Stories of knights loyal to the king, a beautiful lady and military duty have been inspiring men to exploits and people of art to creativity for many centuries.
Ulrich von Liechtenstein (1200-1278)
Ulrich von Liechtenstein did not storm Jerusalem, did not fight the Moors, and did not participate in the Reconquista. He became famous as a knight-poet. In 1227 and 1240 he made travels, which he described in the courtly novel “Serving the Ladies.”
According to him, he walked from Venice to Vienna, challenging every knight he met to battle in the name of Venus. He also created The Ladies' Book, a theoretical work on love poetry.
Lichtenstein's "Serving the Ladies" is a textbook example of a courtly novel. It tells how a knight sought the favor of a beautiful lady. To do this, he had to amputate his little finger and half of his upper lip, defeat three hundred opponents in tournaments, but the lady remained adamant. Already at the end of the novel, Lichtenstein concludes “that only a fool can serve indefinitely where there is nothing to count on for reward.”
Richard the Lionheart (1157-1199)
Richard the Lionheart is the only king knight on our list. In addition to the well-known and heroic nickname, Richard also had a second one - “Yes and No.” It was invented by another knight, Bertrand de Born, who christened the young prince so for his indecisiveness.
Already being king, Richard was not at all involved in governing England. In the memory of his descendants, he remained a fearless warrior who cared about personal glory more than the well-being of his possessions. Richard spent almost the entire time of his reign abroad.
He took part in the Third Crusade, conquered Sicily and Cyprus, besieged and took Acre, but the English king never decided to storm Jerusalem. On the way back, Richard was captured by Duke Leopold of Austria. Only a rich ransom allowed him to return home.
After returning to England, Richard fought with the French king Philip II Augustus for another five years. Richard's only major victory in this war was the capture of Gisors near Paris in 1197.
Raymond VI (1156-1222)
Count Raymond VI of Toulouse was an atypical knight. He became famous for his opposition to the Vatican. One of the largest feudal lords of Languedoc in Southern France, he patronized the Cathars, whose religion was professed by the majority of the population of Languedoc during his reign.
Pope Innocent II excommunicated Raymond twice for refusing to submit, and in 1208 he called for a campaign against his lands, which went down in history as the Albigensian Crusade. Raymond offered no resistance and publicly repented in 1209.
However, in his opinion, the demands on Toulouse that were too cruel led to another rift with the Catholic Church. For two years, from 1211 to 1213, he managed to hold Toulouse, but after the defeat of the crusaders at the Battle of Mur, Raymond IV fled to England, to the court of John the Landless.
In 1214 he again formally submitted to the pope. In 1215, the Fourth Lateran Council, which he attended, deprived him of his rights to all lands, leaving only the Marquisate of Provence to his son, the future Raymond VII.
William Marshal (1146-1219)
William Marshal was one of the few knights whose biography was published almost immediately after his death. In 1219, a poem entitled The History of William Marshal was published.
The marshal became famous not because of his feats of arms in wars (although he also took part in them), but because of his victories in knightly tournaments. He gave them sixteen whole years of his life.
The Archbishop of Canterbury called the Marshal the greatest knight of all time.
Already at the age of 70, Marshal led the royal army in a campaign against France. His signature appears on the Magna Carta as the guarantor of its observance.
Edward the Black Prince (1330-1376)
Eldest son of King Edward III, Prince of Wales. He received his nickname either because of his difficult character, or because of the origin of his mother, or because of the color of his armor.
The “Black Prince” gained his fame in battles. He won two classic battles of the Middle Ages - at Cressy and at Poitiers.
For this, his father especially noted him, making him the first Knight of the new Order of the Garter. His marriage to his cousin, Joanna of Kent, also added to Edward's knighthood. This couple was one of the brightest in Europe.
On June 8, 1376, a year before his father's death, Prince Edward died and was buried in Canterbury Cathedral. The English crown was inherited by his son Richard II.
The Black Prince left his mark on culture. He is one of the heroes of Arthur Conan Doyle's dilogy about the Hundred Years' War, a character in Dumas's novel "The Bastard de Mauleon".
Bertrand de Born (1140-1215)
The knight and troubadour Bertrand de Born was the ruler of Périgord, owner of the castle of Hautefort. Dante Alighieri portrayed Bertrand de Born in his "Divine Comedy": the troubadour is in Hell, and holds his severed head in his hand as punishment for the fact that in life he stirred up quarrels between people and loved wars.
And, according to Dante, Bertrand de Born sang only to sow discord.
