WEBVTT - How Knights Work 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:03.760 Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class from how 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:13.760 Stuff Works dot com. Hello and got into the podcast. 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:17.400 I'm editor Kandis Kipson, going by staff writer Jane mcgarrath. Again, 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:20.279 it's I think chivalry is alive and well, and we 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:24.880 have the knights of Middle Age and medieval Europe to 0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:28.160 think for that. That's right. And uh, I guess when 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:30.160 we're young we think about I guess the little girls 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:33.280 at least think about meeting knights in shining armor. And 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:36.360 we don't really know a lot except for, you know, 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:38.600 the little we get in history class about what actual 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:40.880 nights in the Middle Ages were like and whether or 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:43.879 not their armor was in fact shiny. And after doing 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:46.440 a little bit of research, I'm inclined to think it 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:49.800 may have been, you know, buffed and polished, but I 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:51.960 don't think it was that shiny. Yeah, probably not if 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:54.120 they were busy in battle and didn't get to clean 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:55.920 it that often. They kind a lot going on again, 0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:58.120 they've got their squires short. But I think we're getting 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:01.600 ahead of ourselves. So nights, it's not just the staff 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:04.680 of literature. They were real medieval warriors and they began 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:08.240 their military training very young and the word night actually 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:13.199 comes from the Anglish Saxon term for boy and knighthood, 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:17.119 and the system of becoming a night actually began under 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:19.959 the feudal system which was established by Charlemagne in the 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:23.240 eighth century. That's right, and knights, especially early on but 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:26.480 later not necessarily. They they had land that they held 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:29.640 from the lords would sort of lease to them, and 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:32.479 they were responsible for In order to get dubbed a knight, 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:35.120 usually you were the son of a night or a lord, 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:38.960 and so they weren't necessarily nobility per se, but they 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:41.520 were pretty respected, especially when we talk about the code 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:43.800 of chivalry that we will in a second, just the 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:46.720 idea that they were respected people. And you know, if 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:49.680 you ever read Cannbury Tales like most people do in 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:52.760 high school, the prologue actually lists the night first because 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:55.680 he was so respected, right, And part of the reason 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:57.520 for that was that it was not a position that 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:00.120 you inherited. It was something that you had to work for. 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:02.920 And just to give you a little bit of background 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:06.440 on knighthood and the reason that nights were so important, 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:11.640 um during Charlemagne's reign, essentially there was a bunch of 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:16.120 land and after the Roman Empire fell. Western Europe essentially 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:20.400 had no countries and no real organization, just huge parcels 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:23.360 of land, and there was a lot of fighting every territories, 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:26.600 but there was nothing really productive in place to control 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:28.920 them and and to really ration it out and to 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:33.679 give order and to create agricultural mainstays. And so Charlemagne 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:37.480 instituted feudalism, and he had this patch of land that 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:39.919 sort of went from northern Spain to Italy and then 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:43.480 France and Germany and Poland, and he would dole out 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:46.760 portions of land to nobles and in exchange they would 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:48.880 agree to be loyal to him and to offer him protection. 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:52.560 Or he could give land to nights in exchange for 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:56.280 their military service. And nights who lived on land really 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:59.200 had a good deal going whether they lived on land 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:02.080 owned by the king or buy a noble and exchange 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:06.240 for food, clothing, and shelter. They would, you know, provide 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:09.560 military service when it was necessary. And they also protected 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:11.440 the surfs who are underneath them as well as the 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:13.000 men who were over them in the Sars War im 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:15.040 part of because these were the people who were growing 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:18.040 the food that fed them. So in lieu of having 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:20.800 an actual centralized government, This was a pretty good system 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:24.320 and everyone was taken care of, So knighthood was important, 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:26.360 and you really did feel like you were part of 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:29.040 a bigger structure and that you were important