The Evolution of Knightly Armor and Weapons - DOCUMENTARY

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From the innovations of the Normans in the 11th century, to the increasingly more elaborate armor of the late 13th century, knights were constantly seeking ways to reduce their vulnerability on the battlefield, and to maximize their ability to inflict damage on an opponent. Today on Real Crusades History, we’ll take a journey through the military technology of the Middle Ages, and see how the fighting men of the era met the challenges and dangers of warfare as they armed themselves for battle.
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#knight #sword #armor

[@RealCrusadesHistory]

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[@jackbedle569]

I just threw up five times from drinking too much Jack Daniels and this is the best way to spend a hangover

[@user-yi7td2sq9b]

Wishing you a speedy recovery

[@seancorrigan]

Light weight 😂😂😂

[@jackbedle569]

@@seancorrigan it’s was like 8 shots plus four beers and half a bottle of wine bro pls😭

[@delivertilidie8356]

First name Al. Last name Coholic.

[@jackbedle569]

@@delivertilidie8356 nah just scottish

[@Blalack77]

It seems like a lot of people say humans always try to find creative ways of killing each other and while that might be true, I've always thought that the pursuit of military technology has kind of driven a lot of science and discovery.

[@leokim1458]

I totally agree. A lot of the civilian things we take for granted today - used for good - were either created or improved during conflict. Things like M&Ms, Band-Aids, helicopters, artificial satelites, etc. I think that that saying has the flaw of cherry picking and then brushing everyone with the same brush. So I find it a very pessimistic and yet narcissistic way of thinking. We're simply problem solvers.

[@heroesytumbas]

Tactical to practical. It has always been that way.

[@LordVader1094]

Of course. Civilian technology took leaps and bounds because of the Great War and WW2.

[@YuuSHiiiN]

If it wasn't for gunpowder, we wouldn't have the modern world in many ways.

[@bleekskaduwee6762]

I agree with you bro 100%

[@nutyyyy]

Most spears for Infantry were actually 8-9 feet in length throughout the period. Its common to see reenactors using shorter 6 foot spears though.

[@danielbretall2236]

For modern reenactors, what will fit in the car is usually 6'. Something people riding horseback or walking dont have to worry about. "What do you mean it doesn't fit in the wagon? I better return this to the blacksmith before the Mrs. Finds out". LOL

[@davigondim8850]

Infantry also would wield their spears with a single hand, the free hand holding the shield. A lot of modern reenactors wield with both hands.

[@user-sc5iv2rp2t]

We would like a lecture about the GrecoRoman medieval armor and weapons.

[@emperorconstantine1.361]

And specifically Byzantine armor/weapons

[@user-sc5iv2rp2t]

@@emperorconstantine1.361 Yes with the term Grecoroman I was talking about the Byzantines. I personally find the term more appropriate.

[@YuuSHiiiN]

You can find that on Invicta's Channel.

[@comradecracker447]

I would as well

[@GeorgiosLeo]

@@user-sc5iv2rp2t I agree 100%

[@mercianthane2503]

My favorite kit for a night lies between the 11th and 12th century. There's something fascinating, the elegance of seeing a knight in full chain mail.

[@isaiahschmit1996]

Shoutout to the dude that threw a mace at the Anglo-saxons. Hes a real one

[@angeloauditore8895]

I know there is less infortmation, but it would be really intresting to make a video about the weapons and armor of non-knightly troops such as men at arms and militias.

[@orderoftheredstarofbethlehem]

last time I was this early the second crusade was still sieging Damascus

[@royalsquad3992]

XD

[@tschohanfaitscher3481]

You are THE channel for crusade history. Thank you a lot for covering this era/area

[@tibsky1396]

We often tend to associate the typical armour-clad of 14-15th century with all the medieval era, while it took a lot of time to get there.

[@defaultytuser]

Exactly! Mail remains the quintessential medieval armor but is often overlooked in pop culture.

[@artemiusz69]

Not me though, i always associate medieval knights with chain mails and great helms

[@TAKE_BACK_BRITAIN]

Society at large does, but I think history nerds know that wasn’t always the case in the Middle Ages

[@marcuspacheco3815]

I agreed with all of this except that late swords got heavier than earlier ones. Yes pommels can off set the weight, but like a Gladius, Arming sword and Norman sword all weigh about the same. The exceptions would be early medieval swords like the falchion or Viking swords. They are both front heavy and just plain heavy (avg about 1- 1/2 lbs extra). That's on average the truth is 2-3lbs is the avg for all one handed weapons around the world. Because we use the same arms to swing them.

[@andrewcanady6644]

That’s pretty cool that you know this. I know nothing about differences in swords. Do you own any of these or have you had a chance to pick any up to compare them?