De Born, meanwhile, became famous for his courtly poetry. In his poems, he glorified, for example, Duchess Matilda, the eldest daughter of Henry II and Alienora of Aquitaine. De Born was familiar with many troubadours of his time, such as Guilhem de Bergedan, Arnaut Daniel, Folke de Marseglia, Gaucelme Faidit and even the French trouvère Conon of Bethune. Towards the end of his life, Bertrand de Born retired to the Cistercian Abbey of Dalon, where he died in 1215.
Godfrey of Bouillon (1060-1100)
To become one of the leaders of the First Crusade, Godfrey of Bouillon sold everything he had and gave up his lands. The pinnacle of his military career was the storming of Jerusalem.
Godfrey of Bouillon was elected the first king of the Crusader kingdom in the Holy Land, but refused such a title, preferring the title of baron and Defender of the Holy Sepulcher.
He left orders to crown his brother Baldwin king of Jerusalem in the event that Godfrey himself died - this is how an entire dynasty was founded.
As a ruler, Godfrey took care of expanding the boundaries of the state, imposed taxes on the emissaries of Caesarea, Ptolemais, Ascalon and subjugated the Arabians on the left side of the Jordan to his power. On his initiative, a law was introduced that was called the Jerusalem Assisi.
He died, according to Ibn al-Qalanisi, during the siege of Acre. According to another version, he died of cholera.
Jacques de Molay (1244-1314)
De Molay was the last Master of the Knights Templar. In 1291, after the fall of Acre, the Templars moved their headquarters to Cyprus.
Jacques de Molay set himself two ambitious goals: he wanted to reform the order and convince the pope and European monarchs to launch a new Crusade to the Holy Land.
The Templar Order was the richest organization in the history of medieval Europe, and its economic ambitions were beginning to thwart European monarchs.
On October 13, 1307, by order of King Philip IV the Fair of France, all French Templars were arrested. The order was officially banned.
The last Master of the Tramplars remained in history thanks in part to the legend of the so-called “curse of de Molay.” According to Geoffroy of Paris, on March 18, 1314, Jacques de Molay, having mounted the fire, summoned the French king Philip IV, his adviser Guillaume de Nogaret and Pope Clement V to God's court. Already shrouded in clouds of smoke, he promised the king, adviser and pope that they will survive it for no more than a year. He also cursed the royal family to the thirteenth generation.
In addition, there is a legend that Jacques de Molay, before his death, founded the first Masonic lodges, in which the prohibited Order of the Templars was to be preserved underground.
Jean le Maingre Boucicaut (1366-1421)
Boucicault was one of the most famous French knights. At 18 he went to Prussia to help the Teutonic Order, then he fought against the Moors in Spain and became one of the heroes of the Hundred Years' War. During the truce in 1390, Boucicaut competed in a knight's tournament and took first place in it.
Boucicault was a knight errant and wrote poems about his valor.
His was so great that King Philip VI made him Marshal of France.
At the famous Battle of Agincourt, Boucicault was captured and died in England six years later.
Sid Campeador (1041(1057)-1099)
The real name of this famous knight was Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar. He was a Castilian nobleman, a military and political figure, a national hero of Spain, a hero of Spanish folk legends, poems, romances and dramas, as well as the famous tragedy of Corneille.
The Arabs called the knight Sid. Translated from folk Arabic, “sidi” means “my master.” In addition to the nickname "Sid", Rodrigo also earned another nickname - Campeador, which translates as "winner".
Rodrigo's fame was forged under King Alfonso. Under him, El Cid became commander-in-chief of the Castilian army. In 1094, Cid captured Valencia and became its ruler. All attempts by the Almorravids to reconquer Valencia ended in their defeats in the battles of Cuarte (in 1094) and Bairen (in 1097). After his death in 1099, Sid became a folk hero, sung in poems and songs.
It is believed that before the final battle with the Moors, El Cid was mortally wounded by a poisoned arrow. His wife dressed Compeador's body in armor and mounted it on a horse so that his army would maintain its morale.
In 1919, the remains of Cid and his wife Doña Jimena were buried in the Burgos Cathedral. Since 2007, Tisona, a sword that supposedly belonged to Sid, has been located here.
William Wallace (c. 1272-1305)
William Wallace is a national hero of Scotland, one of the most important figures in its wars of independence in 1296-1328. His image was embodied by Mel Gibson in the film “Braveheart”.
