Cavalry in the Middle Ages
Introduction
When the Normans (Vikings), directed by Guillermo the conqueror, invade England (900), many men needed to protect the lands. At first, young men made oaths of fidelity to offer their military service to protect a man or noble. With the passing of time, these Guerrero service men began to accumulate wealth and managed to acquire their own land, which will pay them to pay the necessary supplies to carry out military campaigns and keep their own men.
In a short time, gentlemen were a class of competitive nobility. During the Middle Ages, the cavalry was more than a set of warriors who were part of the armies of the Kings, but also a lifestyle, with their own customs, heroes, norms, etc.
Developing
Knights childhood
Noble children were departed from their families from a very young age in order to prepare them for the life of Caballero. Usually, they were sent to them in the care of some man or prince of the country himself or abroad to be a squire of this. In those early years, the young gentleman in training received an education through epic texts, such as the Song of Mío Cid;didactic works, such as the book of Lucanor;and chivalrous novels, such as the death of King Arturo. The future gentleman had to match or overcome the heroes of these stories.
Likewise, children were taught the management of weapons offensively as defensively;The art of rising in different ways, which made them acquire hunting, activity in which they managed to develop skill and ease collectively and individually. From fifteen or sixteen, the young man was already prepared to compete in the events of arms, so he was already able to start an "adventure".
Reasons of name
Finishing adolescence, young people because they took part in the life of the Lord’s family and, to the readings;They began in courtesy, emotional relationships with women and in obtaining reputation. Love promoted gentlemen to participate in "Acts of Weapons" and in the search for "adventures" for the purpose of being the best gentleman and get the love of the ideal lady.
The investiture of arms
The chivalrous life began when the Lord gave the weapons to the new gentleman. The latter became "godson" of the first, since the Lord was his "godfather". In the investiture of weapons the full condition of a gentleman was achieved and this one committed to the chivalrous code that resides in the Christian morals and the ethics of the gentleman of that time (virtues of courage, honor and service).
The investiture ceremony, as well as the place and moment in which it was carried out, vary a lot, although there are some characteristics that have in common such as that on the eve of the ceremony the future gentleman bathed and, carrying simple clothes (A red robe, black shines, a white belt), remained in departure in a church during the entire night,
The next day after recovering and reflecting, he attended a mass. Then he was questioned by the grantor and then admit, he gave him help to put on the spurs and beat the sword. Subsequently, the future gentleman with the free sword was directed, if necessary, to the place of the ceremony (it could be the throne hall or an outdoor patio), in which he had to swear that he was willing to die for his faith,For your Lord and for your land.
Immediately at the end of swear he received a slap on his face. Subsequently, the kiss rite occurred (which could be in the mouth), first between the receiver and grantor, and then between the new gentleman and the other people present. In the end, the godfather gave him the sword, in which both established an impenetrable and unwavering relationship, characterized by the submission of the novel knight. Later, it could be celebrated with a banquet, fair or even a tournament.
Demonstration of personal value
There were considerable differences in terms of investiture ceremonies respect. Some of them became bizarre and excessive. For example, approximately half the fourteenth, King Alfonso XI of Castile, he became a gentleman for an articulated statue of the apostle Santiago. The most common ceremonies that usually end in the "palmada" or "fish", used to be the ones that were taken to the eve of a battle or during this. There was an expectation that the act gave value to the new gentlemen.
For example, Juan I of Portugal in 1385 ordered gentlemen to sixty squires before the determining battle of Aljubarrota against a Castilian army;At the end of the ceremony he addressed them with the following words: having already received weapons and investiture, the gentleman had to go in search of opportunities to demonstrate his value and the identification of him with the ideals of the cavalry.
To achieve this, the most natural exit was war, for example, the fight against the unfaithful, irrelevantly if it were in a crusade in the Holy Land or on the Hispanic border with Islam. Also, he could participate in some of the feudal contests that were fought in medieval Europe;although before the gentleman could get experience fighting in the tournaments.
Depending on the level of importance, a tournament could be announced two or three weeks before. Knights from different parts attended, which formed two groups that faced themselves, while the public admired them. Unlike tournaments, the fair were individual duels between gentlemen and mostly they happened before the tournament, Could be to Horse, on foot, to sword oa daga.
The variant of the just, he was known as "Paso de Armas", where a gentleman bet in a place of passage and challenged to fight every gentleman who crossed his way. The passage of Fontaine des P pleurs became famous in the French town of Chalon-Sur-Saone, in which the Knight Jacques de Lalaing was measured with more than twenty-two challengers in the course of 1449 to 1450 to 1450.
Tournaments could be very dangerous. For example, in 1382, Salisbury Count killed his only son during a tournament in Windsor. Therefore, a rigorous regulation was created to prevent deaths and serious injuries, such as the use of reduced weapons, covered with cloths, leather pieces, among others.
In the same way, Don Alfonso the young man, son of the Count of Denia, suffered a captivity of almost twenty years in England, after the battle of Nájera in 1367. It should be noted that, although the war implied a lot of danger, the gentlemen had much to win in this such as loot, wealth, fame and prestige (they manage to be laudable).
The gentleman could find his end heroically on the battlefield, such as King Arturo de la Legenda;Wait for it in a monastery or hermitage, such as Emperor Carlos V, held in Yuste’s Cenobium;or even exhaling his sigh at his own home, like Rodrigo Manrique, who in 1476 undertook his last adventure surrounded by his relatives.
It is worth mentioning that the Christian cavalry in the Middle Ages had notable times:
1. HEROICA:
It occurred between the thirteenth to thirteenth century. It was a time of maximum Christian expression, as the end and object of man.
two. Gallant:
It occurred at the beginning of the thirteenth century. The cavalry began to be sung and glorified in a thousand poems and fantastic stories, such as those of the Carolingian cycle, the Breton or the Round Table. The Christian objective forgotten, to give way to a new end: the search for love and the spirit of adventure.
3. Decay:
It happened at the end of the thirteenth century, the symptoms of a progressive decline were expressed. The rise of the ‘gallant cavalry’ was accentuated. Santa wars are meaningless and peace makes sedentary and idle to the knights. In addition, registration to cavalry opens to all young people, whether or not they are decent or not according to Christianity.
conclusion
The gentlemen pissed physically in the tournaments, but really where you could even lose your life was in wars, whether in the open countryside, in the siege or defense of a fortress, or in the sea. This risk increased significantly due to the diffusion of thrown weapons such as the arc (for example, the English arc longbow), or the crossbow. It was this last weapon mentioned the death of the death of Ricardo I of England in 1199, which during an siege of a castle in southern France was crossed in the shoulder by the saeta of a crossbow. Consequently, there was an improvement of defensive armament.
Likewise, the mishaps in the war were quite frequent, since the gentlemen suffered different wounds that could not be healed by basic and rudimentary medical care. Another possibility, was to fall prisoner, for example, the Frenchman Jean Boucicaout, a medieval gentleman, was captured three times: during an expedition to Tunisia in 1389, after the battle of Nicópolis in 1396, and in the battle of AzincourtIn 1415, after which he was taken to an imprisonment in England where he ended up dying.
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