Knights so Revered in the West Because they saved Christianity

[Pisces Axxxxx]

I read The Art of War in the Middle Ages by Oman a week ago and in the Chapter Oman was describing the Warfare of the Dark ages, stated that a sentence that went like "The Horse Warriors defeated the Vikings, Magyar, and other enemies and thus was came the Honor of being legendary chivalrous "Knights in Shining Armor" for saving Christianity from being lost". In addition the same page that had that sentence also stated that it was the Horse Warriors expelled various foreigners that were bent on conquering Europe during the Middle Ages including the Turks and many others.

 

So practically Oman implies the reason the Knights became the stuff of Legends is because it was Warriors on Horseback who saved Christianity from being lost as Pagans waged wars on the Catholic Church and it was they who preserved Europe and saved the continent from Foreign invasions.

 

Can anyone here put their own input?

Edited November 20, 2012 by Pisces Adonis

[Melvadius]

To take one example.

 

Given that the Normans who invaded England as mounted warriors and with other groups taking power across Europe including Sicily were actually 'Northmen/ Norsemen' who had settled in north western France (ie Normandy) I think that something may have gotten lost in translation.

[caldrail]

So practically Oman implies the reason the Knights became the stuff of Legends is because it was Warriors on Horseback who saved Christianity from being lost as Pagans waged wars on the Catholic Church and it was they who preserved Europe and saved the continent from Foreign invasions.

Nonsense. Christianity had such a control over the average person by that time the knights as a class of champions made no difference whatsoever. In any case, many of those same knights - despite the extraordinary influence of christianity at the time - were very worldly, although some such as Tancred struggled (initially) with christian teaching on one hand and lifestyle choices/martial credibility on the other.

 

After all, it was the missionaries that spread christian teaching into the pagan world and knights had nothing to do with that.

 

Which wars were aimed at the Catholic Church? I can't think of one.

[barca]

I read The Art of War in the Middle Ages by Oman a week ago and in the Chapter Oman was describing the Warfare of the Dark ages, stated that a sentence that went like "The Horse Warriors defeated the Vikings, Magyar, and other enemies and thus was came the Honor of being legendary chivalrous "Knights in Shining Armor" for saving Christianity from being lost". In addition the same page that had that sentence also stated that it was the Horse Warriors expelled various foreigners that were bent on conquering Europe during the Middle Ages including the Turks and many others.

 

So practically Oman implies the reason the Knights became the stuff of Legends is because it was Warriors on Horseback who saved Christianity from being lost as Pagans waged wars on the Catholic Church and it was they who preserved Europe and saved the continent from Foreign invasions.

 

Can anyone here put their own input?

 

 

Let's first make a distinction between "knights" and "mounted warriors". Long before Eleanor of Aquitaine, all European Warlords had their mounted armored horsemen or Loricati, as Tom Holland described them. They were generally described as thugs who offered "protection" to the local farmers, and they would take all their produce to serve their masters in their castles. These warlords evolved into the Counts and Dukes of the high middle ages. With the Crusades, the loricati evolved into what we think of as knights. There was a Code of Chivalry which was similar to the Code of Bushido in Japan. The main difference was a reverence toward women and God.

 

http://www.weaponsemporium.com/WE-Codes%20of%20Chivalry.htm

 

http://www.christianjujitsu.com/Code_of_Bushido/Code_of_Bushido.html

Edited December 2, 2012 by barca

[Pisces Axxxxx]

So practically Oman implies the reason the Knights became the stuff of Legends is because it was Warriors on Horseback who saved Christianity from being lost as Pagans waged wars on the Catholic Church and it was they who preserved Europe and saved the continent from Foreign invasions.

Nonsense. Christianity had such a control over the average person by that time the knights as a class of champions made no difference whatsoever. In any case, many of those same knights - despite the extraordinary influence of christianity at the time - were very worldly, although some such as Tancred struggled (initially) with christian teaching on one hand and lifestyle choices/martial credibility on the other.

 

After all, it was the missionaries that spread christian teaching into the pagan world and knights had nothing to do with that.

 

Which wars were aimed at the Catholic Church? I can't think of one.

 

I found the exact quote in the book yesterday.

 

From Oman's The Art of War In the Middle Ages P.20

 

The Magyar was crushed at Merseberg and the Lechfeld, and driven back across the Leith, soon to become Christianised and grow into an orderly member of the European commonwealth. The Viking was checked in his plundering forays, expelled from his strongholds at the river-mouths, and restricted to the single possession of Normandy, where he

Edited January 10, 2013 by Pisces Adonis

[barca]

The Magyar was crushed at Merseberg and the Lechfeld, and driven back across the Leith, soon to become Christianised and grow into an orderly member of the European commonwealth. The Viking was checked in his plundering forays, expelled from his strongholds at the river-mouths, and restricted to the single possession of Normandy, where he