What Was Life Really Like For A Medieval Knight? | Warriors Way | Chronicle

foreign [Music] war is hell so said United States Union Army leader General Sherman that's as true today as it was when he said it in the 1870s [Music] and yet in the midst of Carnage and destruction we see examples of heroism endurance and Ingenuity that go beyond the Call of Duty serious we pay tribute to Elite male and female soldiers whose bravery and discipline speaks to us over centuries they lived by The Sword and they died by the sword [Music] they followed the Warrior's Way foreign [Music] The Shining suit of plate armor [Music] carrying a jousting spear wearing a brightly colored coat of arms [Music] was the popular idea of a medieval night but the original nights were stripped down low-tech and not interested in showing off [Music] such were the Knights Templar foreign [Music] actually we when we speak about Knights as general we need to consider a very large timeline because because we are talking about a certain kind of Warriors that somehow emerged since let's say 9th century early Warriors and horseback to late Middle Ages like 15th century but starting from the 14th century and then moving on towards the 15th century 16th century actually you have the appearance of shining armors with iron plates they could appear very beautiful of course shining under the sun [Music] before there were nights in shining armor there were knights in chainmail knights in plate armor would fight for Honor riches love or sport [Music] but the Knights Templar were strictly God's Warriors forged out of the Crusades the enduring fascination of Templars is is something because that we all have in our psyche I think it's the notion that there are certain men devoted to cause and deity enough that they are soldiers of protection they will fight till death to protect those who are weak and unable to defend themselves and the Knights Templars are just part of that the javelin priests that do it it's the Tibetan Monks it's any type of soldier Warrior religious person that the only story was special because they grow they develop from a very humble a beginning origin into something great especially they managed to create and to develop a specific link with the Pope and then also with the King foreign at the age of 21 French nobleman jeffroy D champagne is already an experienced Knight to become a Templar however he must give up his family name and all his worldly possessions and pleasures of the flesh his only relationship must be with God and His fellow Templars from now on he must avoid the company of women as much as possible [Music] even if they're from his own family [Music] including his own mother Templar knights swore vows of poverty Chastity and obedience they were part Soldier and part monk they made up one of the greatest bodies of fighting men in military history Temple Knights start out very humbly so the Knights Templars and another group that was beginning at the same time Knights hospitalers both start out as help mates for individuals for the nights that are on Crusade the resident Crusaders to get them into care to get them into old age care or to get their wounds taken care of foreign [Music] then they developed a military function after that because that too became apparent you need to be able to defend them and they're getting older so to recruit new ones in the knights hospitals the nice Templars both seem to grow in the defense and Military aspects more than they do in just the hospitalization and taking care of the builders it's hard for the modern mind to understand how men could live with such humility and simplicity yet go into battle the way they did the courage of the Templar knights was legendary they were renowned for never-breaking ranks even under the heaviest of assaults by archers infantry or cavalry their reward was in heaven on the battlefield the site of the templar's white mantles and red crosses would Inspire their comrades and strike Terror into the hearts of their enemies the Templar Knight would first position his spear then together with his peers to his right and left they attacked the enemy when the group attack gave way to individuals fighting other weapons were used the sword was the weapon of choice for close fighting the Knight on Horseback used all the weight of his body to slash with his sword and because he inflicted were made with tremendous power causing massive destruction the mace was another weapon of choice and it too was used for striking or cutting stabbing with the point of a sword was relatively ineffective because the defensive chainmail armor of the time was very good both Muslims and the Crusaders wore chainmail armor so one could say stabbing was only used to finish the enemy after you compromise their position the primary tactic was to slash and cut the individual in close combat after the initial attack perhaps the knights templar's greatest Patron was England's 12th century ruler Crusader King Richard the lionhearted Richard's Arch Enemy Saladin also had great respect for the Templars mutual respect for one's enemies was the Warrior's Way Templars their sergeants and all their troops were expected to fight until the last man they were expressly forbidden to retreat unless the odds against them were more than three to one surrender was unheard of they fought by their own code we don't know when the