1. 13.3 The Age of Chivalry

2. Knights: Warriors on Horseback
The Technology of Warfare Changes
Leather saddle and stirrups enable knights to handle heavy weapons

3. Armour Plate Armour Chainmail
Gambeson: a padded jacket worn alone or in combination with chainmail

4. Knights: Warriors on Horseback
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

5. So, You Want to be a Knight?
One had to be “well-born” (Son of a Noble)

6. So, You Want to be a Knight?
A Knight’s Training
Age 7: Page – personal servant of the Lord

7. So, You Want to be a Knight?
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

8. So, You Want to be a Knight?
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

9. “The Accolade” (right, 1901) and “Godspeed” (1900, below) by Edmund Blair Leighton

10. Knighthood
Ceremony
Lord (or King) touches your shoulder 3 times with sword
and says, “I dub thee knight.”

11. Knighthood
Ceremony still done today!

12. Knights: Tournaments A Knight’s Training
Knights gain experience, show off, and make money in tournaments -- competitions and mock battles

13. Knights: Tournament Events
Melee:

14. Knights: Tournament Events
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.

15. Knights: Tournament Events
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.

16. Knights: Tournament Events
Jousting:

17. Knights: Tournament Events
Jousting:

18. Knights: Tournament Events
Jousting:

19. Knights: Tournament Events
Jousting:
“unhorse” opponent with a lance

20. Knights: Coat of Arms Coats of Arms – like a # on a jersey in football
Got to know who you are for cheering in tournaments

21. Knighthood and 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

22. Siege Weapons Brutal Reality of Warfare
Castles are huge fortresses where lords/ Kings live

23. Windsor Castle

24. Caerlaverock Castle in Scotland is surrounded by a moat.

25. Leeds Castle, England

27. Siege Weapons Brutal Reality of Warfare
Attacking armies use wide range of strategies and weapons

28. Siege Warfare

30. Counterweight trebuchet at Château des Baux, France

31. Medieval mangonel, a type of catapult

32. Replica battering ram at Château des Baux, France

33. Medieval moveable siege tower

34. The Literature of Chivalry
Epic Poetry
Epic poems recount a hero’s deeds and adventures
The Song of Roland is about Charlemagne’s knights fighting Muslims

35. The Literature of Chivalry
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.

36. Women’s Role in Feudal Society
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

37. Convents provided women in the middle ages an alternative to married life. Childbirth was often deadly for women, so becoming a nun was a respectable and perhaps attractive alternative.

38. The End of Chivalry?
As time went on and gunpowder and stronger foot soldiers were developed, the need for knights declined.
By the 16th century the knight had been deemed all but useless, giving a so called “end” to the chivalric ways of the knight.