6 myths about the Middle Ages that everyone believes - Stephanie Honchell Smith

[@dakaarys8424]

As someone who grew up in the middle ages, I find this video highly accurate and liberating.

[@HughJass-313]

🤣🤣

[@casso_4974]

These newer generations don’t understand the struggles we had

[@archerseo]

Finally someone who gets it! On my many pillagings of villages I met many nice and mostly normal people. Good times.

[@tailsntales1265]

@@archerseo yeah! And now all they do is spend their time laughing at those dang memes

[@CodTheBoyz]

You from Bosnia?

[@satviksajan8805]

The animator deserves a raise. If history lessons were shown like this, I would probably get much better marks.

[@user-10021]

It really reminds me of the redbull ads :D

[@MrsJudithWright]

Script also great.

[@littledudefromacrossthestr5755]

@@user-10021 now that u mention it lol

[@littledudefromacrossthestr5755]

@@user-10021 now that u mention it lol

[@augustinesim1672]

marks? Do you mean grades?

[@LeoAngora]

Imagine if our modern records get lost and future historians rescue some fragments to understand our era. Imagine those fragments random posts in social media and satire pages.

[@dinohall2595]

This speculation is a running joke in the comments on The Onion lol.

[@orangebeagle3068]

They would probably say that a major controversy of our era was also the shape of the Earth.

[@writwits5826]

the entire world was suspicious as red people with giant knives and giant mouths filled with teeth were AMONG US, unfairly categorised as "impostors" and thrown into space!

[@micahbush5397]

They would probably be struck with the sheer amount of time people wasted taking selfies and posting pictures of their meals. It's sort of like how, for some ancient languages, the overwhelming majority of what we have to work with are receipts that don't tell us much.

[@senny-]

@@writwits5826 Records show that ancient people refer to this as "the imposter is sus", which was most likely an encantation ritual.

[@Lordblow1]

Only thing that is missing is that the original origine of the title 'Dark Age' referred primarily to its lack of direct written sources. It was a dark age just because it was hard to figure out what actually happened in it, in particular when compared to the ruins of the classical era that exist even to this day.

[@yakb.7690]

medieval ruins are everywhere in europe. In some cities there is houses that date back nearly that far. There is also lots and lots of documents that survived.

[@Lordblow1]

@@yakb.7690 Yes though to people from the renaissance era those were often relatively recently built. At least to my knowledge the majority medieval structures and text that have survived are from the late or high medieval periods over the early medieval. To those of the times I was referring to those text and structures might seem too recent to them to be part of the dark ages they describe.

[@yakb.7690]

@@Lordblow1 there is lots of fortresses and structures from the early middle ages all over europe too. In fact a lot of castles were just extensions of earlier fortifications so the ones we see today are both early and late middle ages. The high middles ages/renaissance saw the introduction of the printing press which drastically increased the amount of text material outhere and generally the further back you go the less material we have. Its not suprising you find more from 1500 than 500. The dark ages thing was mostly due to a shift in culture- "we now see ourselves as enlightened and declare the past as dark ages" thats always been the case. People in the 19th century though they were the most civilised ever but for todays people its a dark period without hygiene and safety standards

[@Lordblow1]

@@yakb.7690 fair enough

[@knightshade2654]

If I recall correctly, the dark ages only lasted from the sixth century through the ninth or tenth century, which began the Viking invasions.

[@wjzav1971]

Most important to remember: This covers an over 1000 year period. Think about how our world changed over the last 50 years. Things like gruesome torture, bad hygiene or superstition might have existed at certain places at certain times in the Middle Ages but it wasn't always the norm.

[@histori6259]

And Europe is a massive land mass that was less connected then than it is today! You cannot expect an Englishman in the 900s to act like a Greek in 1200s!

[@gimpytheimp]

Well from the dawn of humanity up to the automobile, the most common way for your average person to get around was by foot or horse. That's a long time for no change. Even the idea that Europe was more ethnically diverse is questionable because of that. It would be a very special occasion for someone coming from thousands of miles away to spend a month or so travelling.

[@truesosense7722]

@@gimpytheimp until the invention and the popularization of steam powered trains in the 19th century*

[@frequentlycynical642]

Also huge differences in lifestyles between the upper classes and the serfs. Huge.

[@tonyatthebeach]

Bad hygiene isn't exclusive to the middle ages...believe me!

[@toshi7573]

I love this Ted Ed animation. It’s like the *Red Bull Gives you Wings* commercial 😂

[@smallspace7]

Thank you that's why they seem familiar

[@thenaiam]

I was thinking the same thing!

[@Rihtainshtain]

😂👍

[@fallenkingdom-zd8xh]

Ted Ed gives you knowledgeeeeee.

[@MickThalisapaidshill]

Earth is flat. See Eric Dubay.

[@gradientO]

Wait, Dark Souls isn't true?

[@altadasaiaditya4398]

Always has been

[@alomaralsulaiman6501]

I wouldn't be surprised if this is an actual comment.

[@thesharinganknight]

2k likes inbound

[@seermayton-el3488]

Of course not! Elden Ring is the true one!

[@themaestro2572]

There is no Godhand.

[@drumchris92]

As a historian there‘s a simple fact I always refer to when talking about any time in history: people were the same as we are today. Their world and thinking may have been completely different but they certainly wanted to eat good food, be clean and smell good, make a living without too much effort and simply have a nice time. Teenagers probably snuck away an met in secret just as they do today, grown ups cared for their loved ones, had worries and were annoyed about their coworkers/neighbors, etc. while old people were just as wise an stubborn as they are today. I simply don‘t get why people always think that their medieval ancestors were some kind of savages. They survived in a time with many wars, no modern medicine or mechanical help. Honestly, people today are in no way better or smarter, maybe even less capable than the people in the middle ages. Can you make a fire with a flintstone or grow your own food? Glad I found this great video :)

[@sp00k48]

I am just curious, could you elaborate further on “as a historian”?

[@heynicolettox]

This!

[@sjonnieplayfull5859]

As a non-historian I fully agree. I read anything I could get my hands on about WWII, over 10k pages, but when sent back in time I could only tell about a few key moments, and only in broad strokes. May 10, 1940: Germany attacks the west, key push in the Ardennes, June 22 1941 he invades Russia everywhere, December 7, 1941 Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, but at what time? From what angle? At what location is their fleet so a counterstrike can hit them? And still many people act like they know enough of the war to change it, should they be sent back in time

[@Monjipour]

I do wonder a lot about the medical knowledge of the middle ages... Humanity at some point in history (e.g. in ancient Egypt) was capable of trepanation, anesthesia, and had some understanding of contamination and sterilisation How did we fall back to the theory of the humors, or miasma, and start practicing blood letting, or awake operations?

