Until November 27, 1095, the knight's obligations to the Faith required little service from him as a professional warrior. But on that day warfare and Christianity were fused by an act of Pope Urban II: he preached a Crusade to free shrines in the Holy Land from the infidels. His sermon launched a series of eight major wars, fought in a 177-year span, in Africa as well as Asia Minor, for the general purpose of suppressing enemies of the Faith. Countless knights eagerly honored their pledge to obey the
Church. Great orders of soldier-monks were created, among them the Knights Templars.
All kinds of knights went on crusade—adventurers, freebooters and men as devout as France's King Louis IX (below). Many of them committed terrible atrocities: Crusaders who burst into Jerusalem in 1099 slaughtered thousands. Yet even in the bloodiest campaign some knights were faultless exemplars of their double creed—brave and skillful as warriors, pure and dutiful as men of the Faith.
PiaTlf-itlCy for Practice rehearsed for war in spectacular
RidCt V, tournaments. The joust, a man-to-man contest, is illustrated
In the ivory panel above: while two knights are armed by their ladies at right and left, two others meet at a headlong gallop
At center, each with his blunted lance aimed to knock the other knights tore up acres of vines in the French countryside, out of the saddle. Earlier tests of prowess were less humane. Many so-called knights-errant traveled from tourney to tour-
They took the form of the melee, a bloody free-for-all between ney; more than one champion amassed a fortune from the ar-
Two bands of knights. In one vast mock battle, fully 3,000 mor and ransom that the vanquished had to yield to the victor.
A NIGHT OF FEASTING begins as attendants carry in food to the lord's family (center) and guests. Each diner here has but one utensil, a knife; all ate with their fingers and tossed hones to the floor for the dogs.
A GAME OF CHESS tests the skill—and character—of a noble pair. The game dismayed many a knight unused to long concentration. "The wisest man," noted a contemporary, "loses his patience playing it."
World History
