hello I'm Simon Whistler you're watching
top tens net and in the video today
we're looking at the top 10 horrifying
facts that you didn't know about Knights
number 10 they barely ever had to work
for the most part Knights in feudal
Europe were expected to swear their
loyalty in their sword to a lord or king
and become their vassal in return the
Lord or King would give the knight
several hundred acres of land to call
his own this allowed a knight the
opportunity to make himself extremely
wealthy if he so desired
so you're probably thinking that in
return for several hundred acres of land
a giant house and slaves to do all the
dirty work lights would be expected to
work pretty hard right well as it turns
out lights were expected to do no more
than 40 days of work per year this work
could consist of staff as simple as
escorting the Lord and is rapidly
swelling backside to and from a hunt of
course it could also include going to
war but number nine puring battle if
they were highly unlikely to be killed
during the heyday of Knights warfare was
a much different beast than it is now
the role of knights in battle was vastly
different than what you'd probably
expect their real value came in the fact
that they rode horses
that's something common foot soldiers
were forbidden from doing even though
the horses were the real MVPs of feudal
battlefields the perceived value of
knights was such that in battle
conscripted peasants and common foot
soldiers could sometimes face severe
repercussions for killing one even if
the knight was fighting for the other
side this is because captured Knights
could often be ransomed back to their
Lords this same courtesy was not granted
to the common soldiers mentioned above
many of those grunts would be
slaughtered instantly if they were
captured number eight chivalry only
applied when they wanted it to chivalry
along with being a thing that guys in
fedoras online complain about being dead
was a basic code of conduct and Knights
were expected to live by it espoused the
tenants of basic respect and honor
though the chivalric code is a thing
that existed few Knights actually
followed it the reason we think they did
has largely been attributed to medieval
Romantic literature which often
portrayed Knights is unwavering
sentinels of justice in reality Knights
did whatever they wanted because they
could and the only showed respect to
those of a higher station during war
Knights frequently looted pillaged and
rapes they would raid villagers for
supplies
discriminately killing serfs farm
animals because screw them we guess this
practice was so widespread that many
Knights considered looting to be there
right excepting the booty both
metaphorical and literal they took for
themselves was something they thought
they were owed for their service
number seven only rich kids could become
Knights the route to becoming a knight
was rigid it essentially limited
knighthood to kids who today would have
names like Quentin or Chet while poor or
common folk could become Knights if they
did something exceptionally badass
during battle or saved a Lord's life
they were equally likely to be killed
for embarrassing someone who had the
foresight to be born with money meaning
virtually all nights were Nobles of some
kind this kind of makes the factor
Knights could punch poor people in the
head or take their staff all the more
jarring by virtue of their birth Knights
were almost always independently wealthy
number six gathering in big groups
picking fights and harassing women as
noted above Knights generally only
followed the parts of the chivalric code
they wanted one part of their code
states that a knight must always be
ready to defend his honor if it's
challenged take advantage of this it was
commonplace in the 14th and 15th
centuries for large groups of knights to
gather at well-traveled areas like
bridges and rivers there they would pick
fights with other passing Knights trying
to go about their business as you can
imagine peasants would often avoid these
areas like the plague the risk of being
attacked by a boar tonight was extremely
high likewise any man attempting to pass
with his wife would be expected to fight
for her honor
nothing says chivalry like harassing a
guy's wife until he gets angry enough to
punch you if a woman had the audacity to
attempt to pass by without a man the
Knights would accost her until she
handed over a piece of clothing she'd
then have to ask a knight to go get it
back number 5
gel sting was pay2win few aspects of
being a knight have been romanticized as
much as the idea of jousting you know
the sport involving two men in plate
armor attempting to poke each other in
the face with sticks from horseback
initially had served as a way for two
nights to test their skills against one
another
dousing Armour as it was known often
weighed in excess of 100 pounds it was
so heavy that the wearer could barely
move he was usually only being held in
justing position by the armor itself
while skill undeniably played a role in
determining the winner of a joust rich
of nights could simply buy armor so
ridiculously heavy that it was nearly
impossible to unhorse him that made
winning vastly easier poorer nights
meanwhile had to make do with the same
armor they used for battle which was
designed for battle as opposed to
dominating face poking tournaments
number four women couldn't become
Knights / were expected to do the job of
their dead husband's life so many of the
coolest jobs in history being a knight
was exclusively reserved for the owners
of a penis their wives were expected to
sit at home not learning to kill people
with a broadsword their bloodlust going
offensively unsated unless their husband
died like a [ __ ] that is in that case
women were expected to fulfill all of
their husband's nightly duties this
included protecting their lord and
making sure his land didn't fall into
disrepair only women didn't get any of
the cool stuff that came with it
like respect or acknowledgement by
history the duties generally expected of
a knight's wife included everything from
organizing the defenses of their estates
to arranging marriages for their
servants this was on top of being at the
beck and call of her husband 24 hours a
day
number three Knights could merely be
killed trying to woo a woman women as
throughout most of recorded history got
a rough deal in the error of Knights and
chivalry however ladies of high enough
standing did have some say when it came
to being wooed and boy did they take
advantage of that the most notable
example of this is likely Ulrich von
Lichtenstein yes the character from a
Knight's Tale was based on a real guy he
tried to woo a noblewoman in the 13th
century and nearly died in the process
the lady being wooed took particular
exception to being courted by
Lichtenstein both due to his appearance
he had a harelip and the fact that he
already had a wife so like a movie
counterpart she made Ulrich do a whole
host of activities to prove his love
totally innocent insane things you know
like cutting off his finger competing in
jousts wearing a dress instead of armor
and sleeping amongst a group of leprosy
infected peasants number two lights
treated serfs just terribly in feudal
Europe serfs were considered to be the
lowest dregs of society they were even
lower than farm animals because at least
you could eat those those serfs were
technically protected by the Lords of
the land they worked lords and knights
could freely beat them or demand their
property sir had to pay for anything
they took from the land since
belonged to their Lord taking it without
permission or due payment was a crime
that often resulted in a severe beating
Serbs couldn't marry or even travel
without a lord or knight's permission
meaning many serfs died without ever
having travelled more than five miles
from the place they were born since they
were integral to the upkeep of the
Lord's land serfs were often the first
target for nights some nights would
intentionally not kill serfs but instead
severely wounded them by hacking off a
limb that way they'd be a drain on the
landowners resources number one becoming
a knight used to mean being slapped
across the face as seen in movies the
process of knighting a person today
usually involves lightly tapping the
person being knighted on the shoulder
with a sword the exact origins of this
tradition are unclear but it's believed
to originate from the idea that a young
squire wasn't ready to be a knight until
it had a weapon buckled against his
armor during battle a squire couldn't
readily rely on this happening so a
symbolic gesture was created one that
involved hitting the squire across the
face and then on the shoulder with a
sword how hard the squire was here
generally depended on how big a jerk the
person lighting him was you can probably
imagine that many Squires started their
first day as a knight with a hand print
on their face though it was customary to
only lightly hit the squire since it was
the only hit in his entire life the
squire was required not to return some
lights took advantage of the opportunity
to be a tool without consequence
they'd give the squire a punishing draw
bone-shattering backhand to the face for
absolutely no reason something we form
some mysterious reasons feel absolutely
fine about so I really hope you found
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