60 Fun Facts About Knights

The Old English word cniht, from which 'knight' derives, originally meant what?

Its German cousin Knecht still means servant; the military sense only emerged around 1100.

Under which ruler are the first knights generally said to have appeared, in the 8th century?

His far-flung conquests depended on mounted warriors, whom he rewarded with grants of land called benefices.

Which invention let Frankish horsemen fight from the saddle as true cavalry rather than dismounting?

Charles the Bald's Edict of Pîtres in 864 then called all who could afford it to answer calls to arms on horseback against the Vikings.

What was the medieval Latin word for a knight?

In classical Latin the same word simply meant a soldier, normally on foot.

The French word chevalier and English 'chivalry' both descend from which Vulgar Latin word?

The Germanic languages went another way: German Ritter and Dutch ridder come from the verb to ride.

At what age was a noble boy typically sent to a castle to begin training as a page?

Pages hunted with falconers, studied with chaplains and cleaned the armour of the knights they served.

At what age did a page usually graduate to become a squire?

Squires had to master the seven agilities, from riding and swimming to wrestling and dancing, all in armour.

How many days of military service a year did a knight typically owe for his fief?

The land was the payment; the service was the quid pro quo, and experienced knights were the most sought after.

A knight who fought under his own banner, rather than another's, was called a knight what?

A knight fighting under someone else's banner had a humbler designation.

The dubbing ceremony that made a man a knight is known by what name?

It could be a light tap on the shoulders or an embrace about the neck; the word comes from the Latin collum, neck.

The rougher French forerunner of the shoulder-tap dubbing, the colée, involved what?

Possibly through Church influence it softened into a light tap of the blade.

What did a would-be knight typically do on the night before his knighting ceremony?

Ceremonies were often held at great feasts such as Christmas or Easter, or at a royal wedding.

The Bayeux Tapestry shows William of Normandy knighting which future king?

The panel does not make clear what gesture was used.

What was the name of the prized war horse ridden by knights in battle and jousts?

For everyday riding a knight used a palfrey; his baggage went on a sumpter horse.

The name of the knight's great war horse comes from a Latin phrase meaning what kind of horse?

One theory is that the squire led it at the knight's right side so it stayed fresh until the fight.

According to Museum of London research, how tall were medieval war horses on average?

They were not the enormous draft types of popular imagination.

The word 'joust' ultimately derives from a Latin verb meaning what?

Its synonym tilt, as in tilting at windmills, dates from about 1510.

The death of which French king in a 1559 tournament accident ended jousting in France?

In England, by contrast, jousting remained the highlight of Elizabeth I's Accession Day tilts.

What was the 'tilt' that gave tilting its name?

It began as a cloth divider in the 14th century and became a wooden fence in the 15th.

In a tournament melee, what usually happened to a knight who was defeated?

Capturing opponents who then had to buy their freedom made tournaments very profitable for skilled knights.

Which pope denounced tournaments in 1130 and forbade Christian burial for those killed in them?

The Church argued they distracted the nobility from acceptable warfare in defence of Christendom.

Which English king licensed tournaments again in 1192, naming six sites and charging fees?

His brother John and nephew Henry III then imposed fitful bans that annoyed the aristocracy.

A pas d'armes involved a knight doing what?

If a lady passed unescorted she left a glove or scarf to be rescued and returned by a later knight.

What was a captured knight customarily held for, unlike common foot soldiers who were often slaughtered?

Prisoners of knightly rank were kept in reasonably comfortable surroundings.

Which weapon was a status symbol for knights precisely because it was useless for hunting or as a tool?

Maces and war hammers were actually more effective than blades against heavily armoured opponents.

The kite shield of the late 10th century was lengthened to protect which part of a mounted knight?

Around 1350 square 'bouched' shields appeared, with a notch to rest the couched lance.

Until the mid-14th century, what was a knight's main form of body defence?

It was flexible and good against sword cuts but weak against lances and arrows.

What was the padded garment worn under a knight's ring armour to absorb shock and stop chafing?

The surcoat went over the top, shading the metal from the sun and showing heraldic arms.

The interlinked-ring armour worn by early knights is commonly credited to which people?

The oldest surviving pieces, from the 3rd century BC, were found in Slovakia and Romania.

Roughly how much did a complete suit of well-tempered plate armour weigh?

Spread over the whole body, it let the wearer run and jump; specialised jousting armour could reach 50 kg.

Which two regions led Europe in armour-making techniques?

Henry VIII later founded a royal workshop near London that produced the Greenwich armours.

