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Knights are among the most romantic of ancient warriors, but these were no lovestruck Lancelots. Born as rough-scrabble fighters in response to the chaos that followed the collapse of the Roman Empire, they moved on to be covered with the gloss of chivalry, but not before the bloodshed of the Crusades, the Hundred Years War and countless local feuds and sieges got in the way. At the same time, knights, their role and mission blessed by the Church, were a crucial building block for medieval society. With their disappearance, a critical period of European history ended with them.
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Lance at the ready, a Norman knight invades England in 1066.
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After the Roman Empire crumbled, Europe came under a series of invasions by warriors skilled in fighting on horseback - Magyars, Mongols and others. To respond, local warriors developed their own equestrian skills and the knight was born. A line of charging knights with spears in hand could easily crush opposing foot soldiers. The knight became the most important warrior on the medieval battlefield.
Though their social status varied throughout western Europe, early knights were mostly free peasants, rather than nobles. By the 11th century, however, as the knight's military value increased, so did his status - knights were merging into the aristocracy. Within a century, they would be synonymous with the aristocracy and rulers and nobles alike would bear the title of knight.
For now, though, European rulers needed a way to pay these rising warriors. In a money-poor economy, land was the answer. In return for a parcel of land, the knight agreed to fight for the king. The knight's lands would be farmed by workers who generated the income essential to a well-equipped knight. The successful knight could also, in turn, have vassals - 12th century French knight Count Robert of Flanders held more than 1,000.
But at a time when rule of law meant rule of the sword, knights often ran amuck. Worried that the resulting violence was threatening the Church's role (and property), Rome made a move in the 10th century to rein in errant knights by tying them to the Church. The resulting "Peace of God" edict, declared in 989 at a council of bishops in France, threatened sanctions against any who raided churches, attacked unarmed clergy or robbed peasants, merchants and those traveling to or from church. The "Truce of God," first appearing in the early 11th century, ordered knights to forgo war from Thursday through Sunday and on all saints and holy days. The knight had emerged as protector of the Church. The ground was prepared for an even more ambitious joint venture between the Church and western Europe's knights - the Crusades.
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No chivalry here. A medieval manuscript illustrates a typical battle. Credit: Corbis
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The First Crusade, preached by Pope Urban II in 1095 to liberate Jerusalem and Palestine from Muslim Turks, was a siren call for Europe's knights. Large-scale wars at this time were few and far between. Knighthood was becoming an inherited order and the costs of maintaining a knight's status were on the increase - a campaign to a foreign land reportedly rich in gold, silver and precious jewels stirred images of rich ransoms, booty and the prospect of being paid to fight, a growing occurrence despite the prevailing feudal obligations. Some 4,000 knights from across Europe joined the initial campaign.
A knight who decided to embark on a Crusade officially became a Crusader after swearing to enter Jerusalem and pray at the Holy Sepulchre, where Jesus is thought to have been buried. The cross worn thereafter on a Crusader's clothes marked his special status: the Church would protect his lands and exempt him from taxation while on campaign. After Jerusalem fell to the Crusaders in 1099, the knights who remained divided up the conquered territory into four Crusader states; Muslim armies soon began reclaim the lost land, prompting an additional seven Crusades to take it back.
The Crusades not only left a legacy that would resonate in the Middle East for centuries to come, they transformed Europe's knights. Exposure to the outside world and knights from other parts of Europe broadened their outlook, fueled nascent senses of national identity and strengthened the identity of the knight as holy warriors, whose role was sanctioned by the all-powerful Church as milites Christi , or knights of Christ.
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These Knights Templar were the Crusades' ace warriors.
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This seemingly never-ending battle between England and France over two questions of succession - in the province of Brittany and in the Kingdom of France itself - forever changed the institution of knighthood in Europe. The groundwork for the transformation came in 1346 with the battle of Crécy, the war's first large confrontation. The English army, led by Edward III, defeated Philip IV of France's much larger force thanks to its use of archers armed with the rapidly firing Welsh longbow. The French, relying on charging, mail-clad knights, were mowed down. After the English victory at Crécy, interest throughout Europe grew in the crossbow, more easily maneuverable than the longbow, and in the concept of knights-for-hire. As the importance of archers increased, plate armor was introduced, but even then, battlefield changes were auguring poorly for the knight's future. Rather than relying on a feudal levy, the English had put together an army staffed by paid captains who in turn recruited and paid archers and men-at-arms. This combination of archers and paid soldiers was repeated again in the English defeat of the French at the legendary battle of Agincourt (1415). By the war's end, the French had adopted the so-called indenture system as well. Guns and cannon were being used by both sides by the war's end and the strategic importance of the knightly cavalry charge was fading fast. National armies had now begun to emerge and, with them, a new sense of national identity.
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Knights clash head on in this 14th century illuminated French manuscript. Credit: Corbis
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If the changes introduced by the Hundred Years War dealt knighthood its first blow, the introduction of pikes and guns into warfare finalized this institution's decline. While plate armor had been developed to withstand the power of a bow strike, little or nothing could be done against these later weapons. Infantry bearing 18-ft. long pikes could easily impale charging armored knights and their horses. When organized into small fighting units as were pioneered by the Swiss, infantry could defeat knights - the result was that foot soldiers began to dominate armies, while knights declined. Though guns were sporadic at best until the late 15th century, their striking capacity, when coordinated with that of an infantryman's pike and an archer's bows, only added to the building momentum against the knight. By the Renaissance era, full-fledged professional armies had replaced the groups of knights-for-hire. Ironically, knights' armor was at its most advanced during this period. Aristocrats still had their sons knighted and bore the title themselves. Chivalry lived on most spectacularly in lush tournaments such as the 1520 Field of Cloth of Gold summit between Henry VIII of England and France's Francois I at the 1520 Field of Cloth of Gold summit that included a joust between the two monarchs.
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A 15th century knight sets off for a tournament. Credit: Corbis
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