[@tschiefnrone]

@@Monjipournot a historian, but i was always under the impression why these times were called the „dark ages“ is exactly because of this: a lot of history and knowledge was lost with the demise of the roman empire, because many libraries were burnt down, schools/universities destroyed and scholars killed.. which is why the ages coming after were „dark“ because of this exact missig knowledge

[@its_dey_mate]

THANK YOU! Many channels have tried to explain the misconceptions, but this may be the largest I have seen, with the ability to teach this to a wide audience. Medieval people knew the Earth was round, we knew even in the Antiquity, this knowledge wasn't lost, just some believers had the wrong idea. Medieval people loved to bathe, it was a cherished and enjoyable event, this was common for both rich and poor (although fancier in the former). Medieval people were just as smart as we are now, they just *knew less* .

[@SilverPh3nix]

You misspelled medieval all 3 times

[@catdogmousecheese]

You really should read this book, "Barbarians to Angels: The Dark Ages Reconsidered". I had to read it for my history class in high school and it's all about how the "dark ages" weren't as dark as people believe them to be.

[@Blaqjaqshellaq]

"Prima nocte" is also something of a myth. (It was more a pagan thing...)

[@its_dey_mate]

@@SilverPh3nix Damn that's tough lol.

[@joshsaundh4851]

@@Blaqjaqshellaq 😷😷

[@Eiramilah]

I read the book City of Lights. It was the chronicles of a Jewish merchant from Italy headed to China in the 1200's. He carefully details sophisticated accounting and business practices, along with the goods and city policies of each stop he made. When he described the city of lights in China he may as well have been describing New York City. It showed very rich cultures both in Europe and abroad.

[@DieNibelungenliad]

Whose the author? I want to read it

[@lorenzosaracino9912]

@@DieNibelungenliad same

[@Gregory_Swan]

@@DieNibelungenliad Jacob of Ancona

[@Gregory_Swan]

@@lorenzosaracino9912 Jacob of Ancona

[@lorenzosaracino9912]

@@Gregory_Swan thank you kind man

[@seanpoore2428]

Overall, solid. the one thing i take issue with here is the "knights played minimal roles in medieval warfare". They were a numerical minority compared to other types of soldiers yes, but they were the military commanders, the most professional experienced and well equipped soldiers, often impacted battles during key decisive moments with heavy cavalry charges, often provided the logistics, were sometimes the Reason for a war(feuds, rebellions, needed money, etc) and depending on the era/setting could make up larger or smaller percentages of the present military forces. Also the knightly charge was something that Most medieval armies struggled against. If you didnt have disciplined pikemen who could hold their ground, or well trained archers/crossbowmen, (or something like Hussite war wagons) then your only real hope was to throw your own knights at them and hope for the best

[@MoonThuli]

Knights and the nobility were also much more likely to go on distant expensive campaigns like the crusades compared to ordinary foot soldiers.

[@Egonsraad]

Lmao this is directly before the narrator calls stories about knights saving princesses “romanticized visions of a white Christian Europe” they aren’t trying to be intellectually honest here

[@sirdrchefwangiii1841]

Was it solid other than the torture was anyone really talking about any of these?

[@joeytheredkangaroo]

@@Egonsraad You think knights are not romanticized ?

[@Half_Finis]

​@@Egonsraadyea I reacted strongly to that aswell, I'll accept Anatolia being not white Christian but they generalized too much

[@maxchronos4567]

I really love how Ted-Ed uses Animation. I love it.

[@LOL_MANN]

How would you otherwise show it lol

[@525Lines]

Cartoons and knowledge. I love it.

[@Heightren]

This one feels like it could give you wings

[@joshsaundh4851]

@@525Lines hey what should I do because my dad brought drugs today and I am scared that my dad might do something bad to my family

[@joshsaundh4851]

@@Heightren hey can you please help me my dad brought drugs today and I am scared because I do not know what will happen if my dad takes the drugs my dad might do something bad to my family

[@micahbush5397]

Part of the issue with the "Middle Ages" is that it assumes that Rome "fell"; in reality, the Roman Empire in the east remained strong and held on for about another thousand years, while the western empire frayed and deteriorated over a long period into a patchwork of Germanic kingdoms that, in theory, owed fealty to the Roman Empire, but were autonomous in practice. Then too, Europeans imagined the Holy Roman Emperors to be the successors of Augustus rather than a distinct set of rulers, despite the cultural, political, and geographic differences between the Classical empire and the medieval confederation.

[@guifdcanalli]

ironically the entirety of the middle ages are defined by rome the middle ages started with the fall of western rome while it ended with the fall of eastern rome

[@Person-ef4xj]

As I understand it the ancient romans considered anyone who wasn't greek or roman to be a barbarian, while the modern idea of barbarian is someone who is primitive and uncivilized. I wonder if this could also have anything to do with the idea of the west becoming more primitive. I could imagine people mistaking the Germanic Kingdoms being called "barbarians" as in neither greek nor roman for "barbarians" as in primitive.

[@julianfejzo4829]

​​@@guifdcanalli Well in many places the end of the middle ages is defined by the discovery of the Americas by Columbus rather than the fall of East Rome, some even by the start of the Protestant Reformation

[@joshsaundh4851]

@@Person-ef4xj hey what should I do please I need your help my dad brought drugs today and I do not know if my dad takes the drugs I do not know what my dad will do to my family and I am scared 😟

[@pustota7254]

@@joshsaundh4851 what this has to do with anything

[@--Paws--]

Can't imagine how people would think of how society is like now by those who live in the distant future. Generational divide is always causing myths of how the previous generation is better than the new one.

[@Cellardoor_]

A lot of people still have a medieval mindset and medieval beliefs lol. Not hard to imagine when they're still here.

[@jeffreygao3956]

Hence, I don’t believe a word of paranoia.

[@EzraB123]

It's interesting to think that people 1,000 years from now will have videos, films, social media profiles, etc. All from this period. Which will no doubt contribute to a much greater, more intimate understanding of the past. "Internet history" might even become a new academic discipline. Logging and researching the tech footprint of past humans, pop culture, language, etc.

[@WilliamParkerer]

They will have much less myths about history for sure. Everything is being recorded nowadays. This comment section, for example, will go down in historical archives. Hello future generations!

