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A comment on Could a Peasant Defeat a Knight in Battle?. Parent comment

Re:Could a Peasant Defeat a Knight in Battle? by ashtonkem on Tuesday November 10, 2020 @11:20AM (#25047657)
Medieval knights were typically very trim and fit; we have existing texts extolling knights to not over eat and go outside and exercise with stones. While kings performing the role of general tended to be fat, the actual men at arms up front doing the dirty work were probably in fantastic shape. There are historical accounts of knights in armor being capable of climbing siege ladders like a pair of monkey bars while wearing their armor.
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Re:Could a Peasant Defeat a Knight in Battle? by questionfor on Tuesday November 10, 2020 @02:31PM (#25050512)
> climbing siege ladders like a pair of monkey bars while wearing their armor.

So without legs? Just pure hands?

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Re:Could a Peasant Defeat a Knight in Battle? by ashtonkem on Tuesday November 10, 2020 @06:05PM (#25053291)
Yup, just with their hands.

This story is attributed to Jean de Maingre.

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Re:Could a Peasant Defeat a Knight in Battle? by questionfor on Wednesday November 11, 2020 @08:26PM (#25065297)
hmmm so monkey bars with 40-60lbs load. That's really impressive and something you have to actually train for.

I guess they did train that movement specifically (in armor etc.), because it's not something you could just randomly do on a whim even if you are very strong. Definitely not something you would WANT to do on a whim if you can fall down to your death and also have to be in good enough shape after to fight (which makes this particularly crazy).

Damn, considering that they were also trained grapplers, those must have been one hell of sparring partners.

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