Knights

By:Grace Knights

Did you ever wonder about knights in the Middle Ages? Well if you did, there are interesting facts about them. Knights are incomplete without armor. They were powerful warriors. First thing to know about them is, they wore armors made out of heavy metal protective clothes called, chain mails. First in the early Middle Ages they only wore a heavy chain mail. Then in the later Middle Ages they began wearing complicated armor that was overlapped the chain mail. These armors were worn by tying lots of strings together. This was in the 1300s and was called plate armor.The plates were either made from iron or leather hardened in boiled wax. Plate armor protected better against arrows, which pierced chain mail.Becoming a knight is not easy. It takes so much time to be a really good knight. Boys in the Middle Ages can become a knight at the age of seven

By the 1400s, wealthy knights wore full suits of plate armors. The armors were made out of steel. A full suit of armor weighed between 50 and 60 pounds and had about fifteen pieces. There were no openings on the body except sometimes around the mouth and eyes.
 * Suits of Armor**

The sword was the knight’s most valuable weapon. Sword was made out of the finest iron or steel, heating it, beating it into the right shape, and folding it many times to make it strong. Wealthy knights and the king’s swords were often decorated with gold and jewel. There are three kinds of swords. Slashing swords, long swords, and thrusting swords. They were all powerful. The slashing sword can cut off arms, legs, and heads. The long sword can be held by two hands putting more effort into it. The thrusting sword is used to pierce through the weak spots of the armor. There are also other weapons such as a mace, short ax, dagger, and flanged mace, shining swords, great swords, lances, pole-axes, an iron ax, two-handed swords, wheel-lock pistol and spikes on caltrops.
 * Weapons of Knights[[image:Fantasy_Swords_Cinthorc__Sword_of__.jpg width="80" height="99" align="right"]]**

Knights come from noble families. They live in the castle and their life is as same as other people living in the castle.
 * Where do Knights Live**

There are two different kinds of knights. The **//hospitallers//** are knights of St. John's. The **//Teutonic//** knights are found in the early 1100s to help sick and wounded Prussian knights.
 * Different Kinds of Knights**

If you were in war with a horse, your horse had to wear an armor. There is a special armor for horses. They are very expensive. Only rich people buy it. If the knight can’t afford both armors for themselves and the horse, they only buy the shaffron for the horse, the armor of the horse's head.
 * Horse Armor**

There are tournaments in the castle for the knights to show off their skills in the race. Jousting was one of the competitions. Jousts were contests between two mounted knights that were held in large, narrow arenas called lists. The goal was for one person to knock another off his horse by charging at him with a lance.
 * Tournaments**

In Middle Ages, knights rarely marry for love. Instead, they tried to find rich wives who owned land so they could increase their own wealth.
 * Marriage**

Information Sources The Metropolitan Museum of Art 2009 [|www.metmuseum.org] Photo Bucket []