In 1297, Wallace killed the English Sheriff of Lanark and soon established himself as one of the leaders of the Scottish rebellion against the English. On September 11 of the same year, Wallace's small army defeated a 10,000-strong British army at Stirling Bridge. Most of the country was liberated. Wallace was knighted and declared Guardian of the Realm, ruling on behalf of Balliol.
A year later, the English king Edward I again invaded Scotland. On July 22, 1298, the Battle of Falkirk took place. Wallace's forces were defeated and he was forced into hiding. However, a letter from the French king to his ambassadors in Rome, dated November 7, 1300, survives, in which he demands that they support Wallace.
Guerrilla warfare continued in Scotland at this time, and Wallace returned to his homeland in 1304 and took part in several clashes. However, on August 5, 1305, he was captured near Glasgow by English soldiers.
Wallace rejected accusations of treason at trial, saying: “I cannot be a traitor to Edward, because I was never his subject.”
On August 23, 1305, William Wallace was executed in London. His body was beheaded and cut into pieces, his head was hung on the Great London Bridge, and his body parts were exhibited in Scotland's largest cities - Newcastle, Berwick, Stirling and Perth.
Henry Percy (1364-1403)
For his character, Henry Percy received the nickname "hotspur" (hot spur). Percy is one of the heroes of Shakespeare's historical chronicles. Already at the age of fourteen, under the command of his father, he participated in the siege and capture of Berwick, and ten years later he himself commanded two raids on Boulogne. In the same 1388, he was knighted of the Garter by King Edward III of England and took an active part in the war with France.
For his support of the future king Henry IV, Percy became constable of the castles of Flint, Conwy, Chester, Caernarvon and Denbigh, and was also appointed justiciar of North Wales. At the Battle of Homildon Hill, Hotspur captured Earl Archibald Douglas, who commanded the Scots.
The outstanding military leader of the Hundred Years' War, Bertrand Deguclin, in his childhood bore little resemblance to the future famous knight.
According to the troubadour Cuvelier from Tournai, who compiled Du Guesclin’s biography, Bertrand was “the ugliest child in Rennes and Dinant” - with short legs, too broad shoulders and long arms, an ugly round head and dark “boar” skin.
Deguclin entered the first tournament in 1337, at the age of 17, and later chose a military career - as researcher Jean Favier writes, he made war his craft “as much out of necessity as out of spiritual inclination.”
Bertrand Du Guesclin became most famous for his ability to storm well-fortified castles. His small detachment, supported by archers and crossbowmen, stormed the walls with the help of ladders. Most castles, which had small garrisons, could not withstand such tactics.
After the death of Du Guesclin during the siege of the city of Chateauneuf-de-Randon, he was given the highest posthumous honor: he was buried in the tomb of the French kings in the Church of Saint-Denis at the feet of Charles V.
John Hawkwood (c. 1320-1323 -1394)
The English condottiere John Hawkwood was the most famous leader of the “White Company” - a detachment of Italian mercenaries of the 14th century, who served as the prototype for the heroes of Conan Doyle’s novel “The White Company”.
Along with Hawkwood, English archers and foot-at-arms appeared in Italy. For his military merits, Hawkwood received the nickname l'acuto, "cool", which later became his name - Giovanni Acuto.
Hawkwood's fame was so great that the English king Richard II asked the Florentines for permission to bury him in his homeland in Hedingham. The Florentines returned the ashes of the great condottiere to their homeland, but ordered a tombstone and a fresco for his empty grave in the Florentine Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.
Knights
The knights considered themselves the best in everything: in social position, in the art of war, in rights, in manners and even in love. They looked at the rest of the world with extreme disdain, considering townspeople and peasants "uncouth louts." And they even considered priests to be people devoid of “noble manners.” The world, in their understanding, is eternal and unchanging, and in it the dominance of the knightly class is eternal and unchanging. Only that which relates to the life and activities of knights is beautiful and moral; everything else is ugly and immoral.
The origin of knighthood dates back to the era of the Great Migration of Peoples - VI - VII centuries. During this era, the power of the kings strengthened: conquests and the enormous booty associated with them sharply increased their authority. Along with the king, the members of his squad also grew stronger. At first, their elevation above their fellow tribesmen was relative: they remained free and full-fledged people. Like the ancient Germans, they were both landowners and warriors, participating in tribal governance and legal proceedings. True, large land holdings of the nobility grew next to their relatively small plots. Feeling their impunity, tycoons often forcibly took away land and property from weaker neighbors, who were forced to admit that they were dependent people.