Templars and hospitals began to write their own rule we don't have any of the hospital rules existing but we do have a couple of the tepo rules existing and they are monastic orders rules so rules to be a monk um how much to uh pray each day how much to sleep each day how much devotion they have to put in what their restrictions are on food and so forth and then we have for these very separate rules from monastic rules that are how to lead a charge what to do with Sergeant Knight what happens if a knight is strong what happens if a knight breaks charge what happens if a night is cowardly these things though would not normally have played any role whatsoever in a monk's life in the night's life are very very important because that is now their new servitude it's almost like okay well you're a monk you're celibate you're obedient you're honorable well now you are also somebody who can fight against the Muslims medieval Cavalry depended on more than prayer books like any army there were Logistics nights on Horseback were assisted by sergeants infantry and support units whether in day-to-day military life and in battle the different sections worked together as one well-oiled unit the Cavalry worked as a wedge breaking a deformation of the enemies and then the Infantry would follow making the rest of the dirty job so this was the you know one of the nice elements in terms of how a battle was going on first of all you have also The Archers working with their arrows of course in order to create as many casualties as they could then the Cavalry in a wedge formation with broke the compact NTV represented by the enemies yeah and then in the end you have the Infantry infantryman coming joining and making the rest of the dirty job with their sword and everything [Music] like most noblemen of his age jafroydi champagne would have been trained from Boyhood to fight from the first time he hears about the Templar jafroy is inspired to become one of these Warriors of Christ foreign [Music] for the rest of his life he will be a servant in the hands of his vengeful God but his first days in the Templar order are even more humbly than drafroy had expected [Music] [Music] it might not happen actually but all noblemen were Rich it happened especially to the tons that were not being the first born son so they were not really having the luxury to get the land or get the servants or to be able to serve to have actual money so all younger Sons which were also noblemen they were supposed to look at their own way of life the Knights Templar needed to keep their life holy and simple they needed to be humble they could not really possess any reaches they needed to have a simple monastic spiritual kind of life so they were called the poor fellow Soldiers of Christ this really identifies one of the main traits of these Knights that they needed to be poor they needed to be humble they needed to fight and to fight for Christ foreign most Knights Templar took vows of celibacy however as there was a high demand for Knights it was possible to join the order for a set period of service before returning to civilian life there were also the fratrous conjugati who were Templars permitted to marry these Templars were a black or brown mantle with a red cross to distinguish them from the celibate lifetime members you can see this from the Seal of the Templars which depicted two knights sharing the same horse the Templar knights were proud of their austerity and self-denial they lived a life completely entrenched in religious activities in religious emotions as well it was a very important context for them so religion was just Central in the Middle Ages as I can say this as economies Center for us today so religion was so much also connected to economic economical activities to politics so everything spoke about religion when they're pointing or when they're making religious individuals like the knights Optical Knights Templar they too were Fanatics they were a little bit more moderate in their religious Showmanship but they were Fanatics and they believed very firmly in their role these were not just Knights or not just Knights of the Temple Mount these were Knights of God they were Knights of Christ in the holy land they were the Defenders of the Holy Land everyone [Music] when a young Warrior monk is admitted into the Templar order it is a ceremony with mythical qualities for the noises like Jeffrey D champagne it is the culmination of a dream that started when he was seven beginning his long apprenticeship to Knighthood by serving as a page boy a moment in which an individual became a knight a night Templar was a very important one that was the most important moment in his own life I would say [Music] so it was both a religious and a military kind of ceremony but it was a very you know simple ceremony I would say in the in the medieval times very similar also to what you would have in other nightly context it was very special and specifically ritual organized for that purpose generally in one of the houses of the order of the temple generally in a church I would say because it was a religious kind of investiture as well so The Grandmaster would invest the night of his own Pacific role and task so on that occasion you as a night Templar would be provided with your white vest you would be granted the right to be golden Knight Templar there are dark tales about what went