[@marcuspacheco3815]

@@andrewcanady6644 historically accurate reproduction swords are expensive, I have a two nearly identical hand and a half swords (one is sharp the other is not) some times called a "bastard sword" it's like a longsword that's slightly shorter and has a slightly shorter handle so you can use it one handed. Don't have one of every sort I mentioned. The primary reason they get heavier as time goes on is that metallurgical technology advances and so you can make them longer and still have them be strong. For example, a Greek zyphus is the same weight as a a gladius or an arming sword. Greek sword sword is skinnier but it's most likely made of bronze which makes it heavy. Gladius so short but really broad because the steel quality wasn't to level where you could make it skinny and have it be strong the arming sword is made of much better steel and its able to be drawn out longer for the same weight.

[@marcuspacheco3815]

@@andrewcanady6644so it's about preference and technology. In any given century you could have a light weapon or a heavy weapon and they would be advantages or trade-offs to both. Heavy would be generally better at chopping usually means it's got a wider broader blade or an increase in length which doesn't help you cut but gives you obvious standoff advantage (reach). Lighter usually means shorter or skinnier which can give you an advantage in terms of nimbleness, but usually at a cost of durability 42 weapons of otherwise equal length... Think Rappier which is heavy vs foil which is what you think is a rapier probably. Foil is very fast but all I can do is poke holes and you can damage it very easily versus rapier which is strong and in all purposes better except that it's heavier and you got to be either really strong or plan out your moves. Which is why side swords in that time were so common. They're like a rapier but shorter. More practical in more places. I mentioned the gladius a bunch of times and in truth they could have probably made the gladius skinnier and it would have been just as good at killing. In fact the Romans had a sword like that call the spatha it was slightly longer and slightly usually issued the cavalry and officers. The reason they didn't make them a general-purpose weapon is because Roman legionaries were expected to perform a lot of tasks with their sword beyond fighting. They use them to chop down trees build barricades and even in one example at least build a road... Shovel.... Hence why they over built them. There Is a great KZbin channel called shadiversity rituxan about all kinds of swords and all kinds of misconceptions people have about them. For example you might be surprised to learn that the katana doesn't cut better than a longsword in fact historical katanas would probably be broken by a longsword.... Mostly due to a steel quality difference. They're also significantly heavier than a long sort of equal length.... You won't get that from watching the History channel but it's 💯 true.

[@spades9681]

Falchions aren't typically very heavy at all. In fact, they're quite light.

[@marcuspacheco3815]

@@spades9681 your right. They are what I mean is that unbalanced. Front heavy. Is what I meant for the falchion. The viking sowrd is heavy.... I didn't word that properly.

[@x0lopossum]

9:50 why the Circoat (the shirt worn over chainmail and other armor by crusaders) was invented, the crusaders made it to prevent their armor from getting hot due to the sun and to block arrows from Turkish horse archers.

[@abcjuniormilton]

Could you consider sharing the songs you use? I'm particularly interested in the song you used for the eleventh century section. Great video, I knew that medieval armor started with chainmail and that the plate armor we often associate with the Middle Ages came after but you really specified and broke down the development of the armor and weapons.

[@lysanderkrieg5474]

The song is called Happy Life by Sherma Andrews

[@abcjuniormilton]

@@lysanderkrieg5474 thank you very much man I found it!

[@lysanderkrieg5474]

@@abcjuniormilton You're welcome. 👍

[@-RONNIE]

⚔️ I hope people are appreciating these videos from you that are just getting into the crusades. Keep up the good 👍🏻

[@southpawmoose]

Haven't heard from you in months.. glad to see you are still making content

[@erniegutierrez2288]

I can totally imagine common levied soldiers pillaging a battlefield for armor after a battle. A small fortune could easily be made. Excellent video! "Like"

[@cecileroy557]

Depending upon the era, wealthy knights who weren't killed were allowed to return home - but only after a large ransom was paid..

[@alexv1387]

They generally wouldn't keep it though, as looting usually was pretty regulated, so that it would be gathered and everyone gets a share according to his social class, so usually the upper classes would actually get the decent armour

[@spades9681]

@@alexv1387 Not sure how it was done elsewhere, but in Spain bringing certain equipment would grant you a larger share of the spoils. Helmets, hauberks, chains (for captives), etc. As you said this meant the relatively well-to-do (those that could afford things like hauberks) got most of the spoils.

[@parisfrance6483]

That red armor looks crazy 😎🔥 for the video

[@martinhogg5337]

Interesting video, most informative thank you!