[@aaronthenorm5400]

Considering the efforts many put into trying to install despots and dictators into the WH I'd say they'll think we were all insane!!

[@YouWinILose]

Also so many depictions without colour, as if they had no access to dyes or paint. Medieval Europeans also enjoyed colour, of course they tried to include flourishes, accents, and flowers in their lives.

[@micahbush5397]

Wait, so color wasn't invented in the early 20th century? But we have video evidence!

[@breakerdawn8429]

Yes don't forget knights in shining armour were also very colorful and usually made up of colours of tye crest of the Lord they're serving. Distinct colours also helps commanders to manage the troops easily during warfare without confusing it with the enemies.

[@micahbush5397]

@@breakerdawn8429 Not to mention that for most of the Middle Ages, the chief armor was chainmail, which is not particularly shiny.

[@DieNibelungenliad]

Chain maille is shiny if polished

[@Samuelsnowdon-l7y]

tabards were used over chain mail often@@micahbush5397

[@johnhodson9464]

The late Terry Jones of Monty Python made several interesting documentaries on this period. I always remember the point he made that if they were so backwards, how did they build such marvellous cathedrals?

[@adrianblake8876]

In the modern age, with our highly sophisticated technology, it took more than a century to build one cathedral...

[@elligilberg1564]

I love those documentaries!

[@ZemplinTemplar]

Medieval Lives was a great documentary series. I urge everyone to watch it with an open mind and carefully.

[@sommmeguy]

I miss Jones. Such a creative and interesting guy. I loved his medieval documentaries.

[@WG55]

While there is a lot of truth here, one should be careful not to overcorrect for past misconceptions. For example, the statement at 3:57 that "knights played minimal roles in medieval warfare." Heavy cavalry in the Early and High Middle Ages ruled the battlefield, but they lost importance in the Late Middle Ages.

[@DieNibelungenliad]

I would go as far as saying that heavy cavalry played a great role in the Late Middle Ages. For example, in the Battle of Patay where heavy cavalry beat foot men and the Battle of Agincourt, whereat footmen beat heavy cavalry. Heavy cavalry played a big role in the Reconquista. The Turks had great cavalry, which Vlad the Impaler of Wallachia copied and used against his former Turkish masters in a night raid of their camp. Then there was the Wars of the Cimbrian League in Italia whereat every side had pikemen, axmen, bowmen, and most of all; Knights

[@Germancamel]

Thank you, i was waiting for that

[@peroperic5988]

Weren't most battles sieges?

[@dylankersten3383]

No, majority of battles were field battles or around smaller structures. Sieges did happen, but definetly werent the most commom. Also, if an army came to help a sieged settlement, they would fight outused the walls.​@@peroperic5988

[@XMysticHerox]

But not always as knights. Knights weren't even a thing in the early middle ages. It is only when this heavy cavalry was rewarded with land that knights even came about in the HRE for instance. But I agree it is an overcorrection. There were certainly medieval periods where knights did play a big role and throughout the high and late middle ages they acted as commanders.

[@BrianMcInnis87]

I have never in my life heard it said that medieval folks habitually ate rotten meat. Which stands to reason, given that rotten meat makes people sick and they would've instantly learned not to eat it.

[@adrianblake8876]

The way I heard it is that certain cultures spice their food because spices kill bacteria, and, well, there's no other alternative without refrigeration. Then again, it describes modern cuisine, and the spicy foods come from southeast asia, not europe...

[@bennytea7215]

​@@adrianblake8876 I heard it was to disguise the salty taste of meat, given it was often salted for preservation

[@jessewheatley6880]

whoever they got to animate that cloak of invisibility absolutly nailed it

[@tau9956]

Man idk how some people can’t find history interesting

[@justsomeguywitharedmoustac8677]

History is. Studying it is not.

[@tau9956]

Yes that is what I meant. Studying it can get really boring

[@micahbush5397]

Because it's often been reduced to lists of names and dates, rather than a study of how people actually lived.

[@DellConagher1]

​@@tau9956 so you understand it now right?

[@139-b7j]

Same way you don't find math interesting.

[@timo191]

I disagree with your assertion that knights played no part in Medieval warfare. Romanticized in later years for sure, but heavy cavalry charges were quite important in battles.

[@VagueCastle649]

As every pole would tell you. Heavy cavalry was very important.

[@perfectstorm8204]

Would you need to be a knight to be considered part of heavy cavalry?

[@sybedb]

@@perfectstorm8204By definition? Not necessarily. In reality though they were the only people who could afford to be. (Also knights were often quite defensive about their position and often blocked any group that wasn’t part of the knighthood from forming any heavy cavalry)

[@Germancamel]

Thank you, i was waiting for someone to mention heavy cavalry

[@Kuhmuhnistische_Partei]

Yeah. I mean, there is a bit of development. During the early medieval time, warfare mostly depended on footmen and that's a tendency that then comes back in the late medieval age. But during the high medieval age, you actually have a lot of warfare that is mostly focused on heavy cavalry - and in that time heavily cavalry still mostly consisted of actual knights - fighting it out between each other, often not even trying to kill each other, but rather try to capture each other for ransom. Infantry exists in that time, but they mostly exist so the knights can draw back behind them and get a break. But this is also only true for battles between Europeans. Crusades worked different of course, because the enemies in those battles were not part of that same Christian nobility (although dependend on where we are in the high medieval age, knights were not necessarily part of the proper nobility of course, in Germany they were for a long time ministerials - they were unfree, but had many privileges and could be quite rich and powerful)

[@samuelgrasia493]

The real case is those writers generalize "peasant life in the medieval era" as medieval life, and ted ed generalize "aristocratic life in the medieval era" as medieval life Both are wrong if taken to the extreme

[@gradientO]

Best comment here. We need to be aware of those biases

[@micahbush5397]

Even peasants weren't as barbaric as most people imagine. Most would have probably bathed weekly, for instance.

[@lucareichelt7338]

Yeah, no way the average peasant was allowed into a bathhouse other than the local river

[@cernunnos8344]

​@@micahbush5397 actually you could bath everyday very easily, public baths were a huge part of life in the middle ages

[@micahbush5397]

@@cernunnos8344 If you lived in or near a town, sure. If you lived in a more rural setting and had to draw and heat your own water, then you'd probably stick to a weekly bath and daily washbasin.

