...What was a knight? There were three main types of soldiers during the Middle Ages: foot soldiers, archers, and knights. The knights were heavily armored soldiers who rode on horseback. Only the wealthiest nobles could afford to be a knight. They needed very expensive armor, weapons, and a powerful war horse. Medieval Knight by Unknown The First Knights The first knights of the Middle Ages fought for Charlemagne, the King of the Franks, in the 700s. In order to fight battles across his large empire, Charlemagne began to use soldiers on horseback. These soldiers became a very important part of his army. Charlemagne began to award his best knights with land called "benefices". In return for the land, the knights agreed to fight for the...
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...Samurai & Knights Where the similarities between samurais and knights are greater than the differences? Yes they had shared more similarities than differences. The Samurais What were the characteristics of the samurai culture?The samurais had many unique cultural characteristics. One of the samurais characteristics or the cultures is that they had a social pyramid.The samurais are the 4th on the social pyramid.The samurais are skilled warriors who owed loyalty and military service daimyos for land or regular payment with families ,made up of 10% of japanese population.The only reason that the samurais had a social pyramid is because to show how Japan was structured. Another cultural thing the samurais had to do was that they had to follow a certain code.The code that they had to follow was “Honor empathized and loyalty and bravery above all else.” The reason they had to follow the code of the conduct is because this is a skilled warrior’s way. The Knights...
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...The Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas _________________ Applying the Lessons of History to Modern Police Leadership Training _________________ A Leadership White Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment Required for Graduation from the Leadership Command College _________________ By Kenneth W. Sidenblad Bee Cave Police Department Bee Cave, Texas Date Submitted (month year) ABSTRACT Law enforcement continues to move in the direction of a profession and away from being only a vocation. Police officers of today are better trained and educated than at any time in the past. This demands police leaders be up to the challenge to lead them. Law enforcement leaders must enhance their knowledge and incorporate training ideas in use by other professions. Applying lessons from academic subject material is an important part of leadership development in many professions, and should be emphasized in training future police leaders. This will enable law enforcement leaders to develop as leaders in a profession. One academic subject used in other professions to develop leaders is the study of history. History provides a wealth of material from which valuable insights and examples of leadership may be drawn from. Lessons drawn from history are used by other professions to enhance the quality of leadership within those professions. Leadership lessons from history should be incorporated into modern police leadership...
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...Castles and Knighthood Castles a) This is a typical castle, its name is Harlech. a) Questions about the features of a castle Q: What was the moat for? A: The moat was mainly used to stop enemies from reaching the walls but its other use was to make a reflection of the castle in order to make it look bigger. Q: What is a drawbridge? A: A drawbridge was a defensive mechanism that allowed access to the castle by providing a temporary bridge across the moat. This bridge can be withdrawn in the case of an attacking force; this was done with a winch. Q: What were castles made of? A: Stone, mortar and wood. These were the simple components used to construct some of the most heavily fortified structures ever created. Q: Where did the stone used to make the castle come from? A: The stone came from local mines or quarries if possible. If stone was scarce they would carry it long distances by water or on land by oxen. Q: What was the roof made of? A: The roof was made from slate tiles and shale. Q: Where were castles built? A: Prime locations for castle construction include high, rocky ground, mountain passes, isolated peninsulas and lake islands. Q: How big were castle walls? A: To withstand besieging, castle walls were sometimes constructed to be up to 30 feet (9 metres) thick. Stone curtain walls were constructed anywhere between 20 and 40 feet high. Q: How high were the towers in the castles...
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...historians that, while it is difficult to be definitive in the meaning of chivalry-with Maurice Keen believing it to be a ‘word elusive of definition’- it came to denote the culture of a martial estate which ‘regarded war as its hereditary profession’. Thus, it could be considered that the violence of war had large implications on what people began to perceive to be chivalry. Additionally, the focus on violence- such as the participating in tournaments and jousts- further emphasises the close link between carrying out violent acts and the idea that a knight was being chivalrous. However, there were alternative influences, such as literature written in the period, which presented people with a chivalric ideal that they may then have come to define it by and thus strive towards. Similarly, religion may be seen to have influenced what came to be viewed as chivalry as through ecclesiastical critiques of the noble class, derived the knights desire to adopt what the Church deemed proper Christian conduct. Ultimately it is likely that it was not simply war and violence, but a combination of these influences which culminated in the definition of what people of the period perceived to be chivalry. It is evident that war and violence were seen as intrinsic elements of chivalry. The idea that chivalry was synonymous with bloodshed and violence may be seen to have derived from the concept being centered on prowess in the art of fighting. This is largely due to the fact that chivalry was...