on in Templar initiation ceremonies but now there's no mistaking geoffroy D champagne for a page boy he's a soldier of God at last there is still one more mountain to climb after his initiation into the Templar order and that is to fight in battle with his brother Knights and earn the right to wear the Red Cross on his cloak so the Knights Templar had to take their bows their religious vows as any other religious in the Middle Ages so they needed to to take the three General religious vows to which a fourth one was was added poverty Chastity obedience to this fourth more specific vows was added and that was concerning their military activity set down in the so-called Latin rule the Templar rule book must have subjected jafroy to a pretty harsh life well the Latin rule was partially based on the benediction rules so the rule of the vandicting months also if you're not received any gift or a letter without letting the master know about it and surely for example obedience to the master first of all was fundamental to build up Community Spirit the Templar knights were even required to share their food bowl with a brother Knight one of the more interesting things about the rule is that they were supposed to eat together two of them from the same Bowl but it's not because they were controlling that they will eat too much it's opposite that they were trying to it's to last to be too humble to God it is rather fun when you start reading these different rules you read the stuff on there uh that is from the monastic orders and as well you can't drink this much you have to drink this much you have to eat fish on Friday you have to do all this other stuff and that's just pretty normal and then you you've all said run into a section how to charge well that's not in a normal monastic book how to charge so you then have to read this is how you mount your horse this is how you get your horse ready this is how you listen to your commander this is how you move out keep the horses in line and so forth none of that of course would be in the monastic monastic book there's no reason for it but it's all there for them and that specialness you realize you've crossed the border between a monastic order and a monastic military [Applause] Knights would generally be in the service of a baron or Lord who would provide them land grants in return for their lethal Services many such Cavalry from the 9th century on served under Charlemagne the Holy Roman Emperor with a sworn mission to protect Christendom against the Moors and the byzantines the first orders were connected with the Holy Land creation of the kingdoms to protect the pilgrims and actually the creation of disorders changed a little bit and say the game because usually that was like the knights were serving their lord they were serving him in the military way among other ways but they were supposed to give him help when they are caught the creation of orders military orders at the Holy Land it happened that instantly in the Holy Land There were specially trained forces Knights who were in the service of God and they were fighting all the time they were prepared to fight all the time the Templars represented a significant unification between spirituality and Military dedication these were true soldiers of God and in their ethos their tactics and their military precision and dedication they represented a significant progression from what had gone before giving an example we've got an idea of pretty much of what the first Crusaders were because it's on the Bay of tapestry not at all about the First Crusade but about Norman conquest of England they're wearing the same type of outfits they would have worn 20 years later 30 years later to go on the Crusades same type of nasal helmets the same type of a male shirt that only went down towards to about cover about half the arms a kite shield and the sword of sphere that would be probably it sometimes they would have had male leggings that were attached they became more and more popular that's what the Army looked like as they went out now somewhere within the first century that changed the armor became longer and started to cover the body still male covers the hands still male and it covers the the back of the head the helmet doesn't change till around 1200 and then it becomes more what we call the great help Helm that'll completely encased the head which the nasal helmet did not the shields become shorter smaller and so forth all those changes were Happening by the end of the Crusades 1291 say the fall of the Latin kingdoms and in the Holy Land those outfits are still State the art but they're probably not what they could have gotten in Italy at that time from the point of view of their weapons I think that the most formidable weapon of the Knights Templar was their bravery so they were Brave and above all they were not scared about the idea of dying during the battle so that was the most important weapon they had because there was also this important call towards a martyrdom so it was becoming Martyrs for God for the sake of God for the sake of their faith so I would really say that also from the military point of view this feeling that they had constituted the most important kind of weapon and sometimes their enemies also were frightened because of these [Music] medieval Cavalry depended on more than courage and prayer books nights such as jafroy are