[@FarnesV]

Should've said how the church founded most of the science and universities

[@joshd3502]

You have to wonder why such an important fact was left out

[@tygrkhat4087]

Medieval food may not have had the spices we take for granted today, but the food wasn't bland. They had herbs like marjoram, dill, fennell, and rosemary; seeds like sesame and carroway; plus garlic and members of the onion family.

[@3minuteRead]

As human we came so far and this journey still on, that's the beauty ❤️🙏

[@coinderoux]

No way im also a human

[@officialLWH]

I am a tree 🌳

[@3minuteRead]

@@officialLWH haha yes, i saw your pfp indeed you are wise wisdom tree :)

[@valimaa1006]

Also on the note that the 1 000 year period cannot be summarised into one coherent era that remained the same but rather changed over the hundred years, the same goes for all the different countries. There was not one coherent medieval country, but still Spain has their own history, completely different from German history during those times and saying they were all same medieval nations is like saying all of north america is the same.

[@afaris88]

What I like about this channel is how they explain things in around 5 minutes. Neither too long, nor too short, but just enough to provide important informations. Also, the animations never disappoint.

[@Germancamel]

Thank you, i was waiting for that

[@fenhen]

It’s crazy that 1,000 years of history is just lumped together. Imagine the period 1,500-2,500 being lumped together under an umbrella term in the future.

[@screamingidiot248]

Saying that something "couldn't" be a torture device is a bold statement

[@Paulafan5]

Torturers could have tried out tools that were designed for other purposes.

[@koderamerikaner5147]

You can take a pencil from today when sharpened, say "This was clearly used to gouge eyes and puncture people's skin!" Since you can't prove a negative [i.e. prove that pencils weren't used for that], and the John Wick movies existed, clearly it's a bold statement to say pencils weren't used for torture and war.

[@Gandhi_Physique]

@@koderamerikaner5147 But, to be fair you can say it if the "torture tool" was invented several centuries after the era they are believed to have been used in. Might be possible, but extremely unlikely.

[@travis5732]

About time! Great video. It's actually ridiculous how people think everyone was basically a caveman until all of the sudden, a handful of brilliant minds invented today's world. Obviously that's not possible. The brilliant minds that changed the world after the Renaissance are the result of centuries improvements in logical thinking, math and methods to investigate and learn. Of course, the invention of the printer changed everything, but without books to print that would've been meaningless.

[@samueleandriolo4517]

The only mistake is that knight didn't play a "minimal role" in warfare, but all in all great video, maybe it will change some people's minds

[@JipJac]

The narrators subtle hints at “diversity” were noted

[@MrsJudithWright]

Fascinating topic. Misinformation is timeless. All the more reason to value TED Ed and their great lessons.

[@bellezavudd]

" Misinformation is timeless " A quote to mark the last 100, no 2000, or no probably 10,000 years. Thankfully we do have SOME real infomation to counterbalance.

[@mrnice1976]

.... unless it spreads misinformation of its own.

[@nanaten3]

Misinformation is timeless, yes, this video may as well be misinformation

[@Germancamel]

This video has misinformation

[@shubhamgarg09]

Thank You Ted Ed for your entertaining informational Videos It not only makes me knowledgeable but WISE too

[@victorminkov5183]

Torturing people takes a lot of time and energy. If you going to do it, it has to be for a good reason. I would contend that knights did play a major role in warfare. Heavy Calvary were the name of the game for a long time in that period. Sure they weren’t the brunt of an attack but having charges of power heavily armored horseman played an enormous role on the battlefield. This was basically true until the battle of Agincourt where Heavily armored knights were finally proven to have lost their effectiveness.

[@terradraca]

The literacy thing wasn't ignorance or oppression. Anyone could learn to read if they really wanted to. It was simply a case of "You didn't bother to learn it if it wasn't essential to your job." In fact, many nobles didn't know how to read as it wasn't relevant to their job, plus they often had secretaries to do that for them.

[@markmuller7962]

I think some of the myths comes from the very real misery caused by horrendous epidemics but actually the worst ones striked in between the middle ages and the Renaissance due to the booming commerce and exploration so even that is misleading

[@Thebreakdownshow1]

This animation feel like those red bull animations that they do/ did.

[@carineaerts3735]

It’s crazy how everybody in the Middle Ages knew that the earth was round but people from now believe it’s flat 😮

[@Paulafan5]

No, that's not true at all. Many people knew the Earth was round but a fair number thought it was flat. We're talking a 1,000 years and dozens of societies.

[@davidwuhrer6704]

​@@Paulafan5Nobody thought it was flat. They had sundials.

[@davidwuhrer6704]

The Flat Earth Society boasts of its having members all around the _globe!_ Ask yourself this: Why do you think that the Earth is _not_ flat? Does it look round to you? Do you not trust your own eyes? Why do you trust authority more than your own senses? (I once irritated a flerfer by explaining how the Earth looks round to me. But otherwise I think it is a fair question. Only the idiots who cannot accept a straight answer ruin it.)

[@bristoled93]

@@Paulafan5 There is probably more flat earthers now than in the middle ages by sheer number.

[@StellaMariaGiulia]

- With a diet relatively poor in refined sugar they had fewer problems with cavities than we do. - While not having any rights on paper, women could live a much more independent life than the Renaissance or Counter-Reformation - Their relationship with religion wasn't all doom-and-gloom-we are born to die as people think. Death was a part of life, and most people didn't spend their life atoning their sins to enter paradise. The concept of *purgatory* was born medieval times. If you can understand Italian look for any of Alessandro Barbero's lessons on medieval history, it's an eye opener and a lot of fun!

[@Ikajo]

I think a lot of people also misunderstand the idea of purgatory. It was the idea of a place where you are purged of your sins. It wasn't the end of the journey. Most of what is depicted about purgatory comes directly from Greek and Roman mythology anyway. Just with an end date instead of eternal damnation.

[@damedesuka77]

I love the animation style. There's barely any detailed human face depicted, they're just a bunch of abstract blobs, but it feels alive and not lacking any emotions at all. Very interesting!

[@davidbryden7904]

Similar to "dark matter", the "dark ages" refers to the lack of information about the era.

[@JacobFosterNeoCon]

This is a good video which busts a bunch of myths but whats with the random claim that "knights didn't play a large role in medieval warfare" in the middle? Thats very untrue a huge claim to just drop in without evidence.

[@anonymous666951]

@@ssmithphd Because the Third Estate populace (peasants and freemen) had nothing better to do than wage holy wars or plunder neighboring kingdoms? You're downplaying the role of knights in conducting and instigating warfare under feudal society. You might as well argue that the Joints Chiefs of Staff aren't heavily involved in warfare because they don't get blood on their uniforms.

