Die Welt der Ritter - Männer in Eisen

PëRMBLEDHJE

Knighthood has its roots in the early Middle Ages, when all free men could be called under arms by the king, leaving their arduous country life for bloody glory. The prestige went to those who paid for their own expensive equipment to serve as cavalry warriors, and could as reward after victory be admitted to the royal 'following', symbolized by a sword award. This became a feudal class, not a separate estate, but hereditary, yet the entry point to aristocracy. Cavalry was key to great battles, especially against invading nomads like the early Hungarians whom 700 of them from all Otto's German empire halted at the Lechfeld in 955. *. Modern experiments evaluate the efficiency of armor and armament, changing in a slow arms race. The wealth came from estates, around castles, key to the social pact: income for protection, often against peers, as errant knights (often cadet sons) were basically heavily armed robber gangs. In Guédelon near Paris archaeologists try out the building of real stone and oak castle.