assisted by an army of Sergeants infantry and other support he will go into battle knowing all his weapons and kit are the best possible the Templars set the bar high for all the nights that came after them [Music] for years archaeologists continue to find samples of chain mail armor say a narcologist we are quite often finding such pieces during the excavations not full chainmail armor but parts of it but there are in museums there are many of them still surviving to this day and they were not as heavy as we imagine like the whole armor that was covering the knees might be waiting around eight to ten kilograms so it was not so much heavy also the swords they were not as heavy as we imagined they were they need to fence them so the the sword could wait like one kilogram probably so it's manageable thing even to compared to a younger sabers they were quite similar weight so it was possible to fight them easily but still fighting on the horseback requires a lot of skill and a lot of practice the Romantic idea of a night was that he had an almost Mythic connection with his sword something he would never give up on pain of death we have these Notions of mystical swords that are really good of course we've got Excalibur we have durandal we have these swords that are named but very few King Arthur and count Roland swords are floating around like this the Knights Templars probably had theirs we don't have any single Knight's Temple sword that is associated with any single night himself they definitely had a sword what happened if that lost sword was lost in a battle they got another sword I think that it's mostly a romantic way of perceiving a night with their own trusted sword of course there were famous swords or magic authors in the way some of them are known to this day like durandal the sword of Roland for instance or swords with names some sorts have some inscriptions on them some magic formulas or they were related to cartilof or to other things but for most people who are fighting they thought it was a tool of threat so they were especially using it to fight in addition to swords Knights also carried lances Spears daggers maces and even heavy wooden clubs how were these various weapons deployed during battle medieval knights their first assault weapon was a spear because the purpose of the armored Cavalry was simply to attack and literally hit the enemy's rigs thus the spear was the first weapon of choice after that during individual fighting mice used the sword but also other weapons such as the mace or even a dagger especially if your man was on the ground but definitely the most important weapons were the spear and the sword we speak about the uniformity of equipment used by orders such as the Templars we suppose that the Templars had organized the mass purchase of equipment so the Templar lights usually had a complete set of equipment purchased by their order nights in plate armor are obviously from a later time the armor of the 9th to 12th century Crusades was mostly chain mail which of course is what Jeff Roy is wearing mail is the greatest armor ever produced in my estimation it is far better than plate because it's a lot less expensive and certainly far better than the bronze breastplates that the Romans had or so forth but it it is expensive you put it together there's rings that get put together sometimes seventy thousand to a hundred thousand rings to cover a body you could take a male body move that body as he would be in a battle back and forth and Swinging his sword and so forth and that male ripples across the body nothing penetrates it as well as his chainmail the mounted Knight like jafroy would carry a shield for protection but also as a weapon to aim at the faces of their enemies [Music] the night's always carried Shields we do know this but it's a strange notion as to how they actually used them in tournaments and so forth we know that they were mostly targets for the opposing side to make sure that he didn't hit a vulnerable spot on his opponent in the tournament but how would they be used in combat it's it's really a curious thing and I've seen reenactors try to fight with them they're pretty unwieldy skill en horsemenship was vital for maneuverability and angle of attack in battle [Music] [Music] I mean of course if you are a knight you need a horse you are a knight because you have a horse you know how to mount a horse and you know how to fight horseback this said is important for the night is important for a knight to have more than one horse because a horse can get sick can get stopped during the Battle of course so you need to have substitution so at least you need to have three horses if not more [Music] foreign there's an old saying you can still make a writer at puberty after that never Jeff Roy would have been riding long before puberty Templar knights like all other Knights spent a great deal of their waking hours on Horseback a war horse would have been a horse that could have carried a night for a long period of time that was strong that would stand wounds I mean the perfect example of course is bucephalus who carries Alexander grateful what about 15 years to 21 years something that's extraordinary and only dies to the last battle that Alexander is in these type of horses go unnamed in the Middle Ages but they were there they needed to be well fed they need to be well watered and they need