to your 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:32.200 your your land or your fife. That's right, and knights 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:34.680 actually made up pretty well. Um. I guess we're you're 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:36.520 gonna talk about that later with the terms in terms 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:39.680 of the Knights templar. But actually one thing that it 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:42.200 struck me was that even though Knights are known as 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:45.839 professional warriors, there was this thing called scootage where Um 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:48.760 knights could actually send out others to do their fighting 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:51.280 for them. I guess they were just too happy back 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:53.640 in Europe with their lands that they were running and 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:56.240 making a pretty good living at. But if you want 0:03:56.280 --> 0:04:00.000 to go back to um where boys, how boys became 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:03.640 a nights. It actually started about the age of seven. Beforehand, 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:06.080 they would be raised by their moms in the household, 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:08.720 but by the age of seven they officially became a page. 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:13.920 They would learn horsemanship, reading, writing, religion, even falconry, which 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:15.800 was popular at the time. Yes, and they got their 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:18.760 hunting skills. They got all their schooling skills down and 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:20.919 I was sort of cute I'm sure it wasn't exactly 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:22.400 cute back then, but it's cute to me to read 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:24.600 about it. They would use wooden swords and lances to 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.880 practice combats. It isn't that just kind of adorable, little page, 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:30.360 little cute little page boy haircut out there with his 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:33.200 wooden sword a big strong night one day. I think 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:37.359 it's sweet. Anyway, Once they turned fourteen, the page became 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:41.760 an esquire or squire, and um, in order to mark 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:43.920 this passage, there was a religious ceremony and he would 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:46.960 take a consecrated sword and he would promise to use 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:49.440 it for honorable purposes. And this is all very sword 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:51.560 in the stone to me, you know, I can see 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:54.839 this happening, little warts and taking his sword from the stone, 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:57.520 and the squire is actually on such a literary geek. 0:04:57.800 --> 0:04:59.880 But the squire is actually the second one I believe 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:02.360 died in the Canary Tales prologue, and she gets it 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:06.560 goes to show how UM using this this system of 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:08.440 the page to the squire of the night is. It 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:11.159 was very respected, yeah, and and very much instilled and 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:14.080 the common mentality and how people conceived of the order 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:17.919 of their lands. So the squire had a couple of 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:21.919 different types of positions that he could fill during his 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:25.200 training and Um, in addition to these positions, he was 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:29.440 learning social etiquette and behavior as well as martial arts 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:32.480 and um, there are I've got to tell you guys 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:35.240 about these positions because they just they tickled me. A 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:38.000 couple in particular. There is a squire of body who 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:40.680 was a personal servant to a night or a lady. 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:43.839 The Squire of the chamber also the chamberlain was another 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:45.440 name for that, and he attended to the rooms in 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:48.600 a castle. This is one of my favorite. The table 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:51.840 or carving squire was in charge of carving meat and 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:55.760 waiting on banquet tables. So really sort of aware, that's 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:57.800 what it sounds like. Yeah, I kind of reminds me 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:01.960 for of the fraternity hazing sort of situations. Yes, I'll 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:04.640 have to ask Steward about that one later. Um. Squire 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:07.840 of wines who managed the wine cellar not a bad position. 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:10.840 Um at least, may the say Squire of pantry who 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:14.960 stocked the pantry, managed supplies for the home, Squire of 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:17.680 Arms who maintained armor and weapons, And the Squire of 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:21.400 Honor who helped in ceremonies and feasts, and if you're 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:23.080 like me, you're thinking that some sound a little bit 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:25.920 more prestigious than others. So I'm wondering, honestly, if there 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:27.880 was some sort of ranking system or depending on how 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:31.159 well they performed just pages that determined whether they got 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:34.200 to be a squire of body or or a meat squire. Yeah, 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:36.560 that's true, although I think no matter what position you 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:38.440 were at, you were kind of can't wait until you 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:41.080 turned twenty one. And uh, at the time, it wasn't 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:43.760 about alcohol, but about being dubbed a knight. This was 