13.3 The Age of Chivalry

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 • Discuss Coats of Arms soon

21. Knighthood and theCode of Chivalry • 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.