Ancient+Ciz

Medieval European: A Life With Knights by Hanna Elkotni

Reading/ Language Arts, Marking Period 4, Class 5/6 Mr.Schoch June 7, 201

 The first thing that comes to mind when people think aboutMedieval Europeis usually, the black plague, a very bad disease, but the Europeans are also known for their knights who lived all over Europe.Medieval means part of the Middle Ages. The Medieval Europeans lived in Europe, located near the North Sea, Atlantic Ocean, and Mediterranean Sea. Their culture existed from 500 AD-1500 AD (Murrell 90). They’re rembered because of their illustrations in books “http://tinyurl.com/7ardvac”.



Even though the Medieval Europeans were good illustrators, they were fantastic with warfare. A necessary part in that time period was its warriors and weapons. Warriors and weapons was important to the Medieval Europeans because they needed warriors to fight in battle. The warriors were called knights. Their weapons mattered a lot because it protected the warriors in war. We can learn a lot more about this cultural aspect by looking at the weapons, armor, and horses.

Every army needs weapons or they’ll lose in combat. Most of the knights would used swords. The Swords the knights used had sharp double edged blades and a big handle (MacDonald 18). The big handle helped the knights get a go

od grip (MacDonald 18). They used it slash their enemy (MacDonald 18). A dagger is a small sword with a sharp tip (MacDonald 18). Knights would use them to stab though clinks of armor (MacDonald 18). Maces are just clubs (MacDonald 18). They have heavy metal heads and metal or wooden handles (MacDonald 18). Poleax are axes. Some features on the poleax wedged shaped blades and wooden handles like most medieval weapons  (MacDonald 18).

What’s a knight without armor? It’s just a guy fighting in a battle with a shirt and pants. All knights needed a breastplate, protective armor for the chest, or he would die so easily. They also needed two gauntlets, it helped keep a weapon in a knight's hand, which are like metal mittens (Murrell 96). Greaves are big metal shin guard (Murrell 96). Sabaton are big metal shoes (Murrell 96). A helmet is the most important part of armor.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">Knights had all different type of helmets, but the most popular were chail mail, and visor (Murrell 97). Linking ring or as they say chain mail were made of a lot of tiny metal ring (Murrell 97). It was very flexible for running (Murrell 97). It did have bad things about it though, it could be forced apart by a stabbing blow and was hard to clean and rusted easily (Murrell 97). All knights had a shield. A Shield protected the body depending how big it was (Murrell 97). Knights carried the shield in the opposite arm as the fighting arm (Murrell 97).

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">Only the best knights had a horse. For the horse to have armor, you had to be very wealthy. Your horse had to be strong too, so it could carry you and it’s armor (Murrell 100). The saddle had something called the pommel which is the high part of the saddle (Murrell 100). It stopped the knight from getting thrown off. The shaffron was used to protect a horse's head and ears (Murrell 101). Some of them had small eye holes so the horse could not see straight and get scared in battle (Murrell 101). Peytral is was the most important part of armor for a horse (Murrell 101). The peytral protected the chest of the horse, but not all knights could afford this expensive equipment (Murrell 101). Stirrups are hooked to the saddle (Murrell 101). A knight puts their foot in it so he could stay on (Murrell 101). A horse had to have horseshoes in battle. Horseshoes is a hard piece of metal, and to keep it on knights put nails in it (Murrell 101). Horses wear horseshoes so it’s feet don’t get wet and sore (Murrell 101).

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">Does Europe still have knights today? The answer is yes, even though you don’t see someone in a suit of armor at the mall. Museums are the only place where you can see suits of armor, but someone can be given knighthood which means a king or queen can give a British subject the name sir....(Gravett 65). We use swords, spears and arrows today. The Medieval Europeans taught us how to fight in a war.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">Glossary <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">black plague - a disease that swept Europe clean <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">breastplate - protective armor for the chest <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">chail mail - kind of helmet <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">chain mail - tiny metal ring <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">dagger - a small sword with a sharp tip <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">gauntlet -keep a weapon in a knight's hand <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">greaves -a big metal shin guard <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">helmet - protected head <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">horseshoes - hard piece of metal nailed into a horses foot. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">knight - in Europe in the Middle Age man, usually of noble birth fighting to conquer land <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">linking ring - armor made of a lot of tiny metal ring <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">maces - a weapon with heavy metal heads and metal or wood handles <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">Medieval - part of Middle Age <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">peytral - protected the chest of the horse <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">poleax - a wedged shaped blades and wooden handles like most medieval weapons <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">pommel- high part of the saddle <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">sabaton - big metal shoes <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">saddle - leather seat fastened on the back of a horse or other animal for riding <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">shaffron - protected a horse's head and ears <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">shield - protected the body depending how big it was <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">stirrups -hooked to the saddle <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">swords - a weapon with a sharp double edged blades and a big handle <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">visor - kind of helmet

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">Image credits: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">1. [] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">2.[] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">3.[] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">4.[] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">5.[] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">6.[] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">7.[] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">8. []

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">Works Cited

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">"Hero's Guide to Warriors [Hardcover]." Amazon.com: Hero's Guide to Warriors (9781848353381): Deborah Murrell: Books. Web. 14 May 2012. <http://www.amazon.com/Heros-Guide-Warriors-Deborah-Murrell/dp/1848353383>. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">"Warrior: A Visual History of the Fighting Man [Hardcover]." Amazon.com: Warrior: A Visual History of the Fighting Man (9780756632038): R. G. Grant: Books. 14 May 2012. <http://www.amazon.com/Warrior-Visual-History-Fighting-Man/dp/075663203X>. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">"You Wouldn't Want to Be a Medieval Knight!: Armor You'd Rather Not Wear [Paperback]." Amazon.com: You Wouldn't Want to Be a Medieval Knight!: Armor You'd Rather Not Wear (9780531163955): Fiona MacDonald, David Salariya, David Antram: Books. 15 May 2012. <http://www.amazon.com/You-Wouldnt-Want-Medieval-Knight/dp/0531163954>.