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:47.760 about the time that you would sometimes actually if squires, 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:49.560 if there was a war going on, they went to 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:53.080 go fight, they would serve their um their night in battle, 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:55.440 and if they did something particularly heroic, they could be 0:06:55.480 --> 0:07:00.240 actually dubbed on on the battlefield. But usually, uh, once 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:02.960 a night turned twenty one, back at home, they would, 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:05.919 uh they would be dubbed officially in sort of this 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:09.920 elaborate ceremony. You know. It often accompanied another big ceremony 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:12.840 like a wedding or even I think Christmas or Easter 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:16.720 feast day. Yeah, and so um it would be a 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:19.040 major part of it. And uh, you can tell by 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:21.480 the fact that they had these this ritual they went 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:24.840 through the night. Before the boy would go have a 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:28.000 ritual bath, they would have an all night prayer vigil. 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:30.240 And then the next day when they went to go 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:32.960 get dubbed, they would have to swear this oath where 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:35.400 they were devoted to the Church, they were loyal to 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:39.840 their lord, they defended a lady, etcetera, etcetera, and some 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:42.880 of these other ETCeteras. Again, I just it's just so 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:45.080 fun reading about night history. You know, whether you are 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:48.480 a meat squire or whatever. Parts of this oath were 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:50.880 really humorous, or at least to me today. They had 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:54.080 to um in addition to defending ladies and being loyal 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:55.800 to their lords and to the church, they had to 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:57.440 be brave. They had to promise that they were going 0:07:57.440 --> 0:07:59.440 to take off their armor only when they were sleeping 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:02.520 on They would vow never to avoid danger because they 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:04.800 were afraid. They had to be on time, which is 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:08.440 just good sent to really. And another one is that 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:11.520 whenever the Night returned home, he would have to share 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:15.200 and tell about his escapades and talk about being a 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:17.360 literary geek. That's got the wheels in my mind turning. 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:19.000 I was like, huh, well, I wonder if this is 0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:21.800 why the you know, oral tradition of of Nights stories 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:23.280 is so alive, and wow, there must have been a 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:25.680 lot of Nights stories going around if you were required 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:28.600 to tell someone about it. Yeah, And another one I 0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:30.840 found interesting actually in the little details, was that if 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:33.720 a Night was taken prisoner, he would have to surrender 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:36.559 peaceably after he was really taken, and he wouldn't be 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:39.640 allowed to fight his captors again until he got their permission, 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:41.800 which I found really interesting. You would expect, you know, 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:43.480 if you were taken prisoner, that you would try your 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:45.360 best to fight your way out of it. So there's 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:48.800 an interesting code that this, oh, this oath that they 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:51.440 had to take, and you can imagine if every single 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:53.920 Night is good enough to uphold the code, then things 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:56.280 must have been you know, pretty sivels around there, and 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:58.480 people wanted to have you know, been really proper and 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:01.360 kind of one in one another at it seems like 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:03.319 every now and then there's there's a bad apple that 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:05.679 gets through, and bad Nights must have come along and 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:10.520 done things like stalling another's armor or challenged him to 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:12.720 a duel, and it was sort of two on one 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:14.640 instead of you know, one on one as the action 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:17.920 was supposed to be. So yeah, and it's interesting, I mean, 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:21.280 most people associate this whole oath with what is now 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:23.520 known as chivalry. I mean, if you don't sort of 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:26.800 just talk about how opening up a car door is chivalrous, 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:29.920 But actually the term originally originally came back to just 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:33.319 meaning good horsemanship, which I found really interesting. Another source 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:35.840 I found said that it meant just playing tenure of 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:38.440 land at all, and that sort of made sense to 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:41.400 me in terms of the word gentleman, which you know, 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:44.840 has a similar evolution and how we think of it 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:47.280 think of it today. You know, gentlemen are people who 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:50.840 open doors for ladies, but back then, uh, gentleman was 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:53.120 just sort of someone who owned lander property. So it's 