A knight’s armor had a great influence on his success as a member of a cavalry unit. There are many steps to putting on a knight’s numerous pieces of armor. Of course through all of these steps, he has one of his squires help him so that he doesn’t have too many issues (a regular knight would usually have three squires). The first pieces of material he put on would be the quilted vest and cap. These help protect him from any swords or arrows. He then puts on a chain mail shirt with a special hood. This was made of many metal rings chained together, like the Olympics symbol. He then has his chest protector strapped on. After the chest protector comes the arm and shoulder pads. When on horseback, he wears long shin guards to prevent enemies from slicing his legs off. You can imagine how hard it would be to be a legless knight back then. He then puts on a tunic which displays his coat-of-arms. The main reason for his tunic though, was so that his chain mail wouldn’t get too rusty. He then puts on his special helmet. I would pick out a helmet based on how much I could see without turning my head on my horse. After that he would take his shield, also painted with his coat-of-arms. He would pick up his sword. Every knight’s first sword had to be blessed by a priest. If you were the horse of this knight, think about all the weight you would have to carry. You would be carrying your rider’s weight and the weight of his armor. That’s why horses had to go to special battle schools. This was tough for the horse and even the teacher, and often expensive. That’s why when foot soldiers started killing the horse instead of the rider, foot soldiers became more popular. Thank you for taking some of your time to participate not only in a knight’s view, but also a horse’s.