[@kingslegion1]

thank you as usual....... so correct and to the point, this is as usual. exactly the answer to the question. Thanks

[@RythymBeast]

Brilliant! This is epic!

[@scrutinizedamerica1983]

KZbin is great no matter what you type in that you wanna watch it pulls up a bunch of videos that fit your search results exactly

[@BrunoDeMarques]

Great job as usual

[@MasonxWashington]

This is gonna be fire

[@paulaneary7877]

Excellent video thank you.

[@RealCrusadesHistory]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@2007bing]

Love this channel!

[@RealCrusadesHistory]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@Jakuup12]

Great job

[@heroesytumbas]

Good watch, thanks.

[@TheLoyalOfficer]

Superb use of period art and literature sources!

[@mariongranbruheim4090]

Great shøw as always!

[@Tzimiskes3506]

Wait a minute... I've seen you on the other channels as well lol. Glad to see you here sister! Are you interested in the Crusades as well?

[@PNWCagey-Dub]

I can’t imagine how much all that weighed plus swinging a heavy sword/axe and shield…..and fight for days, months or years….bad nutrition, dehydrated, sick, injured. It’s mind blowing to me. They had to be so, so resilient.

[@alexv1387]

It weighed... actually not that much. Compared to both modern infantry and other historical warriors, from ancient greece to feudal japan, had gear that weighed pretty much the same as the heaviest used by knights

[@PNWCagey-Dub]

@@alexv1387 Comparatively? Sure. I imagine all those you listed weigh around the same, which is a lot! Lol I guess it just comes down to what you (not YOU, the collective you as in peoples) perceive as a lot of weight to pack around. In my younger days, a 50lb pack of gear going back country camping off the trails wasn't much but now a 25lb pack for a day trip is my max. But I'm disabled now so my definition of "a lot" of weight is different and I'd imagine with injuries, fatigue, malnourished and everything else they had going on, it might have felt like a lot. But maybe not🤷🏼‍♀️ they kinda had no choice but to be insanely resilient no matter what. Now I'm curious to find out about the things you pointed out so thank you! I'm going to do some reading on this again.

[@alexv1387]

@@PNWCagey-Dub Fair enough, it also depends on the individuum, sure. To the malnourishment - the people who wore knightly armour generally were knights (I know, what a surprise lol), so upper class people. Those were the last ones to be malnourished, generally speaking. But yeah, injuries sure are a thing

[@alexv1387]

For the weight I would suggest looking at original O-Yoroi from Japan for example, I think the Met has some. Also, yes they did weigh a lot if you just wear it on the back - but armours spread their weight over the whole body

[@PNWCagey-Dub]

@@alexv1387 Thanks! I’ll check those out.

[@brianknezevich9894]

You should consider doing a Collab with one of the other medieval history KZbinrs. There's actually a good bit of a community and I believe it might get you subscribers and views, and also some different perspectives and knowledge to be shared (which as a historian, I consider the most important part).

[@disquietedsaint]

Excellent!

[@SonofTiamat]

Finally, a video that talks about paladins

[@atune2682]

very good video! very interesting!

[@RealCrusadesHistory]

Thanks for the visit

[@Meralimece01.]

Elinize emeğinize yüreğinize ne ğüzel kaliteli video çekimi olmuş 💌

[@alexanderchenf1]

My lord Vlois of Burgundy had half of his nose dangling from a blow, God bless his name, for he was still fighting.

[@Drew151Proof]

Awesome video. Can’t imagine how strong those guys were to weild a 45 inch sword

[@spades9681]

They weren't terribly heavy, no more than 3 pounds (and that's a generous figure)

[@KristinkaAranova]

Awesome

[@opsauras1507]

This is the only channel I know of that uses total war in their history vids. Very cool.

[@genovayork2468]

Kings and Generals?

[@KushBabySpareChange]

What game or models are used to visualize the armors. It looks like a total war game.

[@troydodson9641]

TW Attila, Medieval Kingdoms 1212ad mod

[@troydodson9641]

Ooooh, got a heart from the big man himself

[@pontusjohansson4948]

Just a thought… you mentioned that a Viking king had a sword named leg biter. In Scandinavia however the word for leg is the same as the word for bone. Could it have been bone biter? As he might have cut through to the bone? Well… just a thought

[@TyrellzArt]

What book is this from @ 1:35 pleeease pls pls

[@danielwoltanski1413]

Which book do the numbered images being shown come from?

[@TAKE_BACK_BRITAIN]

Google

[@pyrrhusofepirus8491]

Can someone please explain to me, sometimes on Knight armour of the 12th and 13th century, I see these square or rectangular plates, hanging off the shoulders or attached to the upper forearm. What are these called and were they actually used?