[@anonymous666951]

@@ssmithphd Actually you did. Medieval "fighting" involved raising armies and directing soldiers on the field of battle. Those activities are not playing a "minimal role in medieval warfare" as the video states about knights.

[@XMysticHerox]

Definitely an overcorrection but they did play a far smaller role than most would believe. I mean they were not even a thing really for the first 500 years. The first warriors you might call a knight came about under Charglemagne but thats still quite a stretch. Knights as we know them basically came about in the 10th and 11th century for various reasons in Germany and England. Only the high middle ages saw knights actually play a big role and even then not in all regions. In fact strictly speaking knights as most people understand them (eg a seperate class of nobility) only really became a thing in the 12th century. A little earlier in the HRE. If we are talking purely about the stereotypical idea of a knight in plate armour, charging down the enemy en masse we are talking about a *very* narrow period of history.

[@VictorLopez-qb7qr]

Thanks, I've been interested in this topic since I read "Le Moyen âge, une imposture" (The Middle Ages, a fraud) by Jacques Heers, a French historian. I was already learning about many myths of the Middle Ages that people use to say, but I understood much better how it all came about thanks to that book.

[@VictorLopez-qb7qr]

@الفرقان why?

[@CarlosCostaX]

I'm waiting for the RedBull can to show up.

[@MightyJosh1985]

Also that a knight in a full suit of armour was slowed down and had low mobility. When in fact they were very mobile.

[@ttterg6152]

No. If the armour was so immobile, surely they wouldn’t even use in wars. They were as mobile as they needed

[@MightyJosh1985]

@@ttterg6152we are talking about Myths. I added another myth.

[@MightyJosh1985]

@@ttterg6152 I've edited as people like you don't know what a myth is

[@CCoburn3]

Except for the fact that knights DID play a large part in medieval warfare, this is probably reasonably accurate. But knights did not go on quests or silly things like that. But they did form the backbone of feudalism and feudal armies.

[@sharondornhoff7563]

Quests, no. Missions? Sometimes, same as any other government agent or soldier might today.

[@CCoburn3]

@@sharondornhoff7563 Most of them didn't go on "missions" either. They were landowners who owed a certain amount of feudal service to their lord. But most of the time, they were at home managing their estate.

[@loods2215]

Wow, videos so short rarely do this extremely fascinating period of history enough justice, but yours exceeded any expectations Great job!

[@Rpd4716]

This is the real problem that's lacking with the middle ages. People don't make enough justice towards it and don't understand what it's all about. Even the thought that it deserves a lot of it is impossible to find from anywhere. It's just taken as something meaningless and somewhat ordinary and nothing else, and that's not right.

[@Lilrob06]

Course it was a British book. I think that’s just what the British ate lol

[@aboomination897]

Maybe there are more flat earthers alive today than at any other point in history combined.

[@cloroxbleach7554]

Even medieval people with literally zero education and access to any technology and electricity knew better than Flat-Earthers nowadays with all the information in the world LOL

[@IsaaacWithThreeA]

Agreed bro.

[@zhcultivator]

exactly

[@YseaSumera]

And that is funny and scary

[@ved2360]

The torturing device thing often gets me. Most of them don't really make sense with a bit of critical thought. And a lot of the historical "examples" like Scaphism or Brazen Bull were probably propaganda. (This ruler was so cruel he had a capital punishment that would be demoralizing to clean up and wastes a bunch of honey and milk. There was this bronze torture device that would've cost a king's ransom exclusively for the purpose of torture.)

[@Tuffsmoygles]

In response to the debauchery of Roman baths, the early Christian church frequently discouraged cleanliness. “To those that are well, and especially to the young,” Saint Benedict in the sixth century commanded, “bathing shall seldom be permitted.” It was considered a sin.

[@HiEyGurl]

Ikr, the Holy Roman Catholic Church Outlawed Bathing for 500 years and it wasn't a sin, it was just because Greeks Had Bathhouses and things along that line and they didn't want anything associated with that.

[@XMysticHerox]

Yet the same church actually maintained many of the roman baths. it was more the associatation with brothels (many bath houses were also brothels) that they likely had an issue with. Still they did not ban bathing or consider cleanliness a sin. Thats just wrong. People bathed quite often in the middle ages until the high middle ages where it actually fell out of use until the 18th century or so.

[@misterauctor7353]

You know that's not true, right?

[@manikaditha6308]

I think what i hate the most some people think medieval people live like a caveman, dont know how spices works, or dont know how to preserve food, basically don't know how to do anything and thought 21st century people are superior in everyway. I tend to find this in fictional stories about time traveling or transported to another world medieval period, kinda vexing.

[@rathersane]

I know that nobody was expecting this, but it would be worth mentioning that the infamous Spanish Inquisition was active in the 15th and 16th centuries, after the Middle Ages were over.

[@kevozo1074]

This makes sense. There’s no way the Enlightenment could’ve just happened out of nowhere, so the Middle Ages were a low key time of progress that led to that

[@watching7721]

I'd say the Renaissance led more to the enlightenment

[@Kaiser-jo3uj]

coincidentally the literacy rates ive seen just so happen to be roughly the size of the nobility and clergy which to me at least that most of these figures refer to literacy in latin and not the vernacular as I simply don't see how merchants could get by without being able to keep records.

[@Rixizu]

Correct. It wouldn't be unusual for at least one person in a household to know how to read and write. Because writing is a useful skill. And poetry writing was a popular pastime.

[@craigkdillon]

Another myth - castles were always made of stone. Nope. Many were made of wood, especially in Germany and Eastern Europe where forests were plentiful.

