Re:Could a Peasant Defeat a Knight in Battle?
by Ichthypresbyter on Tuesday November 10, 2020 @04:12AM
(#25044044)
"All burgesses and freemen shall have a gambeson, an iron cap and a lance"
-English Assize of Arms, 1181.
Knights, and freemen who owned more than a certain value of property, were required to own more and better weapons.
Later laws extended this obligation to all men not just freemen, and required ownership of bows.
That varied by region.
Often English Lords were required to provide troops or arrows on demand, and those both came from the peasant class.
(Frankly, peasant men would have to be tough to work in the fields in the mid-day sun, so were ideal stock for battles.)
Otherwise what was the point in appointing nobility if they weren't contributing an army, but just collecting taxes?