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...The rise of cavalry also implemented the use of different kinds of horses. Most knights and men-at-arms road smaller horses. These horses were called coursers and rounceys. A courser was a swift and strong horse that was popular in hard battle as they were light, fast, and strong. The Rouncey was a term used in medieval times for describing an ordinary, all purpose horse. They could easily be trained for warfare and became the most common horse in warfare. Destriers were to expensive and coursers were preferred for hard battle, making the rouncey the most common horse among the ordinary knight.Contrastingly, the spanish used a light cavalry horse known as the jennet, an ideal light riding horse. Despite all the presence of various horse breeds,...
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...the three biggest themes that resonate with me are the ideas of Relationships, Companions, and Corruption. Let us begin with the easiest one, relationships. There are several relationships discussed within the Canterbury tales. The most important one is by far the Wife of Bath’s tale of the knight. I see much of the male youth of today in him he is a real smartass and at times is outright rude he is a piss poor example of what a Knight is in general but through his own development in the story he builds his redeeming qualities and ultimately succumbs to his wife’s will and better judgement. I have been in the Knights shoes, stuck between what you want in life and what is truly the right thing to do. Many times my wife’s better judgement has saved me from some unnecessary hardship. Whether it be my impulsive buying habits or my quick to anger personality, I think many men could do well to learn from the knight how to place themselves in the hands of their better halves. From the romantic side of things it is a very short step into the world of corruption. A lot of corruption comes out of romance or love. The knight at the heart of himself is corrupt he is at his deepest level no knight at all. However in my opinion he isn’t the most corrupt in the story. The monk and the Prioress are by far the most corrupt. Chaucer’s idea of the corruption of the Church at the time he wrote the story is shown directly through these two charlatans. They both seem to enjoy the niceties of their...
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...The Knight: Pilgrim Analysis In the general prologue of the Canterbury Tales, the Knight is the first of the pilgrims to be described because he is of the highest rank. Therefore, it is only fitting that he goes first. In Chaucer’s work, he “. . . creates his knight in such a historical detail that we can easily explore the specific kind of knight he might have been . . .” (Calabrese 3). Chaucer describes his knight as “. . . a most distinguished man . . .” (Coghill 4). The narrator illustrates the Knight to be a man who “followed chivalry, truth, honor, generousness and courtesy” (4). Furthermore, the Knight presents himself in a polite fashion, never speaking insensitive words about anyone. Through Chaucer’s words and descriptions, it...
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...The Hagakure, also known as the samurai way and the knight medieval, were warrior communities, who used to have several similarities in the way they organized themselves. They however hand a handful of differences that distinguished them. The Hagakure were from japan while the knights were from Europe. In this essay, I analyze the comparisons of the the two warrior communities. Both the samurai and the Knight had set of rules and regulations that they followed as warrior communities. They took the oath of loyalty and honesty to their land in their duties to their leaders. The constitution for the samurai was called ‘Bushido' while that of the knight was called ‘Chivalry.' Warriors from both sides were taught almost similar lesions which included...
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...It was once said, "A knight in shining armor is a man who has never had his metal truly tested." The meaning of this quote explains that any knight with shining armor has never truly battled or fought for freedom. More than a thousand years ago, a class of professional warriors arose. They swore oaths of loyalty to noble Lords and fought to the death to defend them in battle. They were the samurai of Japan and the European Knights in England. Some historians will argue that knights and samurai are the same, but evidence shows that they are not. They both have different types of armor and they both see death in 2 ways views of death. First of all samurais and knights have very different types and styles of armor. On Document D in the first...
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...During the Middle Ages, knights fought in battles and were admired by the people for their chivalry, and courage. Knights were around from the ninth to the seventeenth century. Boys that were from a noble family, a knight himself, or a wealthy family were usually the ones who grew up to be nights. Knights would fight for their lord during times of war. Knights spent most of their time perfecting their weapons and making sure they stay fit. Knights were expected to know and understand the rules of chivalry. Boys would start training to be knights when they were young. They were steps that had boys had to go through to become a knight. When boys turned seven years old, they would begin training to become a knight. Only boys who came from a...