[@mrnice1976]

I find this video introduces myths of its own. Is this how history is taught today? On TED, seriously? I think there are many half truths here. The fall of the Western Roman empire brought with it a technological regression which included the loss of what had previously been common knowledge. Yes, many written records and the Latin language were preserved by the Catholic Church, but it became elitary knowledge (including the skill to read and write) and confined to church representatives and their associates. Even the Byzantines/Eastern Romans switched to the use of Greek, so that Latin was only preserved in the church. That is where a lot of the continuation of records comes from. City infrastructures did not match the technological sophistication of Roman cities. Life must have deteriorated somewhat. One of the liberating moments was Luther's translation of the holy scripture from Latin into German which brought it out of that elitary sphere and into the minds of the common folk. That was in the 16th century. Around the same time Copernicus formulated the heliocentric model (again). Yes, it had been formulated independently centuries before in the classical age, but the fact that Copernicus' work was celebrated as groundbreaking and he faced some discrimination for it by doubters is already an indication that it was not common knowledge just prior. Finally, yes ideas flowed, especially from south to north, as the most advanced civilizations that championed science were Arab Muslim (for example Al Andalus - today's Spain) and Byzantine. Much of today's Algebra taught came from scholars of that age who spoke Arabic. But constant war with them (cultural, religious, resource driven) was also a reality. The Spanish call the period between the 8th and the 15th centuries the "reconquista" (reconquest), a time during which they were constantly at war with Al Andalus in an effort to push them out. That was literally their main theme. They succeeded after 800 years. On the other side of Europe, Christian kingdoms united to stop the Ottoman advance on Vienna. That speaks less to a free exchange and more to a "not in my backyard" mentality. Even political, religious and and cultural enemies will trade and exchange ideas in between battles. Even though they were the shock troops of the time, knights were mounted nobility, not soldiers in the traditional sense, and they had a code of conduct to abide by which is where the "chivalry" concept comes from. Yes, it's romanticized in some children's stories, but that's beside the point. There were some important knight battles where I was born that shaped the history of the region with repercussions until this age and day. The above is how history is taught in middle/high school in Europe, my personal experience attending school in 4 different European countries while growing up. Yes, in direct comparison every country teaches history with a twist towards making themselves look good and justified in their actions (except of the Germans where the main theme is "we messed up and now have to live with it", but they still marked half of Poland as "Germany under Polish administration" on the map used in class), so some things I take with a grain of salt, but we always thought we were capable of owning our own history. America is taking it to a whole different level and is now invading European cultural space trying to reshape it. What's happening, America? Ideological demagogy taking over?

[@bristoled93]

Writing was an elite thing before the middle ages too.

[@mrnice1976]

@@bristoled93 Correct. That has to do with the fact that book print wasn't invented, so all written texts were manual work. It was an art form rather than basic skill.

[@hydra70]

I think you're misunderstanding the video's claim when you cite Copernicus and the heliocentric model. The myth that the video rejects is that people in the middle ages believed that the earth was flat. Prior to Copernicus, it was common knowledge that the earth was round. There was no real dispute over that. Heliocentrism is exactly what the name implies, sun at the center. In the middle ages, it was commonly believed the the earth was the center of the universe. Copernicus proposed that the sun was the center of the universe (not actually true but more accurate than geocentrism). Both sides of the heliocentrism debate were in agreement that the earth was spherical. The dispute was about the structure of the solar system, not the shape of the earth.

[@AzureRook]

I think the biggest myth is that medieval people eat potatoes when depicted in fiction yet potatoes weren’t introduced or eaten in Europe until after the Middle Ages

[@jeffbenton6183]

2:50 when the ax-weilding executioner is legally obligated to just tickle a prisoner, but otherwise leave him a alone.

[@jfppp1]

My wife is a professor of art history specializing in the medieval period. She insists the medieval period started before the fall of Rome, whereas I insist that it started in 476 when Rome fell. We argue about this a lot. Ok, I'm being silly, but I sometimes tease her by saying it started in 476.

[@majinvegeta9280]

I think your wrong with the pair of anquish it was definitely used in torture. It didn't look like scissors. It had a corkscrew when turned which opened the petals slowly. It was to be put inside a women and opened which later was put in people's mouth and screwed open shattering their jaw and teeth and possibly killing them. "A shoe stretcher"? Possible but how often were people getting new shoes in need of stretching and who had the money for such a novelty

[@blaketindle4703]

The 2018 video game “Kingdom Come: Deliverance” did a great job of accurately portraying life in early 15th century Europe.

[@anthonyodonnell6105]

Great video, but I'm not sure about the claim that knights played a minimal role. Heavy cavalry-which consisted of knights-was an important aspect of medieval warfare.

[@pdruiz2005]

Europeans in the Middle Ages knew about spices grown in modern-day Indonesia, Sri Lanka and southern India--that's why they bought them. They knew about bathing customs from the Middle East--that's why they had bathhouses all over where they bathed with fragrant soaps. And they built incredibly sophisticated structures that inspire awe even today--Gothic cathedrals with giant stained windows. In no way were Europeans in the Middle Ages "barbaric." They knew what they were doing.

[@ElizabethJones-pv3sj]

It's basically the desire people have to simplify history into a linear progression from bad ignorance to good enlightenment and we get to cast ourselves as the best version of humanity that has ever lived. If hygiene was bad 100 years ago then obviously 200 years ago it must have been even worse because that's an easier idea to grasp than a detailed explanation of multiple factors. In this example 19th century population growth, urbanisation and some technological changes overwhelmed infrastructure that had been designed for a different situation leading to much more frequent disease outbreaks, notably cholera, than had been the case in the centuries before.

[@alekszafran8020]

the animation of the invisibility cloak is stellar :0 how can someone be able to create such beauty

[@chetanoimbe2572]

4:27 I like how the dragon farts while taking off.

[@Д.Түвшинбаяр]

Bio-jet engine.

[@syedrafiqkazim448]

A common misconception I've heard both irl and online is that peasants ate loaves of bread and sometimes butter. Both of those things were luxuries. Medieval European peasants would mostly eat millet or porridge as a staple (depending on the region)

[@glenchapman3899]

Well there was different grades of bread, depending on your status (ability to pay)

[@CarloBaldi80]

Dear Ted, I live in a city 2300 years old, in Italy, and I can assure legal punishments for crimes during the middle ages was something beyond your strongest imagination. Absolute horror.

[@24601st]

you were there 2000 years ago? that's crazy

[@remilenoir1271]

And somehow, living somewhere gives you the knowledge of what life in that place was like 800 years ago ? The ancient Romans had corporal punishments beyond anything a medieval man could imagine. They also practiced genocide and destruction routinely on a scale simply unbelievable for medieval people. Brutality is not the prerogative of medieval times. Far from it. Compared to the brutality of later periods which saw the wars of religion, the thirty years war, the napoleonic wars and the two World Wars, the medieval age would seem pretty tame.

[@CortoMalteaser]

@@remilenoir1271 most of the brutality in the Middle Ages happened during times of war and especially during the crusades once the Catholic Church was able to reconcile Christian doctrine with warfare. During the period using corpses during a siege as psychological warfare, having no quarter, and executing captives in front of the enemy was standard recourse for warfare. The crusades however contained a number of documented acts which were unquestionably far more brutal than was par for the course. To conclude, while the Middle Ages were not pure “savagery” and were certainly far from it, the troops of the Middle Ages were just as capable of war crimes at a large scale as we are today, in fact the siege of jerusalem isn’t too far off the brutality of what happened in Nanjing.

