke, Count, or Baron, which
their ancestors got from the king in
return for services they had done on
the battlefield or in council. All the
land which did not belong to the
church they owned, and they looked
down on the poor laboring peasants
who lived on their estates as hardly
better than cattle. Not all of them were
so horrible, but they believed that their
"gentle blood" made them far superior
to other people.
Nobles
The chief business of the nobles was war, and
their amusements were warlike games and
hunting. They lived in great fortified buildings
called castles, generally set on some steep
hill so that the enemy could not easily reach
them. In early times the castles were only
"stockades" of logs, but later they were made
of stone and, as men learned more and more
about building, they came to be great
structures with massive, walls, huge towers,
and frowning battlements. A ditch filled with
water which could be crossed only by a
drawbridge gave still further protection.
Lords
The lord of a fief was the supreme ruler over
his territory. From the feudal agreement he
gained these rights. The lord's duties were
many. He had to set up taxes and laws,
oversee the day to day business of the
castle and fief, and make decisions over
punishments and other issues. Besides
this, he had to serve his king by appearing
in his court or fighting at his side. To cover
the day to day tasks of managing the
castle, a lord often hired a steward.
Stewards
The steward was the head of all the castle's
staff, except for the military personnel.
Sometimes there were two stewards; one
in charge of all of the lord's estates, and
the other in charge of just the castle. In
either case, the steward was the lord's
main adviser on issues that the lord was to
decide. The steward often helped with the
lord's accounts and books. He calculated
the revenue from taxes and the money
spent by the lord. The steward was also
the head of the lord's court in his absence.
Stewards
The steward often helped with
the lord's accounts and books.
He calculated the revenue from
taxes and the money spent by
the lord. The steward was also
the head of the lord's court in
his absence.
Stewards
The steward gave the lord time to
fulfill his other work. The lord
usually traveled for a good part of
the year around to the far corners of
his land holdings. This allowed him
to get an idea of how well the people
were, and to assess the possibility
of revolt in the other areas of his
fief.
Stewards
Other responsibilities that the
use of a steward gave him time
for were to fight alongside his
king in battle, to train and
compete in tournaments if he
was a knight, and to appear in
his lord's court to pay him
homage and fealty.
Fiefs
In Medieval feudalism a fief was a vassal's
source of income, granted to him by his
lord in exchange for his services. The fief
usually consisted of land and the labor of
peasants who were bound to cultivate it.
The income the fief provided supported the
vassal, who fought for his lord as a knight.
Dignities, offices, and money rents were
also given in fief. A fief was basically a
favor awarded to a vassal. A fief was
primarily the land held by a vassal of a lord
in return for services, mainly military.
Peasants
Life on a manor was extremely hard for a
peasant. It consisted of work and family
life. Approximately ninety percent of the
people in the middle ages were considered
to be peasants. There was a division of the
peasants into free and a type of indentured
servants. The free peasants worked in their
own independent businesses, usually as
carpenters, blacksmiths, weavers, or
bakers. They paid the lord a type of rent for
using their small plots of land. The other,
unfree peasants lived on the land without
paying any money, but worked for the lord,
earning their stay.
Work Sited
• http://karenswhimsy.com/public-domainimages/castles-middle-ages/images/castles
•http://library.thinkquest.org/10949/fief/medknight.html
•http://www.celsias.com/media/uploads/admin/knights2.jpg
•http://karenswhimsy.com/public-domain-images/castlesmiddle-ages/images/castles-middle-ages-3.jpg
•http://www.toledosword.com/im/templar_knights_sword.jpg
•http://www.digitalapoptosis.com/archives/lightbox/000760.html
•http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/fief.htm
•http://www.nationaljousting.com/history/medieval.htm
Review Questions
1. What are knights? What do
they do?
2. What is a vassal? Who do they
work for?
3. What is a fief? What’s his job?
4. What is a surf? What’s his job
do?
5. What does a peasant do?