Medieval Knights: From Cniht Servants to Jousts, Chivalry and Gunpowder

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

The word knight comes from the Old English cniht, meaning boy or servant. In Charles Martel's 8th century, elite warriors still rode to battle and fought on foot. Charlemagne's long campaigns needed fast mounted troops, the stirrup let riders brace a couched lance behind the weight of a galloping horse, and loyal horsemen were rewarded with grants of land called benefices. In 864 Charles the Bald's Edict of Pîtres called on every man who could afford a horse to arm against Viking, Magyar and Saracen raids and made fiefs hereditary, turning local mounted warriors into the real government of their regions. Training began at seven as a page, continued from about 14 as a squire, and ended in a ritual bath, an all-night vigil and the dubbing.

Early knights often preyed on the people around them, and the Church answered with the code of chivalry, which reached its height in the Crusades and the military orders. Chivalry protected only other knights, who were ransomed while common soldiers were killed. Tournaments, heraldry and Arthurian romance filled peacetime until Don Quixote mocked the ideal. Swiss pikemen at Nancy in 1477 and firearms ended the knight's military role, and knighthood survived as an honor.

• Kite shields grew long at the bottom to cover a rider's exposed leg, then shrank to the heater shape once leg armor improved.
• Against plate armor, knights used maces, poleaxes and war hammers rather than swords, aiming to dent steel and break bones beneath it.
• Crusaders met the Islamic code of furusiyya, which blended horsemanship and weapons training with ethics and influenced later chivalry.
• The loser of a joust surrendered his horse and armor to the winner, and the pig-faced bascinet was shaped to deflect a lance point.
• In 1149 the Order of the Hatchet gave women who defended Tortosa in Spain full knightly status, tax exemptions included.