[@monkpato]

Dear Carlo, there were horrible tortures but they were developed during the Renaissance.

[@gregorcutt1199]

You think modern governments are more merciful than medieval ones? Even for traitors, being hung drawn and quartered is fast compared to the methodical, weeks- or years-long tortures that modern bureaucratic states are capable of.

[@jw6588]

Would rather watch Metatron talk about this topic, though this video was way more accurate than I had expected it to be.

[@LoveFactorySweatShop]

Don't listen to anyonr who wears a costume 40 hrs/week.

[@JD-ul8qu]

There is an armory museum in Worcester, Massachusetts called the Higgins Armory. If I recall correctly it is the largest collection of medieval armor in the western hemisphere. There was a small display of metal chastity belts...mayby a dozen? So they did exist. Anyway, if you're into medieval armor I highly recommend.visiting it. Its worth the trip.

[@59spadesofalife52]

Begs the question how do we even know what is actually from the middle ages and not fabricated or misunderstood? The chasity belts specifically are a tough one to understand

[@shannon890]

@@59spadesofalife52 carbon dating

[@dylanenriguehuntington2908]

@@shannon890 carbon dating is deeply innacurate, like literally can be off by thousands of years, they prolly could analyze the age thu other methods however

[@Candlemancer]

The only people that make this claim are creationists​@@dylanenriguehuntington2908

[@Lvestfold4143]

A lot of things came out of this period but people don’t realize it. If anyone is reading this with a pair of eye glasses you have the Middle Ages to thank for that. Love collecting hard cover books? Thank Middle Ages for the advent of the codex, which allowed literature to be bound in book form rather than rolled in long scrolls.

[@jtmartin1170]

Only thing I found somewhat inaccurate was that “Knights played a minimal role in medieval warfare”. The concept of kingdoms having a corps of elite cavalry made up of the nobility dates back to Ancient Egypt. Knights were commanders and shock cavalry; compared to navy SEALs today. Trained from birth to be the best possible warrior they can be, and often the tide of the battle, if not entire campaigns rested on the effectiveness of an army’s Knights. Yes, armies were mostly made up of peasant militia and men-at arms, but those armies were often funded, trained, equipped and led by the Knights they fought alongside.

[@Germancamel]

Thank you, i was waiting for someone to say that

[@XMysticHerox]

But keep in mind you are talking a pretty narrow part of medieval history here. Only a couple centuries really. Knights as we know them became a thing in the 12th century or so and by the 14th century they were already in decline compared to larger standing armies and tended to fight dismounted.

[@jtmartin1170]

@@XMysticHerox Even dismounted, knights (mounted or otherwise) served as military commanders and shock troops. Even in the late medieval period, the martial nobility of Europe played a vital role in warfare. When I refer to “knights” I’m talking about “military nobles”: Rich guys who can afford to buy and train with better armor/weapons than the average soldier. Not just heavy cavalry.

[@XMysticHerox]

@@jtmartin1170 If you ar ereffering to "military nobles" that way then they were relevant from ancient egypt to a couple centuries ago. Absolute nonsense.

[@jtmartin1170]

@@XMysticHerox Arguing semantics means you have nothing else to say.

[@RayBetterThanEvilCanival]

Who woulda thunk people back then didn’t like eating spoiled food the same way we don’t like eating spoiled food today

[@julianosvonskingrad7009]

Those myths are especially untrue for the most civilized part of Europe at that time: The Byzantine Empire, the flourishing eastern half of the former Roman Empire, with a functioning bureaucracy, a ton of laws, bathhouses, aqueducts and sewage systems.

[@Ikajo]

They also tend to focus on England and France, rather than Europe as a whole. For example, the Nordic countries entered the Medieval era much later than more southern countries. And the shift is considered to be connected to when those countries became Christian. Obviously, that is an oversimplification that doesn't take into account the social structures already present at the time. Sweden even spent a while ruling over most of north-west Europe. Until a king fell off his horse and died. Bonus fact: Sweden and Denmark hold the record for most wars fought between two countries in history. Some within a very short time period.

[@XMysticHerox]

@@Ikajo Italy never really adopted feudalism either. They mainly kept the roman system of villas and autonomous cities. Iberia was similar to this but with a lot of arabic influence for obvious reasons. But never really feudal as most people understand it (eg how it was in France and Britain). The HRE was more similar to the Anglo-French system but far more centralized in the high middle ages.

[@maurasi_maurano2107]

Finally!!! As a medieval enthusiast I am always disappointed at how little people really know about them, thanks to false legends and Hollywood movies.

[@Rpd4716]

This is really true. You can't change how low level people really are on this. Everything would always have been much easier if this subject were thought better than what have been now the situation. It is harmful, to lower subjects as being worse than what they are in the reality. The subject of middle ages deserves a high position of value in the typical knowledge of things and this is a measure on how these subjects are taken in the reality.

[@thinmint5500]

People of the past are smarter then we give them credit for.

[@t.b.cont.]

Most of this is true, but medieval law was absolutely cruel to criminals. They were treated like animals, and there was many sadistic forms of execution like the breaking wheel or the oubliette

[@toddsypolt4911]

The breaking wheel existed in only a portion of Europe, and the only reported uses were on absolutely heinous criminals. The oubliette didn't exist during the middle ages and was invented later.

[@t.b.cont.]

@@toddsypolt4911 every portion of Europe had their own way of executing. None of it was pretty. Flaying, hanging, boiling, drawing and quartering, gibbeting, burning, etc. it was all quite brutal, some more sadistic than others. For serious crimes like treason sometimes criminals were dismembered and their parts displayed to the public for extended periods. And so far I’ve just talked about punishment dealt by the state. Often the common person would also get to take part in dealing punishments too, as was the case with pillaries. While not necessarily intended as a form of execution, there is many documented cases of peasantry becoming violent by throwing much more dangerous objects than intended, like bricks and stones. There’s also the fact that outlaws by definition were outside the protections of the law. They were treated as animals, and could be legally hunted as such for a bounty. I was wrong about the oubliette, but in medieval times to be a criminal or an outlaw was to be less than human

[@Germancamel]

Dont forget the complete reliance of knights in medieval warfare😜

[@XMysticHerox]

Archeological evidence and written records of the breaking wheel is extremely sparse and most of it is from after the middle ages. Like a lot of these torture devices, if they are real at all, they ironically come from the supposedly enlightened Renaissance or were at least popularized there. And as said in the video. This was not a "normal" punishment by any means. It was mainly used for high treason and the like.

