What It Was Like to Be A Medieval Soldier

When called to battle during the Middle Ages in Europe, soldiers expected to be surrounded by unpleasant, if not downright unspeakable, sights. Much like medieval executioners, medieval soldiers witnessed blood, carnage, and death on an up-close-and-personal level. Accounts of the great medieval battles not only detail soldiers' lives and the conditions they faced, but also reveal the damage they inflicted on their enemies and noncombatants alike.

#medieval #medievalwarfare #weirdhistory

[Seventeen_Syllables]

You got to travel about Europe in the best part of the year with thousands of your closest friends, and you got to level up your looting skill! What's not to like?

[Nipplator]

Anyone who's been in the modern military understands the phrase "hurry up and wait", so guess that much hasn't changed over time.

[nadas]

Narrator's vocal delivery has gotten a lot more dynamic since even an episode a year ago.
Love the videos

[GrubbJunker]

9:50 I saw in some historically accurate reenactments these war priests had a battle cry that goes like this "Aiioooo" and "Wololo". They would chant while attempting to get enemy combatants on their side. They would usually succeed, unless killed before they completely convince the enemy.

[jefferypak]

Now I know what it's like to be in a medieval battlefield, can you make a video about fighting in a colonial/revolutionary battlefield as a colonial soldier?

[monkeygraborange]

_”...could you have made it as a medieval soldier?”_

Have you looked around lately? I’m gonna assume that’s a rhetorical question!

[Kdschaak]

Taliban in Afghanistan also had a fighting season. The winters in the mountains were just too harsh to effectively fight.

[feldgeist]

the samples were taken from random excavations and an average medieval war-horse had a shoulder height of a bit over 5 feet...that's more like a smaller horse....and people, even well feed nobles, were a few inches smaller too

[lisa]

I love weird history! the soothing voice of the narrator soothes my soul!

[ozzierabbit]

To be a medieval soldier was typically to be given the task of defending some absolute ruler of varying qualities, and if soldiers survived battle injuries, disease, or exposure, they would oftentimes get the opportunity to supplement whatever they were paid by robbing civilians, and sometimes raping them.

[itskinaraaa]

*Historical doc of general pep speech* : "Men! Let us go fight this battle with power and dignity!"

*Medieval reality general pep speech* : "Uuuuuhhhh...So like, I guess just try to not die, yeah? Cool cool....'kay let's go."

[itzzzsss]

Anyone whose swing a heavy sword knows that it takes alot of practice to make that slice. Seeing how Hollywood depicts medival age battles, the farmers turned quick soldiers most likely slapped the hell out of their foes with their swords

[grapeshot]

Richard the Lionheart executed 3000 prisoners including their families after a siege during the Third Crusade.

[silverjohn]

3:50 People hear the word pony and immediately think Shetland Ponies which run around 12 hands (48 inches at the shoulder). Ponies can be up to 14 inches so closer to an American Mustang or a Moor Pony in England. It's also important to understand that the study was based on average size of surviving skeletons. There were larger horses up to 16 hands (about the size of the modern thoroughbred racehorse) and those are the horses used by the heavily armoured knights while the smaller horses would have been used by the light cavalry that did the scouting and raiding.

[Kuhmuhnistische_Partei]

We shouldn't overstate the whole "campaign season" thing. It doesn't mean that they went on campaigns every year during these season. But when they planed a campaign, they usually tried to fit it into that time. There were examples and there were many years without any campaigns.

Medieval horses weren't that small. Yes, the study compares them to ponies, but there are modern horses classified as ponies that aren't that small. The average size of the horses - not just war horses by the way, generally horses from the period - was around 1.45 meter/57 in. That's like the maximum size you would call something a pony. We're not talking shetland pony size here. And that's a good size for a warhorse, bigger horses wouldn't be very useful and also eat more.
Also, medieval people were a bit smaller, around 10 cm/4 inches smaller on average, although the nobles were probably a bit bigger than peasants.

It may be added, that tournaments during the high medieval and even into the late medieval age weren't exactly the romantized version we think of. Jousting was more of a small part of it and was usually done as a duel, that started on horse, but the knights would then dismount and fight on foot against each other. But the more important disciplin was the group fight which was basically just an arranged battle where knights of both sides fought originally with sharp weapons and tried to capture knights of the other side to demand ransom. A lot of high medieval battles between knights were actually quite undeadly, because both sides were more interested in capturing each other and they kinda speculated on being captured rather than killed. Infantry was often just there to look scary, but didn't do much in the battle itself. Infantry became more important in the late medieval age and kinda destroyed the way the knights wanted to fight battles. There were of course exceptions, especially when knights had to specifically fight against infantry like in the crusades or when fighting some revolt.

Yes, medieval fighters used their own gear. But we have to remember: a lot of those soldiers who weren't professional soldiers like men-at-arms and their retinues were volunteers who were more of middle to heigh class in the peasantry - burghers, yeomen ect. . And a lot of medieval cities and even some free peasantries had military constitutions that set rules what kind of armor and weapons people had to own, usually depending on their wealth. That equipment inspected often and there were even cases where entire units were sent home because they were poorly equiped. People often think of masses of serfs with armed with farming tools improvised as weapons, but that wasn't really a thing, at least not when everything went as it was meant to be. Serfs were serfs - unfree peasants - exactly because they had exchanged their freedom against protection from a professional fighting class. They were not supposed to fight, that was the whole deal.

And yes, looting was a thing, but there are a lot of examples where army leaders do their best to prevent their people from doing so. Especially when it comes to taking equipment from the dead of the battlefield.

Bows and crossbows didn't usually penetrate plate armor. There was a slight chance, but absolutely no guarantee. But they were still dangerous, the impact itself could be quite painful for the person in armor and arrows disoriented knights and could wound horses. Horses usually had armor themselves, but were not as covered as their masters. And while an arrow wouldn't directly kill a horse, there are many accounts of horses falling and crushing the horseman under them - another reason why you wouldn't necessarily want a giant horse.

[thegeneral]

Just because Romans had gear and universal armor, they still had to buy it themselves. Depending on your wealth and what you can buy determines where you will be in the army (age has a role too)

[carrieeawbrey]

I ♥️Weird History. Educational & entertaining. ♥️the narrator’s voice & tone. Always something new to learn. Thanks Weird History for all the great content! Much ♥️& all the best! Have a great day/night all.

[Kojahusiv]

As someone who was formally in the military, the waiting part is just as true today as ever

[grapeshot]

And don't forget the ladies of the night they seem to be essential for any camp following crews.

[thatoneinasuit]

Still marks in the groundworks around Kenilworth Castle to this day from the siege, and the siege took 6 months because they had to try and deal with the moat (8ft deep and about 10ft wide) which is now dried up