Re:Could a Peasant Defeat a Knight in Battle?
by nl on Monday November 09, 2020 @10:58PM
(#25042690)
That might be possible, but is it likely? A knight is basically a medieval super-soldier: an individual with a huge amount of ongoing personal+state investment going into their ability to project power on the field.
This isn't really correct. Most knights didn't have a huge incomes (if they did they would become Lords).
A Knight wasn't a military position - it was primarily a class and status designation, which came with some military obligations. These could be met by supplying another person to your lord to do the fighting for you.
Often a Knight would supply their lord with their younger son for example, since their older son would be the heir.
To become a knight in the medieval times in the UK you needed an income of 40 pounds a year[1] which converts to around 30,000 pounds/year these days.[2]
> Wouldn't there be mass resentment within a lazy knight's power structure, that would lead to said power structure toppling or mutiny-ing?
Yes, indeed peasant revolts were a thing. And a lot of most knights "fighting" involved hunting down rebellious peasants armed with sticks.
This isn't really correct. Most knights didn't have a huge incomes (if they did they would become Lords).
A Knight wasn't a military position - it was primarily a class and status designation, which came with some military obligations. These could be met by supplying another person to your lord to do the fighting for you.
Often a Knight would supply their lord with their younger son for example, since their older son would be the heir.
To become a knight in the medieval times in the UK you needed an income of 40 pounds a year[1] which converts to around 30,000 pounds/year these days.[2]
> Wouldn't there be mass resentment within a lazy knight's power structure, that would lead to said power structure toppling or mutiny-ing?
Yes, indeed peasant revolts were a thing. And a lot of most knights "fighting" involved hunting down rebellious peasants armed with sticks.
[1] https://www.quora.com/Were-Medieval-English-knights-wealthy-...
[2] https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/#curr...