Number and role
in medieval society
The number of knights in Europe was small. On average, knights made up no more than 3% of the population of a given country. Due to the peculiarities of the historical development of Poland and Spain, the number of knights there was slightly higher, but also no more than 10%. However, the role of chivalry in Medieval Europe was enormous. The Middle Ages were a time when power decided everything, and power was in the hands of chivalry. It was the knights (if this term is considered as a synonym for the word feudal lord) who owned the main means of production - land, and it was they who concentrated all the power in medieval society. The number of knights who were vassals of the lord determined his nobility.
In addition, it is very important to note that it was the knightly environment that gave rise to a special type of culture, which became one of the most striking aspects of the culture of the Middle Ages. The ideals of chivalry permeated all court life, as well as military conflicts and diplomatic relations. Therefore, the study of the features of knightly ideology seems absolutely necessary for understanding all aspects of the life of medieval society.
Knights | Dedication
Becoming a knight, the young man underwent an initiation procedure: his lord hit him on the shoulder with the flat of his sword, they exchanged a kiss, which symbolized their reciprocity.
Armor
- Helmet 1450
- Helmet 1400
- Helmet 1410
- Helmet Germany 1450
- Milanese helmet 1450
- Italy 1451
- - 9. Italy (Tlmmaso Negroni) 1430
Knight's weapons
The medieval feudal lord was armed with heavy cold steel weapons: a long sword with a meter-long cross-shaped handle, a heavy spear, and a thin dagger. In addition, clubs and battle axes (axes) were used, but they fell out of use quite early. But the knight paid more and more attention to means of protection. He put on chain mail or armor, replacing the previous leather armor.The first armor made of iron plates began to be used in the 13th century. They protected the chest, back, neck, arms and legs. Additional plates were placed over the shoulder, elbow and knee joints.
An indispensable part of knightly weapons was a triangular wooden shield, on which iron plates were stuffed.
An iron helmet with a visor was placed on the head, which could be raised and lowered to protect the face. Helmet designs were constantly changing, providing better and better protection, and sometimes just for the sake of beauty. Covered with all this metal, leather and clothing, the knight suffered from intense heat and thirst during a long battle, especially in the summer.
The knight's war horse began to be covered with a metal blanket. In the end, the knight with his horse, to which he seemed to grow, became a kind of iron fortress.
Such heavy and clumsy weapons made the knight less vulnerable to arrows and blows from the enemy’s spear or sword. But it also led to the knight’s low mobility. The knight, knocked out of the saddle, could no longer mount without the help of a squire.
Nevertheless, for a peasant army on foot, the knight remained for a long time a terrible force against which the peasants were defenseless.
The townspeople soon found a means of defeating the detachments of knights, using their greater mobility and simultaneous cohesion, on the one hand, and better (compared to the peasant) weapons, on the other. In the 11th - 13th centuries, knights were beaten more than once by townspeople in different countries of Western Europe.
But it was only the invention and improvement of gunpowder and firearms in the 14th century onwards that brought an end to chivalry as the exemplary military force of the Middle Ages.
Feudal castles and their structure
After the cathedral, the most important type of building in the Middle Ages was undoubtedly the castle. In Germany, following the formation of the type of dynastic fortress in the 11th century, an idea developed about the practical and symbolic advantages of a significant building height: the higher the castle, the better it is. Dukes and princes competed with each other for the right to be called the owner of the highest castle. In the medieval worldview, the height of a castle was directly correlated with the power and wealth of its owner.Taking as an example the southwestern part of Germany, where castles were built especially actively, we will briefly consider some political, social and legal aspects of the development of fortification architecture.
Representatives of the Hohenberg dynasty, descendants of the Counts of Pollern, followed a tradition that ordered a major lord to build a castle on top of a cliff as a sign of his power and authority. In the mid-12th century, this branch of the Zollerns chose a rocky mountain peak above a mountain meadow, now known as Hummelsberg (near Rottweil), as the site of a family fortress. Having thus found itself at an altitude of about a kilometer, the Hohenberg castle “overtook” the Zollern-Hohenzollern castle by approximately 150 meters. To emphasize this advantage, the count owners of the castle took their surname in honor of this mountain peak: "Hohenberg" means "high mountain" in German ("hohen Berg"). Conical outcrops of rocks similar to Hummelsberg, steep on all sides, are typical of the Swabian highlands. They were ideal geographical symbols of power and greatness.
