Medieval knights: How Did Knights Live?

Where did knights come from? What does the word mean? How did knights promote themselves, in the eyes of their vassals, their peers, their lords? How does that kind of promotion relate to our modern world?

• Executive Producer: Jason Kingsley OBE
• Executive Producer: Chris Kingsley
• Senior Producer: Brian Jenkins
• Producer: Edward Linley
• Director: Dominic Read
• Presenter: Jason Kingsley OBE
• Director of Photography: Ed Mash
• Camera: Andy Berryman
• Stills Photography and Continuity: Kasumi
• Associate Producer: James Howard
• Audio: Frank Newman
• Sound Design: Nick D. Brewer
• Animation Artwork: Edouard Groult
• Music licensed from PremiumBeat
• Additional Camera: Darren Cook
• Additional Camera: Neil Phillips
• Additional Sound: Elizabeth Carlyon

Special Thanks:

• Chris Payton
• Ed Savage

Twitter: @ModernHistoryTV

[antonresurreccion]

This is some National Geographic level stuff.

I just watched the medieval food vids but now will binge watch up from part 1 til latest video.

[rossowinch]

I just imagined the Knight having a microphone taunting their opponent while the camera zooms up in on them just like Macho Man. Haha great stuff!

And each of the knights having their own entrance music and walking along the crown to hype them up. Omg I want a tv show like this.

[alejandrobetancourt]

It's sad that something so well made by a large group of people can have so few views.

[JDTN]

You make a good point about people other then knights being allowed to compete in tournaments. I could absolutely see a nobleman sponsoring a skilled man-at-arms or a famous/rich mercenary entering during a time of peace. Likely would have brought a sense of novelty to the event similar to like a special guest star on a tv show nowadays.

[fitzmeister]

Knight is cognate to german Knecht. The sense of "he who serves" also caracterizes the japanese "Samurai", from "samurau"/侍う, "to serve"

[tubularap]

In my native language Dutch, we have the word "knecht" which is almost pronounced the same as Jason does "knight" at 0:46
That word "knecht" means 'helper', 'assistant' or 'servant'. Particularly an assistant to a 'master'. In situations that the "knecht" learns from the master (like a master painter) it means as much as 'apprentice'. The verb "knechten" means 'to subjugate'.

[KorKhan]

The etymology of “knight” coming from an old word for “servant” has interesting parallels elsewhere. The Japanese word “samurai” originally meant “one who serves”.

[SilverSunPublishing]

You are a master storyteller, and your horses are beautiful!

[lukedogwalker]

The idea of a strong theatrical element to tournaments, beyond just parading one's coat of arms, makes the whole thing much more interesting. I like the comparison to modern wrestling. I bet they did that, too!

[breakthesteak]

For anyone wondering. Jason Kingsley is actually a gaming developer. He and his brother started a gaming development company in Oxford. And it's actually pretty cool to see a gaming developer be this interested in medieval history.

[loxy]

Haha, while the animation of the knight arriving at the tournament was playing in my head I thought "That's some WWE level showmanship right there" then you immediately drew the comparison. Love it.

[Oooo-bibi]

My only complaint or negative point about your channel. Is I wish this was available when I was a boy. I just had to scour the books I had. Can’t begin to imagine how informed the young people now are going to be when adults. Keep up the excellent work.

[LeatherCladVegan]

That's a great phrase: "I wouldn't be surprised - human nature being what it is - if that were the case".

[BriarCrawford]

Thanks so much for this series! The video quality and everything is great. Now, I'm off to go binge-watch the other videos!

[Dunkelzeitgeist]

These videos and your channel are so high quality, far better than what’s on TV, also as an avid video gamer, historian and environmentalist, Jason is an inspiration!

[diannesmithett]

Am currently binge watching this amazing channel

[woodrobin]

In re: whether nobility is required to compete in tourneys and A Knight's Tale: both versions exist (or are at least referenced) in the movie. There's a reference to the tourneys becoming more restrictive, and actually requiring "patents of nobility" proving that you were of noble birth (and even that having been at least a few generations back to the original grant at the least) in order to compete. It seemed like it was intended to exclude the nouveau riche in the context of the film. Previous to that, showing up with your gear and saying you were a knight seemed to have been the rule of thumb, with no one really caring to look into it much as long as you showed up with a horse, armor, lances, and attendants. That's the hook for Chaucer joining the band: he's literate and skilled enough at crafting documents to forge a convincing set of patents for the identity of Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein of Geldaland (apparently based on a real knight and author of a book on chivalric love).

[darkonikodinovski]

In my language knight is called vitez (витез). It was borowed from the old germanic word viking (vikignir)

[bramsrockhopper]

Brilliant series. Should be on TV and Netflix exactly as it is...

[chazikstan]

This man doesn’t waste a frame in his vids. Thank you