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:54.719 just interesting to look at the evolution of what these 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:57.640 terms mean today and what they meant back then. Definitely, 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:00.920 I think that the anymalogy of of the world um 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:03.840 definitely sheds light on what the knights did and how 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:07.240 the tradition continues today, even though there weren't exactly medieval 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:11.280 warriors prancing around modern day England. But at this point 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:14.200 the knight was officially called a sir and he could 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:17.360 own land and hire his own soldiers. And you may 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:19.480 be wondering, well, what did a knight do when there 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:21.599 weren't any battles to fight in, And the answer is 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:24.640 pretty simple. They participated in tournaments, said that their skills 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:27.640 didn't go to waste, and it's right. And um, one 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:30.920 of my favorite I think is jails. Oh yeah, definitely. 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:33.400 I'm from Maryland. The case he didn't know and jaelsting 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:36.000 is actually our official sport. I don't know how that happened, 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:39.199 but but it's very bizarre, but I mean, I love 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:41.599 it and jousting. If you've ever seen something like a 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:45.280 night's sale, obviously, uh with heath Ledger, it was sort 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:47.200 of always it was a one on one thing where 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:49.559 knights would go up against each other mounted on horses 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:52.200 and they would basically rush at each other with long, 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:56.360 dull headed lances, and so they would keep them out 0:10:56.400 --> 0:10:58.040 in front of them so that they would try to 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:00.640 hit the other person as they went by, and you 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:04.000 win about through about three lances, and you would get 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:06.040 points based on if you broke your lance on the 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:09.280 other person where it hit, etcetera. And after three lances 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:11.280 they would get off and start fighting if they wanted 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:15.120 to with swords actually, and the Church I guess was 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:17.559 okay with jausting because it was not quite as dangerous 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:20.320 as another popular tournament, and that was the melee, and 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:22.840 that was sort of a free for all battle. Imagine 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:26.080 a really big group of nights and um, you're in 0:11:26.160 --> 0:11:30.320 this big huddle of nights and you eyeball a competitor. 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:32.840 You choose one other person, you start fighting wance. You 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:35.400 defeat that person and he's down, either he's down dead 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:37.440 or he's down passed out. You move on to the 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:39.680 next person. So it's a one on one fight, but 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:42.560 in the context of a larger group and the premises 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:45.480 last man standing winds and the Church really did not 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:47.680 like this one makes a lot of people really did die, 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:49.679 and I just you know, for the sake of entertainment, 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:53.280 just seemed rather controversial. So and also, you know, from 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:56.000 my modern perspective, it doesn't seem very shivalrous to us 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:58.040 perform like this in front of a lady you were 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:01.320 trying to impress by killing other people. That's alas I 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:04.200 have an anachronistic point of years, so I could see 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:07.480 that although um, one advantage to fighting these games is 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:08.840 that you couldn't make a lot of money. That was 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:11.199 one motivation that they had, in addition to like getting 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:14.640 honor and practicing your skills. But they could actually get 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:18.400 money by the fact, at least in jousting, when someone lost, 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:20.400 they had to turn over their horse and their armor 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:23.720 to the winner, and they could buy back those things 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:26.240 from the winner. And so the if you were a 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:28.520 common winner you were good at jousting, you could make 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:30.880 a good load of money. And that was good years 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:35.880 because all of your nightly accouterments were rather expensive, particularly armor. 