2. Chivalry was the code of conduct by which a knight was
supposed to abide.
• Be loyal to his feudal lord, obey God, and be nice to the
ladies.
• Some took it seriously, others didn’t. It tended to
break down especially towards the later Middle Ages.
• The Middle Ages wasn’t a time of fairy tale castles and
noble, honorable knights. It was a nasty time of
political intrigue, bloody wars, and brutish men
exercising their limited power in order to gain more
power. Just like any other time.
3. The prospective knight went through three stages:
1. Page
• Younger years. Would go off to other noble’s castle,
learn war arts.
2. Squire
• Was Robin to a knight’s Batman. His
assistant/lackey.
• The knight had a lot of heavy and expensive
equipment. The squire took care of it.
3. Knight
• When he becomes a full-fledged soldier who officially
enters into a feudal arrangement with a lord.
4. The point of a knight is that he was a mounted soldier
• And he was a professional soldier. We’re long past the
days of the citizen soldier.
• The knight was also heavily armed and armored.
• This was due to an effective saddle and, more
importantly, the stirrup.
• We mentioned before how the stirrup strangely
didn’t exist in Europe (I know, it seems like an
obvious item). Without it, you couldn’t be too heavy
or use weapons like lances, that would risk knocking
you off your horse.
• With stirrups, you could support yourself in the
saddle, stand up, turn around, etc.
5. • The knights were the most important part of the army.
• They were also expensive. Suits of armor, the
weaponry, and large war horses that could carry them
all weren’t cheap and the knight had to buy everything
on his own.
• That’s one reason why the knight was granted his
own land and revenue. You had to be able to afford
being a knight.
6. So, chivalry’s boring. Let’s talk about the armor and
weapons of the Middle Ages instead.
7. Armor
1. Chainmail
• We’ve seen this before. It’s a bunch of interlocked
rings. It’s good against slashing attacks, but bad
against stabbing attacks and blunt force.
8. • The chainmail would be long and a piece would
sometimes cover the head.
• This is mostly replaced by plate armor, but was still
worn by some lesser soldiers. Was also often worn
underneath the plate armor for extra protection,
especially where there were gaps at the armor’s
joints.
9. 2. Plate armor
• Actually come
into use rather
late in the
Middle Ages,
around the
1200’s.
Especially the
full suits.
10. • The plate armor was very good against slashing and
cutting weapons. This spurred the development of
different weapons, specifically smashing weapons
that would disorient the soldier and special thrusting
swords designed to exploit the armor’s weaknesses.
11. 3. Shields
• Triangular shields meant to repel blows.
12. Weapons
Swords
1. Longswords
• Became popular around the 1300’s.
• The blade length could be around 4 feet.
• Could be used one or two-handed and for slashing or
thrusting.
13. 2. Claymore
• Primarily Scottish sword.
• Lighter and shorter than standard
longsword.
14. 3. Broadswords
• Long, heavy, broad-bladed swords.
• Designed to be swung with force and penetrate
armor.
15. 4. Others
• Some swords were designed to relatively small
triangular blades that were specifically designed to
exploit gaps in the plate armor.
• In fact some styles of swordplay were oriented
around aiming for armor gaps. Thus, they would
have looked quite different (and perhaps sillier than)
from normal swordplay styles.
16. Battle Axe
• Between 1 and 5 pounds.
• Usually one bladed and one-handed, but sometimes
had two-bladed, two-handed models.
• Could be swung with force to penetrate mail and armor.
17. • Some models had spikes on the back or top. This was
for penetrating armor at a point as well as making the
axe offensive from every direction.
18. • The handle was most often iron or wood with iron
bands.
• This was to keep the handle from breaking from use
or from getting chopped by an enemy’s weapon.
• The axe blades all have that curved
design so that it’s easier for the blade
to slide out of flesh post-slash. You
don’t your weapon getting stuck in
somebody.
19. Bludgeon Weapons
1. War hammer
• Hammer about 5 pounds and of varying length. Had
a hammer on one side and a spike on the other.
