
The Technology of Warfare
Changes
 Leather saddle and stirrups
enable knights to handle
heavy weapons
Plate Armour
Chainmail
Gambeson, a padded jacket worn alone
or in combination with chainmail

The Warrior’s Role in
Feudal Society
 By 1000s, western
Europe is a battleground
of warring nobles
 Feudal lords raise
private armies of knights
 Knights rewarded with
land; provides income
for needed weapons
 Tried to capture enemy
& hold knights ransom

One had to be “well-born” (Son of a Noble)

A Knight’s Training
 Age 7: Page – personal servant of the Lord

A Knight’s Training
 Age 7: Page – personal servant of the Lord
 Age 15: Squire – assistant to a Knight
-- learn to handle: sword, lance, axe, bow & arrow

A Knight’s Training
 Age 7: Page – personal servant of the Lord
 Age 15: Squire – assistant to a Knight
-- learn to handle: sword, lance, axe, bow & arrow
 After you “prove yourself in battle” (around age 21)
you could become a knight

Ceremony
 Lord (or King) touches your shoulder 3 times with sword
and says, “I dub thee knight.”

Ceremony still done today!

A Knight’s Training
 Knights gain experience, show off, and make money in
tournaments -- competitions and mock battles

Melee:

Melee:
 Two groups of knights assembled in an open field
 Both parties rode toward each other and fought anyone
who came into range.
 The aim of the melee was to capture an opposing knight
and hold him for a ransom. A typical ransom included the
cost of a suit of armor or a horse.

Quintain:
 objective was to direct strokes at specified areas on a
hanging post or shield.
 practice their aim with a lance, sword or battle axe.

Jousting:

Jousting:

Jousting:

Jousting:
 “unhorse” opponent with a lance

Discuss Coats of Arms soon

The Code of Chivalry
 By 1100s knights obey a
code of chivalry—a set
of ideals on how to act
 They are to protect
weak and poor; serve
feudal lord, God,
chosen lady
"Stitching the Standard" by Edmund Blair
Leighton: the lady prepares for a knight
to go to war

Brutal Reality of Warfare
 Castles are huge fortresses where lords/ Kings live

Brutal Reality of Warfare
 Attacking armies use wide range of strategies and
weapons
Siege
Warfare
Medieval
mangonel, a
type of
catapult
Replica battering ram
at Château des Baux,
France
Medieval
moveable
siege tower

Epic Poetry
 Epic poems recount a hero’s deeds and
adventures
 The Song of Roland is about Charlemagne’s
knights fighting Muslims

Love Poems and Songs
 Knights’ duties to ladies
are as important as
those to their lords
 Troubadours—traveling
poet-musicians—write
and sing short verses
Above and right:
troubadours
portrayed in
illumined texts.

Status of Women
 According to the Church and feudal society, women
were inferior to men

Noblewomen
 Can inherit land, defend castle, send knights to war on
lord’s request
 Usually confined to activities of the home or convent

Peasants Women
 Most labor in home and field, bear children, provide
for family
 Poor, powerless, do household tasks at young age