Tea at Trianon: The Daily Life of a Medieval Knight

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, April 5, 2020

The Daily Life of a Medieval Knight

From Today I Found Out:

First, as a bit of a disclaimer, “Medieval Times” refers to a rather lengthy period from about the 5th to 15th century, with it being impossible to say specifically what life was like for a given knight across such a large expanse of time and various regions where knights were a thing. But that’s not very interesting, so we’re going to give answering the question our best college try while accounting for this.

This brings us to the early days of knighthood. While warriors on horseback had been a thing long before, the position of knight as we might think of it was first developed as an official rank of sorts around the 8th century among Charlemagne’s soldiers as he campaigned around. You’ll no doubt be shocked to learn from this that the knights were, at their core, simply highly trained soldiers on horseback. And, in truth, up until they became obsolete in battle around the tail end of this era, knights mostly remained, first and foremost, elite warriors.

While in the beginning the training wasn’t exactly as formalized as it would become, once it was as the centuries progressed, generally those of rather affluent birth and of the male persuasion..., upon reaching around the age of 7, give or take, would be sent off to some lord or knight to begin their training as a knight. (Read more.)