Medieval knights could move about freely in spite of their clumsy armor

One harbors a misconception that medieval knights were weighted down by their heavy armor and hence had to go in for clumsy battles with limited mobility. But, research carried out in Switzerland has shown that the knights had enough mobility to take on the opponents.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 4 July 2016.

Researchers in Switzerland have tried to recreate the activities of a 15th century knight based on written accounts of his training, and found that the armor actually permitted the full range of both natural and combat motions. In order to carry out the study, researchers suited a 30-year-old male subject with an accurate replica of a 15th century harness. It was a type of armor that would have covered the entire body and meant for use in a combat setting.
Once that was done, the researchers then went on to analyze the participant’s performance in a series of armor training activities that was detailed in Fight Books known to be practiced by the famous knight Jean le Meingre, known as Boucicault. These training activities included pull ups, running, jumping on horseback without the use of stirrups, and even doing somersaults. Moreover, he even demonstrated cartwheels, somersaults, and a bit of dancing. Based on analysis of these tasks, the researchers concluded that the armor allowed for nearly a full range of movement, including in gait, sitting down and standing, and combat activities.
Of course, the addition of armor did result in a slight increase in the amount of energy necessary to perform the different tasks, the researchers feel the wearer would have got accustomed to the additional burden.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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