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:40.600 And when armor originated, it was back in ancient room 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:43.720 and they actually used leather, and leather was very expensive 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:46.040 to use, you know, as a full body protective covering, 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:48.200 but it was malleable, so it was really cool because 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:49.880 you could shape that and then you boil it and 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:52.959 water oil and it hardens in place, and you've got 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:55.160 something that very resistant to all sorts of points and 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:58.640 tips and piercings coming at you. And um, so the 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:01.679 middle aged nights use leather's armor, and then I continue 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:05.240 to evolve into um chain mail, for instance, that was 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:08.880 another Roman idea originally, and these were small interwoven steel 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:11.920 rings and there were two predominant types. One was butted mail, 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:14.360 where the rings were really really close together, and the 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:17.400 other was riveted mail, where the rings were actually connected 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:20.600 with rivets. And this was chaper than armor, but unlike 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:23.760 armor and leather armor, it was really vulnerable to piercings 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:26.760 and it was pretty heavy too. And it's funny slip 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:28.960 back at part of the training for becoming a night 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:32.560 was that you would practice walking around wearing chain mail, 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:34.240 so you're gladdy. You get used to the way, sort 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:36.720 of like today, I think that there's some military personnel 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:39.360 who trained with their backpacks on their gear, or you know, 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:41.959 if you're going to hike the Appalachian Trail, you probabice 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:44.160 walking around with your packs. You get used to the weights. Yeah, 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:46.960 that makes sense. And it's interesting to see how armor 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:51.120 changes as um weapons change as they advance, because you know, 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:54.360 you look at whate sorry, leather and um chain mail 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:56.960 like you're saying canvas, and they are you know, they 0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:59.679 do protect against cuts and scrapes. But when you know, 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:03.520 people started developing crossbows, for instance, this would not protect 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:06.000 them and so they had to start turning to more 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:09.800 solid metal pieces of armor. And so you know, these 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:13.199 solid metal pieces. They're so difficult. Sometimes they heard that 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:16.880 they weighed up to sixty pounds. They were super hot. Uh, 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:19.880 they would often take an hour to put on. Need 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:22.080 help to do that. On top of it, as weapons 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:25.720 advanced even further, you see, uh the introduction of gunpowder. 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:28.560 They finally made its way from from Asia to Europe. 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:30.960 And once that was introduced, it was like, what's the 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:34.680 point anymore? Imer point? But the funny thing about armor 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:37.640 too is that it really didn't protect your entire body, 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:39.440 so you had to wear chain me all, especially in 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:42.280 places like your under arms and where your joints came together, 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:44.600 like your knees, so that you had some protection there 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:48.240 because the plates didn't fit that tightly. And contrary to 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:51.760 popular belief, it wasn't too hard to move around in 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:54.400 Like you weren't stiff, it was just really heavy. That 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:57.000 would have been the challenge. I can see that. And 0:14:57.080 --> 0:15:01.240 so nights continued to serve you out throughout the Middle 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:04.000 Ages and throughout medieval Europe, you know, under the feudal system. 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:07.480 And then they actually served um a more I guess 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:11.240 national or international relay since Europe at this point was 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:15.840 breaking apart into different nations. Purpose and that was protecting 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:18.080 pilgrims who were traveling to the Holy Land during the 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:23.240 Crusade and caring for sick pilgrims and um. These are 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:26.200 are groups like the Knights Templar and the Knights hospital 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:29.400 Ers and the Teutonic Knights. These still exist today as 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:32.960 cherishable societies. Yeah, it's interesting. One of the most beloved 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:36.160 orders of Knights was actually the Templars candas mentioned, and 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:38.920 this is one unlike the others, that doesn't exist today, 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:41.560 And it wasn't really interesting story because they were beloved 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:43.520 at the time. Give you some background on it. They 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:45.400 were founded about the eleven hundreds, like you said, to 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:48.920 protect pilgrims going to the Holy Land at the time. Um, 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:51.200 And if you listen to our Crusades podcast you know 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:54.360 more about why they're doing that. So what was interesting 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:56.920 about this order in other orders like it, was that 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:00.640 it was both a military uh sort of purpose and 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:03.160 they were religious men. It was basically religious order where 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:05.280 they were monks and they were supposed to live a 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:08.400 modest life, and they didn't always do that. They they, 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:11.880 like other orders, got proud and greedy, and so there's 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:14.480 lots of controversy around them. All the time, but this 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:19.200 particular order got accused in the early fourteenth century. I 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:24.120 believe of um lots of abuses in terms of UM, 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:29.040 both monetary abuses like they were mishandling charity that they got, etcetera, etcetera, 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:31.920 but people who are also upset that they were heretics, 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:34.760 that they weren't holding mass correctly, that they were actually 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:37.800 worshiping idols, and there was homosexual behavior going on between 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:40.440 them as well, which the Church would not have liked. 