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...hands and put into the delicate hands of the “weaker sex”. It starts off with a flirty knight who thinks that he has every right to take a maiden’s virginity away, against her will. Of course, the knight knew what he was doing and chose to do it anyways, feeling that he has superior power of the innocent maiden’s virginity. It’s like having a perfect rose in your palm and suddenly destroying it with your own hands. You can’t get that perfect rose to be perfect once again. Once committed, the damage cannot be undone. At this point it is evident that the superiority is held by men. Although when the knight is brought to trial, this is not the case. Being charged with rape, during the medieval times, was a crime punishable by death. King Arthur held his knights to the idealized code of honor known as chivalry and was not going to let one knight stain the reputation of them all. But suddenly his jurisdiction is stripped away by her beloved wife, the queen. She simply asks the king to grant her the power to decide the fate of the sinful knight. Now the queen comes to represent women's sovereignty. Even more amazing then that, she also comes to represent justice when she brings forth judgement over the knight. She decides what punishment will be given to the knight that would have been killed in the hands of Arthur. Women, represented by the queen, also come to be educators. Even though the knight deserves death, she decides to teach him a lesson about...
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...Christianity and Medieval Literature The Middle Ages saw a great influence of Christianity on the literature of that time. Christianity also saw a period of growth and its influences on literature were also very notable. The Medieval Period was a time of significant social revolution and this is often reflected in the literature of that age. This can be seen by observing the principles of the time, and exploring the literature which addresses them. By analyzing the religious, political and societal ideals, the reader can see how these influenced the literature during this time period. The Medieval Period was a time in history that lasted from the 5th Century to the 16th Century. Through the early Middle Ages, literacy was often essential for entry into religious orders and even nuns were compelled to meet this requirement. However, the only people trained to read and write properly were those who were high church officials and monks. Society was centered mainly on the Medieval Church. However, the Church became corrupted but more at the higher levels. Geoffrey Chaucer illustrated this in his writings, “Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.” He exposes this in his prologue by his use of satire in regards to the religious figures. Using a naïve “Chaucer the Pilgrim” to describe them, he points out that certain characters, namely the Prioress and the Monk, are not as they should be. Although he does not criticize them openly, he merely emphasizes qualities that are favorable...
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...to a greater cause showed the determination that these women of this era had; thus, opening a world of change for women of the Medieval Era. After Eleanor’s and the other 300 ladies great tribute to their cause, women began to explore reading and writing which opened a new wave of ideas in the form of self-expression; ergo, birthing the troubadour (men) and trobairitz (women) poets. Using a lyre or lute, these poets used conventions and terms to describe their idea and feelings of romantic love; however, coming from different point of views, in terms of gender troubadour poems focused on a knight or nobleman longing for a woman while trobairitz poems focused on the woman longing for the knight or nobleman (Sayre, 2010). Both poems convey one message: to love is to suffer: thus, one will lose oneself mentally because of not having the one they love. Aren’t these expressions of love the same as many displayed in the entertainment industry? For example, the courtly love tradition has the knight or nobleman performing a deed to win his lady’s favor (Sayre, 2010). Many movies display a man or woman willing to give it all to win his or her lover back. The only difference is the way the words are noted. As with many women, I find these expressions of love thrilling and sad. True, the content is a little surprising considering that it was from medieval times where one would think that people were more secretive about their feelings and extra-marital endeavors. How these individuals...
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...Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, in which it discusses women issues in the medieval time. Indecent and strong willed, the wife of Bath refuses to allow men to control her existence by taking measures to shape her own destiny; she tells men what to do instead of letting them have the control in the relationship. The wife is often viewed as a feminist because she ignores the rules and makes people think about the roles women play in society. Although many readers might think the Wife of Bath's Tale is an Arthurian Romance, it is more accurately described as a Breton Lais. Early in the tale the reader learns that, “There was a knight who was lusty live / One day as he came riding from the river / He saw a maiden walking all forlorn / Ahead of him, alone as she was born, / And of that maiden, spite of all she said, / By very force he took her maidenhead” (Chaucer 141). The knight rapes the virgin early in the tale and is a central figure throughout the entire story, thus making him a clear candidate for the protagonist. Although one might think that the knight is the protagonist Goucher College suggests that, “The protagonist could be male or female, which is rare in romances, where the protagonist almost always is male” (Breton 1). The old woman in the tale illustrates this point. She enters the tale when the knight approaches her on his way back to the queen and her court. She addresses the knights and says, “ ‘Sir knight there’s no way on from here / Tell me what you are looking for, my...
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