I ail, an iron mesh tunic, was made from iron rings that were interconnected. The rings were pieces of wire with the ends riveted together. On some mail, these rings were alternated with solid disks. The rings were fashioned together to form a tunic, called a hauberk, that was heavy, but flexible. It was suspended from the shoulders and hung down to the knees so that a knight’s thighs would be protected. Knights also wore padded tunics stuffed with wool called gambesons.
A gambeson stopped the metal from chafing the skin and provided further protection. Warriors might also have worn mail on their legs.
Mail could be penetrated by spears and arrows, so some knights wore hardened leather or whalebone as well as armor. Their helmets were conical and had a nasal bar in the front to give the face some protection. In addition, the knights carried large, kite-shaped shields to ward off blows and arrows. Their weapons included axes.
Swords, lances, and maces.
Although chain mail continued to be used throughout the Middle Ages, as bows became more powerful knights favored steel plates for armor. These were harder to penetrate and had convex surfaces to deflect arrows. Knights also favored a helmet with a visor that could be lowered so that the entire face was covered. Gauntlets protected the hands from arrows. A fuUy clad knight in mail and plate armor riding a horse that might also be clad in armor was the equivalent of a medieval tank.
The sword was the single most important implement of war. A sword needed to be both strong and sharp. Viking smiths made the blades from several strips of iron, which they twisted and hammered out many times to ensure their durability and strength. The blades were double-edged, with a groove running down the center. The groove made the blade lighter and more flexible. The guard was a simple crosspiece intended to keep the
By the 15th century knights preferred a full suit of plate armor. Where the plates joined—at the neck, over the upper legs, and at the elbows—they used chain mail for protection.
Hand from running down on the blade. A pommel surrounded by wood and bound with wire or leather made the handle. The blades were used for cutting rather than thrusting.
To protect and administer their territory, so they offered lesser nobles land to support themselves if they would look after their interests in a particular district. The grant of land was called a fief (rhymes with “leaf’) and is derived from the old German word fhu for property.
In theory the king held all the land, and the counts and dukes simply used it at his pleasure. They, in turn, granted it to the barons and knights. Because the kings were weak, however, the counts and dukes had considerable control over the land granted to them. They took their names from their provinces. For example, there was a Duke of Aquitaine and a Count of Flanders. Lesser nobles, such as Geoffrey de MandeviUe and Roger de Beaumont, took the names of their principal castles.
A warrior who received a fief from an overlord swore that he would be his homme (“man” in French) and serve him in times of need. This oath was called homage. Here is an early 12th-century example; Count William of Flanders asked a warrior if he was willing to become his man, and the warrior replied that he was. The warrior then clasped his hands together, and the count put his own hands around them. The two men exchanged a kiss of peace. Next the man did fealty—that is, he swore on his faith to keep the terms of his vassalage: “I promise on my faith that 1 will in future be faithful to Count William and wiU observe my homage to him completely against all persons in good faith and without deceit.” The man then took this oath on the relics (bones) of a saint. Finally, Count WiUiam gave him a little rod that he held in his hand to indicate that he was now invested with the fief.
Giving over land as a fief was risky. A lord needed to ensure that the vassal would meet the obligations that the gift implied. By the 13th century the arrangements had become more formal. Written charters spelled out the services the lord and his vassal owed each other. Because the institution began as a military one, fighting, not surprisingly, was the vassal’s first obligation.
To avoid abuse, specific terms were set.
The vassal was to serve his lord in war at his own expense. He was required to provide the armor, horses, and men needed to support the war effort. If the period of service was more than 40 days, however, the lord had to help pay the costs. The vassal also had to accompany his lord in times of peace and be present at his castle for two or three months each year.
The lord also had certain rights that he could exercise to protect his land. He always reserved the right to take the land back from an insubordinate vassal. In practice, however, retrieving land could be difficult, because an angry vassal might besiege the lord’s castle or cause a revolt among his fellow vassals. A more convenient way of addressing the problem was to impose controls over inheritance. When the vassal died, the lord retained the right to relief, that is, to impose a tax for passing the estate onto the heir. If the vassal died leaving minor children, the lord claimed the right to wardship of the children until they reached the age of 21, the usual age of majority and of knighthood.
The lord could take the proceeds of the estate during this period. He also reserved the right to marry the widow and daughters to anyone of his choice. The lord could demand that the vassal contribute to the marriage gifts (dowries) ofhis daughters and the knighting of his first son. Finally, the lord could go to his vassal’s estate with his retinue, which might include a hundred men, and sit and eat for a period of his choice. This right was called “purveyance.” In the 16th century Queen Elizabeth I took advantage of this right as a way of keeping her potentially rebellious nobles sufficiendy
Poor that they could not afford to form armies against her. In return for what seemed like burdensome rights, the lord gave the fief and offered his vassals protection in times of war or raiding.