to be well cared for for hundreds of years the Knights Templar deployed the same devastating tactics in battle beginning with a cavalry charge a classic medieval charge consisted of squadrons of 25 to 50 men charging side by side in a single line they were so close to each other they were almost need to knee they began the charge at a slow Trot with their Lance's couched then as they gathered Pace they would raise their lances at the last minute they would lower their lances and break into a gallop this tactic prevented them from tiring the horses or losing formation breaking rains well used I think a Cavalry can be absolutely cunning and this is a thing that we are also as a modern people either but not used to we rarely see humans and horses in towns or in everyday life but the sight of A running horse in a full Gallop warrior with a spear or lungs or even a sword charging is really terrifying it's a thing that can make you run on their huge war horses they would charge headlong at the enemy the earth below rumbling under their weight they brought tremendous psychological shock and awe to the battlefield when on the move and in action they were both the special forces and Elite Mobile heavy Cavalry units of their day a good comparison today might be a us M1 Abrams tank unit fast and almost impervious to Battlefield assault in the late 12th century Jeffrey D champagne on Horseback made his way from Western Europe to the Middle East and The Holy Land the rest of his whole relatively short life was out in front of him a young Knight joining the Templars in the Holy Land had to live up to impossibly high standards [Music] the templar's headquarters in Jerusalem was on Temple Mount or Haram s Sharif today as then it is a holy site for Jews Christians and Muslims alike in the Middle Ages it was believed this is where the Temple of Solomon once stood to this day some believe there is an underground Crypt where the Templar knights kept Priceless religious relics like the shroud of Jesus the head of John the Baptist the Ark of the Covenant and even the Holy Grail but most bona fide historians are more skeptical [Music] in fact we know what their best Relic was this was in fact the the hand cloth that was the white Christ's face that was the one that they considered to be their great Australia the connection the link between the Templars and the Holy Grail is pretty much a myth but it's not really a myth entrenched in Pure Fantasy or some funny says that the Holy Grail was guarded and protected by these Knights that can recall the idea of the Templars the order of the Templars was formed in 1119. after the first crusade to protect pilgrims on the road to Jerusalem and like all Crusaders the Templar knights believed they were fighting for a Holy Cross to absolve their sins men were willing to take up arms to defend the Holy Land free the Eastern churches and drive the Moors from Spain all who die by the way whether by land go by sea or in battle against the pagans shall have immediate remission of sins this I grant them through the power of God from which I am invested let those who for a long time have been robbers now become Knights let those who have been fighting against their brothers and relatives now fight in a proper way Against The Barbarians thank you so it was the year 1095 when Pope orb and the second decided to give the famous speech at Claremont during the council in order to call all the Christians for this important Enterprise retake recapture reconcare Jerusalem from the ends of the infidelsa thank you [Applause] in its Heyday the Templar Army would have been made up of as many as 160 000 Templar infantry and support staff all assisting in their way the twenty thousand nights in armor on the field thank you [Music] I don't think the business is expected many more than maybe a couple hundred maybe a thousand hundred thousand soldiers and people peasants I'll go on that first crusade it must have been an amazing sight to see unfortunately the first 35 000 or so aren't soldiers at all they're peasants they've gone on their own to this Crusade they've answered what Urban was requesting but not in the spirit that Urban was requesting he wanted soldiers they show up byzantines take them across the the Bosphorus and they're killed almost immediately or made slaves then the knights show up 75 000 1675 000 and these are also far more extensive than the visiting Empire could ever have but they're the ones who will go all the way to Jerusalem and while they're there they will their size will diminish at the very end to about five thousand consequently there's a need for recruitment this is George's medieval monastic military unit certainly by the 13th century the Templar order had at its disposal numerous castles and ships and thousands of fighting men [Music] in the Holy Land alone the Templars built and defended The Fortress at tortosa or Tardis in Syria they also built the castle and a massive underground Network at acre now echo in Israel foreign castles were part of a network of Crusader fortifications such as chastel Blanc and Chester Rouge and the massive Croc day Chevalier the knights hospitalier castle with walls 100 feet thick [Music] these magnificent fortresses were built from The Blood and Bone of war the Templars were such effective Warriors that just a few hundred of them could make all the difference to the outcome