The 'knight in shining armour' has become a staple figure in popular culture, and images of bloody battlefields, bustling feasting halls and courtly tournaments have been creatively interpreted many times in film and fiction. But what was the medieval knight truly like? In this fascinating title, former Senior Curator at the Royal Armouries Christopher Gravett describes how knights evolved over three centuries of English and European history, the wars they fought, their lives both in peacetime and on campaign, the weapons they fought with, the armour and clothing they wore and their fascinating code and mythology of chivalry. The text is richly illustrated with images ranging from manuscript illustrations to modern artwork reconstructions and many photographs of historic artefacts and sites.

A magisterial history of the origins, reality, and legend of the knight “A carefully researched, concise, readable, and entertaining account of an institution that remains a part of the Western imagination.” —Los Angeles Times Born out of the chaos of the early Middle Ages, the armored and highly mobile knight revolutionized warfare and quickly became a mythic figure in history. From the Knights Templars and English knighthood to the crusades and chivalry, The Knight in History, by acclaimed medievalist Frances Gies, bestselling coauthor of Life in a Medieval Castle, paints a remarkable true picture of knighthood—exploring the knight’s earliest appearance as an agent of lawless violence, his reemergence as a dynamic social entity, his eventual disappearance from the European stage, and his transformation into Western culture’s most iconic hero.

Describes the job requirements, training, physical demands, compensation, and daily life of a knight in the Middle Ages.

Instructions, diagrams for 22 large (approximately 4½" tall) figures, including images of Charles V, Dauphin of France (1356); Edward, the Black Prince (1356); a 14th-century English longbowman, 19 others.

This book devoted to the medieval uniforms uses the presence of 17 marvelous tables realized by the Italian artist Giovanni Garuti. All realize in 1999 as single Print-tables for the Italian publishing EMI of Ivo Fossati, they are for the first time harvests in volume and you introduce to the public in a new way and form. Every table are equipped by a rich text that well describes the history of the character and illustrates his uniform. There are also present a lot of tables with adding heraldic shields of the various factions and noble families. The thematic of the subjects includes noble Italian families, Crusade order as the Hospitallers and the Teutonic. Noble French, German and English families. all in one historical period that has gone since 1100 to the late XV century.

A title in the ILLUSTRATED HISTORY PAPERBACK series, which offers a highly visual examination of the position, role and image of the knight within medieval English society.

"What would it be like to be a knight in the Middle Ages? This book takes readers on the journey of becoming a knight, from fighting practice and jousting tournaments to actual battles"--Provided by publisher.