The solemn oaths of loyalty and the contracts of service would seem a peaceful solution for local government, yet warfare was endemic in feudal Europe. Vassals accepted fiefs from different lords, so they often had conflicting loyalties. When a weakling or a daughter inherited a fief and could not defend it, lords and competing kin fought on the battlefield and in the courts to win control of the land.
Furthermore, the Frankish custom of equal inheritances for all sons had given way to primogeniture, or inheritance by the firstborn son and, when there were no sons, hy the daughters in equal portions. Thus younger sons were disinherited, and had to look for other ways to make a living. Some became priests or monks, sometimes against their wiU. Because younger sons were often raised to be knights like their eldest brother, many found the peaceful ways advocated by the Church difficult to adhere to. Clergy were not supposed to spiU blood, so they could not carry swords. (However, they were permitted to use spiked clubs known
A noble father presents his reluctant young son to the care of monks. Since the first-born son was the only one who could inherit property, fathers often dedicated younger sons to monasteries, whether or not they wanted to become monks. Since fathers had to make marriage alliances for daughters, they often found it convenient to put extra daughters in nunneries. If the noble family had endowed the monastery, the son or daughter might rise to be the abbot or abbess.
Other younger sons became knights in the service of various lords, and stiU others tried to conquer land for themselves. Fighting was so disruptive that influential abbots and bishops in France acted as peacekeepers. They persuaded the local lords to agree to the Truce of God, which protected the vineyards and the peasants’ animals and limited fighting to about four days a week, excluding holy days. They also established a treasure chest that could be drawn upon by local lords to ensure the Peace of God by supporting armed intervention in local fights.
The social values that feudalism produced are best expressed in the poem The Song of Roland, which was first written down in the early 12th century. A nephew and vassal of Charlemagne, Roland was a member of the rear guard for Charlemagne’s troops. The army managed to fight off the Arabs, but in the end was reduced to himself, his friend and fellow nobleman OHver, and Archbishop Turpin, who was armed with a mace as befitted his clerical status.
A somewhat foolhardy young man, Roland could have summoned help long before this desperate situation occurred because he had a famous horn, Oliphant (a horn made from an elephant tusk). When, at last, he decided to blow it, Oliver chastised him by saying, “Wise courage is not madness, and measure is better than rashness. Through thy foUy these Franks have come to their death; nevermore shall Charles the king [Charlemagne] have service at our hands. Hadst thou taken my counsel, my liege lord would be here, and this batde ended.” Charlemagne heard Oliphant but arrived too late to save the three. Archbishop Turpin died on the ground: “His bowels had fallen out of his body, and his brains are oozing out of his forehead.” Count Roland lay down to die under a pine tree and called to mind “aU the lands he had won by his valor, and sweet France, and the men of his lineage, and Charles, his liege lord, who had brought him up in his household.” He then wept and died.
Absent from The Song of Roland and other such poems of valor and warfare from this period is a strong role for women. Roland has a fiancee in France, but as he dies he thinks ofhis liege lord, not of the girl he would have married. Noble women in this period of constant warfare had to be resourceful and capable of taking control of a castle. They did not learn to fight, as their brothers did, but they did learn to administer estates, run a household fuU of rough warriors, and defend a castle if it was besieged. If they were heiresses to a fief they took the vows of homage and fealty to their lord but had to supply a knight to fight in their place. Likewise, many abbots and even bishops held their lands from the king or another lord and had to swear homage and fealty for their fiefi.
As membership in the nobility and the transfer of fiefs became increasingly hereditary, women became more and more important as pawns in marriage alliances. A woman who had no brothers was a valuable heiress because the man she married would get the use of her fief Women in such circumstances were married off by their fathers or liege lords when they were quite young. They had no say in the matter, but would be married to the man who offered their father or their lord the best potential for political alliance, land acquisition, or military aid. Thus, the Duke of Aquitaine's only heir, a young daughter, Eleanor of Aquitaine, was married to Loius VII, king of France. Through this union, Eleanor’s entire estate, which included a large portion of southwestern France, came under the control of Louis VII. The couple was so mismatched, however, that the marriage was eventually annulled.
When the nobility were not at war they spent their time in and around the castle. Hunting was very popular, and even women took part. Banquets and feasting, accompanied by recitations of chansons de geste (literally, “songs of great deeds”), were also favorite pastimes. Off the battlefield, men wore a loose-fitting tunic that was belted at the waist and dropped to the knees or slightly above. The legs were covered with a sort of tights. A mantle, fastened at the throat or the right shoulder with a brooch, completed the costume. They wore their hair short and are frequently represented as clean-shaven.
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