At the beginning of the eleventh century, some warriors on horseback distinguished themselves from the mass of free men.Why? Between the 8th and 9th centuries, the methods of combat had been radically transformed, and only a small number of people knew how to master the select service of weapons and become a knight .
If we see in a movie an army full of thousands of thousands of knights, or a man who gets on a horse and automatically fights like a medieval knight , we must never lose sight of the fact that this is pure fiction and, it goes without saying, an insult to the work and education that the Knights of the Middle Ages carried out for years.
Being a gentleman was extremely difficult .First of all, it required money.Horses, weapons , and the armors were among the most expensive objects of that time.
The cavalry was increasingly taking center stage in the story medieval , was not always made up of powerful warriors and lords.
The Carolingian fighter
In the time of Charlemagne , when the army was still made up of infants, heavy cavalry already played a leading role, because the armies could thus move faster.
Tapestry of Bayeaux, Carolingian representation
But during combat, the riders used very badly their mounts : when the enemy approached, they swung their spears with the tip forward and then threw their arms back to throw them on the adversaries.
After this first assault to rank, he continued sword fighting .Loading a horse with a heavy two-edged sword was extremely difficult, the riders were badly anchored in a precarious mount devoid of stirrups.That is why they were forced to get off the horse to fight with the melee sword.
And it was at that moment that the heavy equipment they carried from the horse became an obstacle: brogne , a kind of horse-drawn leather tunic covered with iron plates to cushion the javelin crash, pregnant the fencer's movements, as well as the long shield , which had no other way of moving except by dragging it on the ground.
Tapestry of Bayeaux, combines Carolingian techniques (javelin) with those of the eleventh century (loriga)
Summarizing: was fought against standing with a team designed for horse fighting .
The knight of the twelfth century
Instead, at the end of the twelfth century, the army almost completely identified with the c heavy beading, and the fighters faced each other on horseback, following a new method of combat .
Technical refinements are the origin of this transformation.First, the riders had better mounts , probably inspired by the Hungarians, whose rides had terrified Europe in the 10th century.
The knights incorporated their type of horse harness , they now sat firmly on the chair that stood in front and behind.The feet were equipped with spurs that were intruded in the stirrups, where they could lean.So much stability and freedom of movement on the mount was gained.
On the other hand, he began to take better care of the horses.and he attended to the raising of sturdy steeds.The cultivation of oats, destined for the horse, grew at cost Ace of barley.
Also, from 11th century , the leather suit was replaced by the loriga entirely woven in iron.true chainmail that protected almost the entire body of the combatant: covered it to the knees but included openings to guarantee freedom of movement. helmet , a conical or pyramidal helmet, was placed on top, and also covered the center of the face.
All this heavy attire hindered the march, even the helmet partially reduced the vision.But dressed like this, the eleventh-century fighter was almost invulnerable , the javelin had no efficacy against the loriga, so we had to look for new methods to reach to the adversary.
Little by little, the gentleman who felt very safe above the steed, also understood the new possibilities he had for handling weapons.
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