The medieval castle was the center of life of the feudal court. Documentary evidence has been preserved that castles performed many ceremonial functions of the palace: it is known, for example, that in the castle of Count Albrecht 2 Hohenberg on Christmas Day 1286, long and extremely magnificent celebrations were organized in honor of the German Emperor Rudolf 1, who was visiting the count's court. It is also known that in the castles there were many officials typical of the administrative structure of the palace, such as butlers, seneschals and marshals, and this is another evidence of the frequency with which all kinds of holidays were held in the castles.
What did a typical medieval castle look like? Despite the differences between local types of castles, all medieval German castles were generally built according to approximately the same pattern. They had to satisfy two main requirements: to provide reliable protection in the event of an enemy attack and conditions for the social life of the community in general and the feudal court in particular.
As a rule, the castle was surrounded by a fence, the walls of which rested on massive buttresses. A covered patrol path usually ran along the top of the wall; the remaining parts of the wall were protected by battlements alternating with embrasures. You could get inside the castle through a gate with a gate tower. Towers were also erected in the corners of the wall and along it at certain intervals. Outbuildings and the castle chapel were usually located in close proximity to such towers: this ensured greater security. The main building, where there were living quarters and reception rooms for guests, was the palace - the German analogue of the great hall, which performed the same functions in the castles of other countries. It was adjacent to cattle stalls. In the center of the courtyard stood a donjon (sometimes it was placed closer to the palace, and sometimes close to it). Lichtenberg Castle, north of Stuttgart, is one of the few medieval German castles that have been completely preserved to this day. According to masons' marks, its construction dates back to approximately 1220.
Returning to the Hohenbergs, it should be noted that they, along with the Counts Palatine of Tübingen, belonged to the most powerful aristocratic families of Southwestern Germany in the 12th and 13th centuries. They owned extensive estates in the upper reaches of the Neckar River, as well as, in addition to the main castle of Hohenburg, castles in Rothenburg, Horb and other places.
It was in Horb, a city built on a hill above the Neckar, that the Hohenberg dream of an ideal residence, completely dotted with towers reaching into the heavens, came close to being realized. The former owner of Horb, Count Palatine of Tübingen Rudolf II, conceived, but did not have time to complete, a project to build a grandiose castle on a rocky ledge hanging over the city market. At the end of the 13th century, Horb, as part of the dowry of a bride from the Tübingen family, passed to the Hohenbergs, who completed the construction work, uniting the castle with the city in such a way that the city church was also protected by the castle walls. Built between 1260 and 1280, this former collegiate church of the Holy Cross is now dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
As a result, the castle and the town in Horb merged into a single whole in a unique way. It is almost certain that Horb was the first German town to serve as the basis for a lord's residence. Thanks to this, many buildings that belonged to the count appeared in the city itself, which stimulated the development of the functions of the count's court as a social institution.
Further development of this process took place in Rothenburg. In 1291, Count Albrecht 2 Hohenberg, who had previously lived in seclusion on the Weilerburg peak, founded a residence for himself above Rothenburg; The castle and the city also formed a single whole here. The secluded Weilerburg castle on a rock, cut off from public life, was, of course, not completely abandoned, but basically lost its role as a residence. Rothenburg turned into the capital of the Hohenbergs and remained a residence city even after this count's family died out.
Thus, the development of medieval residence towns in the 13th and 14th centuries was determined mainly by the process of transferring the castle to the city. This process, which formed a new type of urban culture and entailed important political and social consequences, can be considered in the context of frequent changes of rulers.
The increasing political power of the lords created the need to maintain more lavish courts and finance expensive building projects - castle towns and castle palaces. Of course, such a blatant display of force brought danger to the new castles. The castle and the surrounding area had to be carefully fortified. Defense required heavily fortified castle walls and well-armed knights; however, open conflict was usually preceded by intense diplomatic negotiations. And only if all possibilities for non-violent resolution of the conflict were exhausted, war was declared and the opponents locked themselves in their castles to prepare for hostilities.
Then the lord either marched out of the castle with his army or took defensive measures. Not only the castle, but also the city took part in preparing for the defense. At the end of the war, a peace treaty was signed, the sole purpose of which was to prevent further strife. The agreement established new boundaries, which were sometimes described down to the smallest detail, listing pastures and fiefs. Descendants, however, often did not want to recognize the legality of such a redistribution of land, and if such a conflict, which dragged on for generations, could not be resolved, it could ultimately lead to the destruction of the castle or a change of ruler. In the Middle Ages, formally declared civil wars were often considered a completely legal means of restoring inheritance rights.