The flat-topped, fully enclosing helmet of the 13th century is known as what?

It offered superb protection but poor vision and ventilation, and it overheated in hot weather.

The visor known as the hounskull was nicknamed after which animal?

It hinged onto the bascinet, which had begun life as a small helm worn under the larger bucket helmet.

What are the caparisons that first appeared on knights' horses?

The chanfron, a piece of facial armour for the horse, came later.

Which Holy Roman Emperor is often called 'the last knight'?

He earned the nickname in the 1490s by devoting himself to perfecting the joust.

The 1477 Battle of Nancy showed pikemen could beat heavy cavalry, when the Swiss defeated whom?

Standing armies with firearms soon made the armoured knight obsolete.

Which knight, who served five English kings, was eulogised as 'the best knight that ever lived'?

He made his fortune on the tournament circuit before becoming regent for the nine-year-old Henry III.

As a boy hostage, the future 'best knight that ever lived' was threatened with being launched at a castle by what?

His father had told King Stephen to go ahead and hang him, saying he still had the hammer and anvil to forge more sons.

Minnesinger Ulrich von Liechtenstein claimed to have jousted from Venice to Vienna dressed as whom?

His Frauendienst also has him fighting a second quest in the guise of King Arthur.

The Chevalier de Bayard is remembered as the knight 'without fear and beyond' what?

He preferred the nickname his contemporaries gave him for his kindness: le bon chevalier.

How was Bayard, the model of old-fashioned chivalry, killed in 1524?

Fittingly for the last knight, a firearm did what no lance had.

Which two military orders were the first to be founded, shortly after the First Crusade of 1099?

The Templars followed in 1118 and the Teutonic Knights in 1190; all began as monastic orders protecting pilgrims.

On what date in 1307 did Philip IV of France have the Templars arrested en masse?

The warrant began: God is not pleased. We have enemies of the faith in the kingdom.

What annual rent did Charles V ask of the Hospitallers when he gave them Malta in 1530?

The knights held the island for 268 years until Napoleon evicted them in 1798.

The Teutonic Knights wore white surcoats bearing a cross of what colour?

Their cross pattée later inspired the Iron Cross of Prussia and Germany.

Britain's most senior order of knighthood, the Order of the Garter, was founded by which king?

Its motto Honi soit qui mal y pense supposedly began as his retort when a countess's garter slipped at a ball.

Besides the sovereign and Prince of Wales, how many living Companions may the Order of the Garter have?

Royal family members and foreign monarchs are supernumerary and do not count toward the limit.

A British knight given a knighthood without membership of any order is called a Knight what?

Elton John holds this rank.

In the British honours system, what properly follows a knight's 'Sir' when you address him?

Likewise Judi Dench is Dame Judi, and the wife of a knight is styled Lady plus his surname.

In the Arthurian prose cycles, which knight is the prime achiever of the Holy Grail?

He replaced Perceval as the Grail hero and, still a teenager, ascends to heaven once the quest is complete.

The Knights of the Round Table first appear in writing in Wace's Roman de Brut, dated to which year?

Chrétien de Troyes then introduced many of the best-loved knights at the end of the 12th century.

Which Renaissance novel famously rejected the code of chivalry as unrealistic idealism?

Its hero tilts at windmills he takes for giants.

Which French historian listed the 'Ten Commandments of chivalry' in his 1884 La Chevalerie?

Modern historians warn his list says more about Victorian ideals than medieval practice.

In modern English, what is the female equivalent of a knight?

Knighthoods and damehoods are now given mostly for service to church or country rather than military prowess.

What is the German and Austrian equivalent title of a hereditary knight?

The word is cognate with English 'rider', from the Germanic root rīdan, to ride.

Which country's Order of the Elephant was founded in its current form by King Christian V in 1693?

It may go back to Christian I in the 15th century, and it sits alongside orders like the Garter and the Golden Fleece.

Who founded the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1430?

Today the Spanish crown grants it to figures such as Emperor Akihito and Elizabeth II, making it among the most exclusive orders.

The prestige of mounted warriors in Christendom finds a parallel in which Islamic tradition?

Crusade-era chivalry was cross-influenced by these Saracen ideals as well as by the monastic military orders.

Who in 1990 became the first non-royal woman appointed a Lady Companion of the Order of the Garter?

Baroness Thatcher followed as the second in 1995.

Roughly how many registered knightly families does Belgium still have?

Belgium and the Netherlands both keep hereditary knighthood as the lowest rung of the nobility.