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:43.120 So at this time, it was actually the king, King 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:46.360 Philip the fourth of France who really had um had 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:48.680 his eye out on on them and wanted them to 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:52.600 be taken out and um. Recent documents released by the 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:55.240 Vatican actually a couple of years ago, it's very interesting 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:58.400 show that the Pope at the time actually absolved them 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:00.880 of their charges and didn't he didn't believe that they 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:05.040 were heretics. But the King Philip of France UM supposedly 0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:07.680 owed them a lot of money, and that's really why 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:10.880 they wanted him. They wanted he wanted the whole order gone, 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:13.720 and so they were tried, they were tortured, and they're 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:17.600 eventually burned at the stake. And it's really sad, mysterious story. Yeah, 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:20.879 that is. It's really haunting, especially if you think about 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:22.960 all the hard work that goes into becoming a knight 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:25.320 and you know how you do Valie to uphold this oath. 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:28.440 And I'm sure that once you sort of developed into 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:30.920 your own separate order of Night, you have an entirely 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:32.840 different code of ethics that you're also upholdings, and so so 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:34.760 it seems like you would have to be really committed 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:36.800 to uphold all of these principles. And I'm sure it 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:38.479 must have been very hard on the group when they 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:40.200 were when they were taken apart, and you know, even 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:44.040 harder when they were executed. But that's another point. So today, 0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:46.359 um if you're not a member of one of the 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:49.720 charity groups that originated in these different orders of Nights, 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:53.160 you might be able to attain night hud by two 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:57.080 different means, one of which is a martial arts achievement. 0:17:57.200 --> 0:18:00.400 And almost like if you were to practice crowd or 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:04.000 another form of martial arts that originated in um Asia, 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:07.120 you'd be given different colors of belts for the level 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:10.320 of martial arts that that you attain, and the same 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:14.639 is true in different schools around England where um and 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:16.960 around other parts of Europe to where you can earn 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:20.000 recognition for demonstrations and you may be asked to perform 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:23.480 a different affairs and festivals to show your prowess. And 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:26.080 the other way you can become a night is a 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:29.320 member of Royalty bestows that honor upon you. And it's 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:32.600 so fun to see the different people who come up 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:37.000 for nighthood, be they oh, gosh, someone who's made a 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:40.280 contribution to the business world, or the political world, or 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:43.680 the music world, like Sir Elton John and I think 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:49.720 he's my favorite nighte if I can say, gosh, I'm 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:52.639 gonna stick up for Alton with little kicky sunglasses and 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:55.960 carrying gosh. I just love him so. And they're a 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:58.120 member of the Order of the Garter, which I found 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:01.240 really interesting that this was one of the original orders. 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:04.080 It was established at least in thirteen forty six. Uh, 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:06.320 you might be wondering whether called the Order of the Garter. 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:09.040 It is an interesting name and one source I found 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:11.800 said that the theory is that Edward the Third, who 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:15.640 started the Order, was really interested in the Arthur's round 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:18.199 Table and that whole legend. He wanted to revive it 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:21.920 and he chose a name because of embarrassing incident where 0:19:22.320 --> 0:19:23.840 Edward was at a party and he was dancing with 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:26.040 a girl and the girl actually lost her garter and 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:28.480 fell on the floor, and in order to quell the 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:30.840 sort of embarrassment, he put it on his leg and 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:33.280 he said, shame to him who thinks evil of it. 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:35.879 So this sort of idea, you know, don't think evil 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:38.040 of others. Um, he was really proud of and that's 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:39.880 why he named it the Order of the Garter. How 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:43.760