Some medieval castles, and subsequently residential towns, developed into cultural centers. If the lord turned out to be a lover of fine arts, he tried to attract scientists and artists to the court, founded a university and ordered work on the construction or decoration of temples and palaces.
Leisure
TournamentsThe purpose of the tournament is to demonstrate the fighting qualities of the knights who made up the main military. the power of the Middle Ages. Tournaments were usually organized by the king, or barons, major lords on especially solemn occasions: in honor of the marriages of kings, princes of the blood, in connection with the birth of heirs, the conclusion of peace, etc. Knights from all over Europe gathered for the tournament; it took place publicly, with a wide gathering of feudal people. nobility and common people.
Over time, coats of arms began to be checked at the tournament, and special tournament books and tournament lists were introduced. Usually the tournament began with a duel between knights, usually those who had just been knighted, the so-called. "jute". Such a duel was called "tiost" - a duel with spears. Then the main competition was held - an imitation of a battle between two detachments, formed by “nations” or regions. The victors took their opponents prisoner, took away weapons and horses, and forced the vanquished to pay a ransom.
From the 13th century the tournament was often accompanied by severe injuries and even death of participants. The church prohibited tournaments and the burial of the dead, but the custom turned out to be ineradicable. At the end of the tournament, the names of the winners were announced and awards were distributed. The winner of the tournament had the right to choose the queen of the tournament. Tournaments stopped in the 16th century, when the knightly cavalry lost its importance and was supplanted by infantry riflemen recruited from townspeople and peasants.
Knightly mottos
An important attribute of the knight was his motto. This is a short saying that expresses the most important side of the knight’s character, his life principles and aspirations. Mottos were often depicted on the coats of arms of knights, their seals, and armor. Many knights had mottos that emphasized their courage, determination, and especially complete self-sufficiency and independence from anyone. The characteristic knightly mottos were the following: “I will go my own way,” “I will not become anyone else,” “Remember me often,” “I will overcome,” “I am not a king or a prince, I am the Count de Coucy.”
I apologize in advance to the inhabitants of the Castle for the fact that I am publishing for the second time in a row and not very on time, but I simply have to offer this topic for discussion, I found one note on this matter, which I supplemented with some facts and reasoning from myself.
What dirt! Men are degenerating - which is a pity.... I watched a film about the Musketeers...
God! I was born at the wrong time... Iron Age - iron hearts...
So sad - it seems that swords, wide-brimmed hats with ostrich feathers, horseback riding at dawn - the attributes of life - are a thing of the past,
whose main value is Honor!
« Yes, modern men crushed, - women think. - There are no more noble knights who are ready to throw the whole world at a woman’s feet, to fight for the sake of a beautiful lady with a dozen giants and to love her selflessly all their lives. But we have to endure such people, there’s nowhere to go.”
And then the ladies begin to dream about what men used to be like, how nice it would be to live in a medieval knight’s castle, with servants ready to fulfill any lady’s whim... And how exciting it must have been to watch the tournaments where knights fight not for life, but for death for your handkerchief...
In short, ladies paint in their imagination the image of a wonderful romantic hero (or even higher - a prince!) and a mythical "Golden Indian Age", when women lived FREELY, and all the men were not the traditional “bastards” of today, but noble gentlemen and knights.
Alas, all this is nothing more than a myth, and if a modern woman met a real knight on her way, believe me, she would be horrified by this meeting. The image of a strong, handsome and virtuous knight, selflessly devoted to his beloved, created by women's imagination and supported by romantic stories, has nothing to do with reality. A real knight is too different from the one you can dream about...
And we shouldn’t forget that the same stratum of knights did not make up even 10% of society, so even if the “golden woman’s age” were true, it would still be simply inaccessible to most women, because the majority of the population then lived in villages and engaged in hard agricultural labor. The order of which, by the way, was often violated by knights with their raids - the Middle Ages saw the heyday of feudal wars.
Heartthrobs in armor.
This is what, for example, according to European archaeologists, a real French knight looked like at the turn of the 14th-15th centuries: the average height of this medieval “heartthrob” rarely exceeded 160 cm (the population then was generally short, people 2 meters tall were considered “giants”). The unshaven (back then everyone had beards) and unwashed face of this “handsome man” was disfigured by smallpox (almost everyone in Europe suffered from it at that time - I remind you that vaccinations appeared only in the 18th century!). Under the knight's helmet, in the matted dirty hair of the aristocrat, and in the folds of his clothes, lice and fleas swarmed in abundance ( As is known, there were no baths in medieval Europe, and the knights washed no more than three times a year. Or even never, especially if you took the corresponding vow - and Vow cult they had almost stronger than the praised cult of the Beautiful Lady).
