Why do knights fight

The idea of a standing army died with Rome and its tax base. The obvious exception being knights. A relatively impoverished knight might work in the personal guard of a wealthy noble. Medieval knights ate modest breakfasts of primarily bread and wine. Hot breakfasts were not yet popular and would not come along until modern times. The medieval knight rose early in the morning with the sunrise or close to dawn.

Knights were considered noblemen and ate quite differently than the lower classes; they enjoyed fresh meat, river fish, fresh vegetables, fresh fruit and bread. The meals that were cooked were also often flavored with various spices including nutmeg, caraway, pepper, cardamon and ginger.

Knights mostly lived in manor houses on manorial farming estates. This was a class of mounted warriors who could afford their own arms, equipment, and most importantly, the horses they needed to do their job. In most cases, knights lived with lords in their castles. Knights were known for their masterful skills with horses. The Romans brought a centralized government to much of the island, as they had done with all of their territories.

After the Romans left in to deal with their own problems the Roman Empire officially fell around , their legacy faded.

The newcomers stayed, asked their friends to come over, and eventually ruled most of Britain. In , William the Conqueror came over from Normandy and took the throne after the famous Battle of Hastings.

His sons and grandsons would become the English kings. They brought the French traditions of knighthood along with them. What is a crusade? A crusade is a holy war fought by Christians.

In the Middle Ages, there were several official crusades that brought knights from all over Christendom most of Europe to the Holy Land to take back Jerusalem from Muslim rule. Later crusades were to protect Anatolia, part of the Byzantine Empire, from Muslim invasion. The stories of Robin Hood and Ivanhoe are set at the times of the crusades. Who was King Arthur?

Who was he really? In the s and s, after the Roman Legions left Britain, the island was beset by many marauding invaders. This time is often called the Dark Ages. King Arthur is generally believed to have been a knight or a king who still carried on the Roman military traditions. The real King Arthur is thought to be mentioned - though not by name - in an old story about the Battle of Mons Badonicus Mount Badon which took place against the Anglo-Saxons about A. Were there any women knights?

As a rule, no. As an exception, yes. Tales have been told through the ages and the world of women disguising themselves as men to save cities and kingdoms. In China, there was Mulan.

In Catalonia Spain in , there was the Order of the Hatchet which honored the women who fought off the Moors from their town of Tortosa. Joan of Arc put on armor to save France in Guilelmus Peraldusthe s, but she was never officially made a knight.

Extra Credit! The word was taken from the French version of the Latin word for horse cheval. In France, knights are often called chevaliers. Knights were known for their masterful skills with horses. During The Middle Ages, knights used a coat of arms to identify themselves, which was especially useful in battle. In a society where few people could read and write, pictures were very important. Animals were frequently used as a main charge. They were not drawn to look three dimensional, but were shown as if they were flat.

These pretend fights were called tournaments. Two knights might fight each other alone this was called single combat while a huge crowd watched and cheered.

Or else a large number of knights might form two teams, like two enemy armies, and try to beat one another at jousting fighting on horseback with a lance and sword-fighting. Ladies often gave favours or tokens a scarf or a flower or part of their sleeve for their favourite knight to wear.