[@sambakich7494]

They're called ailettes, and are believed to have been made of wood, leather, or parchment (no originals survive). They were used as means of heraldic display, rather than a functional piece of armor.

[@eldarion5919]

@@sambakich7494 right, but a little correction to the commenter, they were only used from the 13th century.

[@KristinkaAranova]

@@eldarion5919 I see your profile pic is from in the name of Jerusalem from bannerlord , awesome

[@eldarion5919]

@@KristinkaAranova yes, thats pretty much the most historically accurate gamemode, and i love how they look!

[@KristinkaAranova]

@@eldarion5919 yes I’m an historian and amazed by how historically accurate the armor and clothing is. Not your typical fantasy garbage

[@MB-0101]

What is the background music ?

[@ronbird121]

small extra, the german word knecht is not another word for knights, its a word for man at arms

[@TAKE_BACK_BRITAIN]

Man at arms is sort of a more generic term though. Just as all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares, a knight is always a man at arms but not all men at arms was a knight.

[@travhammer]

I always longed for my own Armor.

[@samymasta]

Watching this as I'm conquering my enemies in Bannerlord 2 of course

[@Daniel-ik7tu]

Crazy to think and piece of metal and some cloth would be the final form of armors.

[@enoughrope1638]

One of my biggest gripes with movies and TV shows with historical battles is the lack up upgrading equipment. Simply put when two armies clashed the victorious army would have picked up all the valuable armor, horses, shields, weapons, etc. Those armies then used that equipment. Metal was extremely valuable until the modern era and the few attempts at pricing period armor shows all in a well equipped knight during the crusades probably wore something that cost more than a house. For a peasant who probably wouldn't be allowed to take such things they might find a helmet or perhaps a gambeson but they would still attempt to improve their chances in the next fight.

[@buttered__toast_2899]

That they also wouldn’t be allowed to take. The loot was divied up and then your societal rank determined what (if anything) you were allowed to have. Looting after battle was also regulated to prevent getting counter attacked

[@markusjack9208]

have we evidence for metal rims around the shield?

[@giacomolontra3707]

even in german it's ritter and reiter.

[@roballister5269]

what game did u use for the animations?

[@TAKE_BACK_BRITAIN]

Attila total war with the 1212AD mod

[@tiendrip-han6458]

W video.

[@donvickers6710]

It was the 14th -17th century's that seemed more complex and elaborate. Like a switch Swiss watch. The plate armor explosion.

[@TAKE_BACK_BRITAIN]

Plate armor started to die out in the 17th century due to the prevalence of guns. 16th century armor was probably the most ornate, however was more ceremonial than anything, again due to the rise in guns. 15th century is probably that sweet spot where armor peaked while still being widespread and effective.

[@rayzas4885]

​@@TAKE_BACK_BRITAIN16th century armored knights were actually pretty well protected against the primitive muskets of the era.

[@rndm7528]

U should do a collab with Metatron

[@corysanderson6177]

a veteran swordsman will lose to a simple farmer with a spear, common knowledge

[@jontalbot1]

Interesting but l wish the portrayal of war horses was more accurate. Illustrations generally show them as something you might expect to see at a racecourse but they were larger and heavier (alright not the Normans). Shire horses are their descendants

[@spades9681]

Not at all true. War horses then were indeed about the same height as any modern riding horse, something like 15 hands. Andalusians, which are actually descended from warhorses (shire horses are just common draft animals), are only a little taller than that. This is substantiated by plenty of period artwork.

[@jontalbot1]

@@spades9681 But mostly true

[@johngaelnox5447]

11:40

[@matthewcavaness500]

I feel like the equites of the Roman republic were the first knights.

[@TAKE_BACK_BRITAIN]

True, they were also composed of wealthy noblemen. However I don’t think they typically wore very heavy armor in battle like knights did. Knights were a shock unit while equites were skirmishers.

[@kingpoxy2289]

Its funny to think that nearly everything in the medieval period can be traced back to charlemagne

[@TAKE_BACK_BRITAIN]

He is called the father of Europe after all

[@kingpoxy2289]

@@TAKE_BACK_BRITAIN that do be true

[@elshebactm6769]

👍🏿🤠👍🏿

[@Spartan902]

I absolutely love warfare in the middle ages. The evolution of weapons is fascinating. Definitely wasn't for the faint of heart. Crazy how a archer with the long bow and a bodkin arrow could put down the richest Knights wearing the best plate armour available. To end with, always beware the blow that comes beneath the shield.

[@vmitradkwondofytr480]

Sort of surprised you supported a vikings game, since they persecuted Christians at the beginning of the middle ages - but then again they converted and became the normans, so I guess it makes sense 😅