• You could use the hammer to seriously disorient
somebody in armor (and kill anybody else) and the
spike could easily pierce armor.
• Could also use the spike as a hook for reins or
armor.
20. 2. Mace
• Simple club-type weapon. Used to disorient
armored foes and kill the rest. If spiked, could
penetrate armor.
• Advantage in that there was no “front” or “back” to
the weapon so it didn’t matter which was it was
facing when you swung it. Didn’t need a lot skill to
use either and was relatively cheap.
21. 3. Flail
• Spiked ball attached to a stick by a chain.
• Could provide more force
than mace or hammer due
to leverage.
• Didn’t transfer vibration to
user.
• Hard to block since chain
will curve around shield or
other defense.
• Good defensive use since
people won’t get in its way.
• But it was tiring to use (had
to be in constant motion)
and could be dangerous to
22. Polearms
1. Lance
• Used underarm by knights in charges and could
break almost any infantry formation.
• Made out of wood with spear tip. Between 9 and 14
feet long.
23.
24. 2. Pikes
• Basically, some kind of very long spear, about 10 to
15 feet in length.
• Good for distance work, especially against mounted
knights. Provided for a stiff defense but bad for
close-in work.
28. • The halberd could also be swung with extreme force
and could easily cleave armor and helmets.
• Didn’t take a lot of skill to use either.
• Note the hooks on some of them. That’s so that
even if you missed with the spike or blade, you
could hook the knight’s armor and drag him off his
mount. You might also snag the horse or his reins
and again neutralize the mounted knight’s
advantage.
29. Range Weapons
1. Longbow
• Wooden bows popularized
in England.
• Typically about 6.5 feet in
length.
• Effective range of about
250 yards.
• Fired in mass volleys for
distance and at shorter
distances for accuracy.
• With proper arrowhead,
could easily pierce armor
at short distances.
30. 2. Crossbows
• Fired small projectiles called bolts that were shorter
but heavier than arrows.
• Could have a draw weight of up to 350 pounds.
Because of this, there were specialized methods for
pulling back the string. Some used cranks and
gears. The simplest method involved you putting
your foot in that loop at the end, hooking the string
with a special tool on your belt and then pulling your
body up.
31. • Advantages
• Didn’t take the skill to use that a normal bow did.
• Could be kept cocked and ready.
• Extremely powerful and armor-piercing.
32. Siege Weapons
1. Battering ram
• A log, sometimes with a
metal tip.
• Suspended by rope or
chains within sheltered
structure to protect
soldiers from arrows
and other nasty stuff.
• Wheel it up to the door
or gate, pull back and
swing.
33. 2. Siege tower
• Wheeled tower that would be pushed towards castle
walls.
• Often with archers and crossbowmen to fend off
attackers.
• Would get to wall and drop gangplank, allowing
soldiers inside to pour over the walls.
34.
35. 3. Trebuchet
• Like a hybrid catapult and sling.
• Projectile (could be stone, beehives, Greek fire,
various corpses [bonus if diseased], grapeshot, etc.)
would be launched either over the walls or at them
with the purpose of breaking them down.
• Used counterweight and rope system that produced
great leverage and force – much greater than a
standard torsion catapult.
• Modern recreations can easily launch cars several
hundred yards.
• The big ones could be used two or three times an
hour. Smaller ones could be used several times per
minute.
36.
37.
38. Castle builders responded with defensive efforts.
1. Moats
• Artificial bodies of water around the castle. This
prevented the undermining of walls, kept siege
towers away and, if wide enough, could keep
artillery like trebuchets out of range.
2. Battlements
• Notched structures at the top of walls that, as a
wall, formed a parapet.
• Allowed both defense of defenders while allowing
them spaces to shoot arrows.
39. 3. Turrets
• These are the rectangular or circular tower
structures that are often at castle corners.
• Allow defenders at the top and there are often small
slit windows in the tower that allow archers to shoot
out of them.
• Early versions were rectangular. They start using
circular ones because then archers have a wider
angle of fire. The corners of the rectangular ones
limit the available firing angle.