[@ostrados]

Against many misconceptions, in that period science actually flourished under the Golden age of Muslims. 6 centuries of science and civil development that all started from books translation movement of Greek and ancient sciences to then advance and develop methodological science. It's in that period that Chemistry, Trigonometry, Algebra, and early Modern Medicine have been founded, in addition to major advancements in astronomy, engineering and agriculture. This leap of science and Muslims spread of books paved the way toward the advancement of Europe in the 17th century, especially after the fall of Al-Andalus.

[@daltonslayton6766]

Imagine you made a joke, and several centuries later, people believed you were serious

[@Imperiused]

The animation on this blew me away. Amazing job. That dragon at the end!! :D

[@Abirexe-wu7th]

this video actually covered wayyy more that 6 myths

[@bigboss6867]

Why does it feel like I'm watching a Red Bull commercial?

[@Jacheongbi_han-eun]

Omg this is awesome! Not only is it super fascinating I have a 50 point medieval project coming up this week! Love this, thank you!

[@buddy3635]

Good luck!

[@Germancamel]

I hope you didn’t say that knights played a minimal role

[@BaumisMagicalWorld]

I like this narrator. She's pleasant to listen to.

[@Hallows4]

Seeing a lot of callouts against the mention that “knights played a minimal role in medieval warfare.“ While that may be an oversimplification, I think what it meant is that knights themselves made up a relatively small portion of some medieval armies. Maintaining the armor, weapons, and other accoutrements of a knight was very expensive, and common soldiers who couldn’t foot that bill were often armed with much cruder equipment.

[@nodruj8681]

They were trying to counter signal nationalists, it was politically, not historically motivated

[@Germancamel]

No they said “Knights played a minimal war in medieval WARFARE” not referring to the size of the army. Knights dominated the battlefield for hundreds of years.

[@XMysticHerox]

@@Germancamel Well that is debtable. Heavy cavalry did dominate the battlefield. For 2 centuries or so. In some regions. But then at most half of that cavalry and usually far less was actually made up of knights. I do think it is a overcorrection in the video. But knights dominating the battefield in the middle ages absolutely *is* a myth.

[@XMysticHerox]

@@nodruj8681 They were pointing out that certain political ideolgoies romanticize knightly culture. How is that "counter signaling"? And it could be either historically or politically motivated. Or both. Well actually there is no such thing as a "historical motivation". But whatever.

[@hussienbintalal91]

I Agree with everything except the last point, just because a bunch of diplomats and traders visited europe doesn't make it a diverse society, its still a Christian white majority society, with the exception of the iberian peninsula ofcorse.

[@domtromans2783]

The iron maiden may not have been a commonplace torture device, but certainly the idea did pop up a few times in history. According to one account which saw some retelling, Ibn al-Zayyat was a particularly cruel and ambitious schemer of a vizier to the Abbasid caliphs in the 9th century, and publicly humiliated and abused an Abbasid prince by the name of Ja’far. This turned out to be a terrible career move. Ja’far held a grudge against the vizier, and on assuming the caliphate over the head of several other candidates with the new sobriquet ‘al-Mutawakkil’, put Ibn al-Zayyat to death by locking him inside a horrific device the vizier had himself devised and used to torture prisoners: the ‘tannur’ (‘oven’ in Arabic), which was apparently some kind of wooden chest with iron spikes on the inside. Ibn al-Zayyat lasted a couple of days inside the incredibly uncomfortable box before expiring. Not a nice way to die, but there was certainly a degree of poetic justice.

[@OytheGreat]

"Knights played minimal roles in medieval warfare" Errr, what? They were absolutely pivotal from the time of Charlemagne (8-9th century) onwards. edit: the torture devices from the Middle Ages also weren't exactly playthings like you seem to insinuate. There are musea all around Europe displaying actual medieval (so >500 years old) devices that make a normal human being sick if you just see them.

[@ladyalicent705]

Imagine if modern records get lost and the only thing they’re able to recover is skits from The Onion

[@MrFantocan]

The animations are nice, but the ideas here are arbitrary, for exemple Knights were a strong part in warfare, so much as there were many knightly orders. Some exist to this day.

[@emmanymphalie2240]

The fact that none of these legends are present in my country, makes me happy

[@عبدالعزيزألأزرق-و5ي]

The animation is excellent👍🏻

[@geschichteistcool7182]

Although the video is great deconstructing some myths about the middle ages, some things still were wrong. 1. Imprisonment wasn't such a thing in the MA. Institutions like prisons only exist in a few places and evolved after the period we call the middle ages. The main form of captivity was house arrest of nobles for ransom. But those were not held in dard dungeons, most of the time they lived with the hostage takers family and it's often mentioned that they even went to fiests or hunting with them, were treated good. They were still nobles and you didn't want to treat them bad. 2. Knights didn't have a small impact on medieval warfare. In some times of the middle ages they alone were warfare. Footsoldiers etc. evolved during the middle ages, but for most of the time medieval army's relied on knights. This started to change in the late middle ages, but saying "they're role in warfare was minimum" isn't true. They were important.

[@primeministermarci3387]

Ok great video except the part about how knights were barely part of medieval warfare 😂 That’s untrue, although I guess it depends if you define knights by stature or by type of military unit. Armoured cavalry were the dominant military force of the time until the 1400s. Knights were not only not not important, they were the foundation of warfare in this period.

[@LamiNalchor]

Of course, merchants and possibly even mercenaries were common from other cultures in the Middle Ages, not craftsmen, farmers or nobility, though. Which is a common and popular thought these days. Chivalry did not play a role in warfare. It was an integral part of the life and identity of knights, though. You make it sound as if it was a myth altogether. Of course, in many ways, there were many cultural elements that all of Europe had in common. So, I feel it is a strange statement to say that there was no common or united Middle Ages. I can't imagine in which way there wasn't. Naturally, it is still a good video.

[@spiderplant]

The story of Christopher Columbus and flat earth wasn't just historic inaccuracy, it was literally fan fiction that some historian thought was so cool he just put it into a history book as fact, and others just copied that without thinking about it.

[@billwhite1603]

Just watched a long documentary of one of England's longest ruling families. Between fighting the French, the King fighting different factions of Lords, there sure were a lot of knights to just be dismissed like you did.