of a battle one such example occurred at the Battle of Manchester in 1177 we are in 1177 and so this is the time for one of the major battles and one of the major victories of the Templars to happen there are two different armies confronting each other the huge Army of Saladin the Muslims and the very small army of the Christians of Jerusalem under the king of Jerusalem Baldwin IV the leper King so a few hundreds of Christian Knights out of which just 80 were the Templars attempted and in the end managed to drop to beat the formidable huge Army of Saladin [Applause] [Music] just 500 Templar knights and a few thousand infantry remarkably resisted the 26 000 strong Army of Saladin [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you the defending Crusader Army was led by the king of Jerusalem Baldwin IV who at the time was only 16 years old and suffering from leprosy yet this very ill young man took Saladin by surprise at Manchester he waited until saladin's forces were in a vulnerable position crossing a river and then ordered an all-out attack it was a military Master stroke that only delayed the inevitable saladin's forces were too great and too strong and would ultimately retake Jerusalem of course the historians one can argue if that was the exact number but for sure the difference between the Knight Templars and the recent forces and nothing forces were absolutely huge but this is not a thing that is completely not happening in the history in in other times as well as well organized charge of Cavalry can completely change the way how the battle is happening and that outcome of the battle it was also happening in 17th century Poland when we got two thirds the famous formation was charting the difference between them and the Musketeers of the opposing forces were also huge and they were winning [Music] thank you jafroy is now a battled hardened Warrior he has earned his blood red cross many times and now he has the honor of defending the last Crusader stronghold at the siege of acre in 1291. it's unfortunate but the two most renowned battles and sieges that are fought by the Templars are both losses is the loss of the battle of hateen in 1187 and the final loss of the Crusades in 1291 at the siege of acre in 1291 they're there because they're pretty much the only ones left everybody has left the Holy Land by this time it's only those who are most dedicated to holding on to Christendom in the Middle East that stay and these are this group of hospitalers and this group of Templars and they hang on until they are defeated but having both those defeats gives us a sense that well maybe they weren't that good they were good they were really good you need your best people even a defeat they protected everybody else who got away from anchor before the Crusades ends on in that town in 1291. for jafroy it would be better to die in battle than to live to a comfortable old age if it meant seeing the terrible downfall of the Templars for almost 200 years the Templars operated above the law of the land owing allegiance to no King only the pope could command them but the fact is once the Crusaders left the holy land for good in 1292 nobody wanted the Templars carving out their own kingdom in Christendom on the orders of the French King and sanctioned by the Pope the Templars in France were arrested on Friday the 13th of October 1307. Templar knights were tortured to extract confessions and burned at the stake but it was said their Grandmaster Jacques di mole was defiant to the last even as the Flames consumed him he shouted those responsible would soon die and within less than a year both the king and the pope were dead sometimes are definitely something that will be I think for all the time Remembered in the history of of Warriors nice themselves fighters on the horseback and Monks at the same time they were serving the god with their strength and to with their fate and they were all that I'm fighting for the name of the god although Joffrey's Deeds never made it to the history books his courage and the courage of his fellow Templars saved thousands of lives retreating from the Holy Land they completed their mission ensuring them their place in heaven Terry orders were more brutal than was the order stamping out the Templar knights after the death of jeffroid the Templar and for the next 300 years armored Knights would continue to dominate European battlefields but eventually in the face of ever greater numbers of infantry mounted Knights became obsolete gunpowder spelled the end for those wearing plate armor to say the least the causes for which these mounted soldiers fought so valiantly may be out of date [Music] but for one young man in the 13th century they were all the meaning he needed his was the Warrior's Way [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: Chronicle - Medieval History Documentaries

Views: 154,817

Keywords: Chronicle - Medieval History Documentaries, Dan Snow, England history, Matt Lewis, Medieval warfare, battle of Hastings, battle scenarios, battle situations, battle transformations, feudal system, life of a knight, long wars, medieval England, medieval architecture, medieval combat, medieval knights, medieval life, medieval royalty, medieval tactics, medieval warfare tactics, warfare strategy

Id: cd2gwBHaCg4

Length: 48min 18sec (2898 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 25 2023