The knight's breath smelled so strongly that for modern ladies it would be a terrible ordeal not only to kiss him, but even to stand next to him (alas, no one brushed their teeth or chewed chewing gum back then!). And the medieval knights ate everything, washing it all down with sour beer and snacking on garlic - for disinfection.
In addition, during the next campaign, the knight was shackled in armor for days, which, no matter how much he wanted, he could not remove without outside help. The procedure of putting on and taking off the armor took about an hour, and sometimes longer. Of course, the noble knight relieved all his needs... directly into his armor. In addition, he was unbearably hot in the sun in his armor... But the fearless knight did not risk taking off his armor during a military campaign - in the troubled times of the Middle Ages there were a lot of robbers and other armed dunces. Only in exceptional cases, when the stench from under the knight’s armor became unbearable and under the rays of the midday sun they became so hot that it was no longer possible to endure, the noble knight yelled at the servant to pour several tubs of cold water on top of him. This is where all knightly hygiene ended.
As for the notorious chivalrous attitude towards women, here too novelists ( Walter Scott he’s not alone here, although he did his best in “Ivanhoe”) they turned everything upside down. Who do most girls dream about when they are waiting for their knight on a white horse? About a noble defender, always ready to lend his knightly shoulder to a lady, selflessly in love with her, showing her signs of attention and, for the sake of one of her kisses, performing extraordinary feats. Alas, as historians testify, such knights never existed in nature.
Defenders of honor.
Medieval archives provide a lot of evidence that women during the times of the knights had a very, very hard life. It was especially bad for commoners ( which, as I already mentioned, were actually the majority in that era!). It turns out that among knights it was customary to rape young village virgins during campaigns, and the more such “feats” a knight errant performed, the more he was respected. You need to understand that as a rule, younger sons became knights-errant, left without an inheritance (there weren’t enough castles for everyone) and not really receiving any education other than military education. Therefore, in principle, there could be no talk of any kind of “high relations” - most of the knights barely knew how to sign their names. But the famous king of the Franks, Charlemagne, could not even do this. And this is the king, what can you ask of the rest!
The knights had no trace of any reverent attitude towards female honor. On the contrary, medieval knights treated ladies, by today's standards, very rudely, completely disregarding the opinions and wishes of the latter.
The knights’ ideas about protecting women’s honor were also very specific: according to the concepts of that time, each knight believed that his own honor and dignity were insulted if he saw a woman belonging to another knight. Each knight considered it his duty to recapture a woman from a fellow swordsman. To this end, he either immediately rushed into battle, or, in today's criminal parlance, “scored the arrow” of a competitor at the nearest knightly tournament. Moreover, no one asked the opinion of the one over whom the fight broke out - the lady automatically went to the one who won the knightly showdown.
Dashing warriors.
There remains a little hope - maybe at least the knights were of some use in battles? Alas, here too history says that the detachments of knightly cavalry, although they represented an impressive force, used it extremely ineptly. The knightly armies never had a single command - because they could not agree on who would be the most important, who had an older family, and who was more noble.
And if a commander was chosen, this did not mean at all that the other knights (and with them the mercenaries they brought) would obey him. As a result, in almost ALL cases where knightly armies met vertically organized armies, arrogant warriors wreaked havoc on the battlefield - not in the ranks of their opponents, but in their own, and despite impressive examples of personal courage, they were defeated - which English with their amazing archers in the Hundred Years' War, which from Swiss Landsknechts during the struggle of those for independence that from Mongols, during their invasion of Europe, that from Polovtsians at Adrianople, which is from Turk at Nikopol. Yes, and from the warriors from Russians principalities - on Lake Peipsi or at Grunwald. Everywhere you look there is an epic fail. And from the Holy Land - the only relatively successful example of knightly expansion - in the end everyone was mercilessly thrown out.
By the way, one of the versions why the kings started the Crusades is that they were simply fed up with the knights with their showdowns, and they preferred to send them to hell in the middle of nowhere. Let them lay their heads there, everything will be calmer for the kingdom.
But maybe, now you timidly ask, did they at least still have good manners? Judge for yourself.
How the Knights dined.
How did the Valiant Knights, glorified in ballads, dine? After all, it is known that in the Middle Ages they did not attach much importance to hygiene, in the ancient dining halls there was often excrement lying in the corners, the chambers were infested with lice and bedbugs, and feasts often resembled a Sabbath of drunken Vikings in a pigsty. For example, there is a well-known custom of wiping oily hands on the hair of pageboys and the fur of dogs. This is how Istvan Rath-Vegh, a Hungarian historian famous for his everyday descriptions of the curious history of mankind, describes the dining rituals of the Middle Ages.
In 1624, the majordomo of one of the Austrian Grand Dukes considered it necessary to warn the gentlemen of the cadets with instructions on how to behave at the table of the Grand Duke if they were invited to him.
The instructions said:
“Although, without a doubt, the officers invited by gentlemen at the table of His Imperial and Royal Highness always observed the rules of cleanliness and behaved as befits knights, it is still necessary to draw the attention of the less polished cadets to the following rules.
Firstly. His Highness should always give greetings in clean clothes and boots and not appear half-drunk.
Secondly. At the table, do not rock your chair or stretch your legs to their full length.
Third. Don't wash down every bite with wine. If you have finished a plate of food, you can only drink half the cup; Before drinking, wipe your mouth and mustache clean.
Fourthly. Do not reach into the plate with your hands, do not throw bones behind your back or under the table.
Fifthly. Do not suck your fingers, do not spit into the plate, and do not wipe your nose on the tablecloth.
At sixth. Don't get so drunk that you fall out of your chair and can't walk straight."
From the paternal instructions it follows that the flower of the Austrian army did perform prohibited actions. He reached into the plate with his hands, threw the bones behind his back and onto the floor, used the tablecloth instead of a handkerchief, and not only sucked his fingers, but also drank to the point “that he fell out of his chair and was unable to walk straight.”
Austria, of course, was no exception; in Germany, for example, knightly morals were not at all different, which the Germans themselves talk about, although with a reservation about the notes of the “cunning innkeepers”: Behavior at the table.
Chicken legs and meatballs were thrown in all directions, dirty hands were wiped on shirts and trousers, they burped and farted to their heart's content, the food was torn into pieces and then swallowed without chewing...
This or roughly this is how we, having read the records of cunning innkeepers or their adventurer visitors, imagine the behavior of knights at the table today.
What is the concept of “knights”? Who are these people? These are top class warriors! This is how they were called the Equestrian Knighthood - this is a kind of aristocracy on the battlefield. Moreover, this is a kind of military caste. Read more about this in our article.
How did the first knights appear?
Who are these warriors, and how did they appear in human history? The answers to these questions have their roots in medieval England. It was there that the title appeared in 971. Since then, much has been said and written about these horsemen, whose definition is “knights”.
Who were the knights of the Middle Ages?
It is curious that for some people knights were the most common greedy robbers, horse thieves, rapists and oppressors of ordinary mortal people, while for others they were the real embodiment of nobility, valor and, of course, gallantry towards ladies.
Today it is generally accepted that a knight is a valiant warrior in shining armor, a courageous soldier. But let’s be honest, there really were a variety of people among them - the worst scoundrels, inveterate robbers, famous poets, and religious fanatics. And they are all knights!
Who are knights in terms of their way of life?
It is not surprising that the lives of these warriors were entirely connected with military campaigns and battles. Each of them was nothing less than a true hero. The knight was considered one of the most significant figures in such a high position due to the fact that not as much power was concentrated in the hands of the supreme rulers (kings, clergy) as they wanted. After all, then this very power belonged to those who fought better than others! In addition, significant privileges were given to those who had horses, heavy weapons and other necessary ammunition, and, most importantly, knew how to use it wisely!
According to cultural tradition, a knight in armor (or chevalier, reitar and knight) is a “horseman”. This is exactly how this word is translated into any language in the world. The rider, who was clad in steel armor, professionally wielded a spear and sword. In other words, this is a real fearless warrior who gave rise to such an independent culture as chivalry!
Modern “knighthood” is the military valor and courage of the Middle Ages!
Chivalry, as a cultural tradition of that era, left a very deep mark in human memory. It has become synonymous with military courage and valor. It is no coincidence that today, when we talk about a sublime and gentlemanly attitude towards the opposite sex, we correlate this precisely with the era of chivalry! That is why today the most courageous daredevil, ready to stand up for the weak, defend the honor of a woman or fight for the truth, is perceived by the public consciousness as a real knight!
For statistics
Let's give some numbers. There weren't that many knights as a fighting unit. For example, at the end of the 13th century in England there were approximately 3 thousand of these brave warriors. Moreover, from several dozen to several hundred warriors in armor usually took part in battles. And only in the largest and largest battles the knights numbered in the thousands.