The Decline of the Medieval Knight
How Gunpowder Weaponry Rendered the Knight Obsolete in Battle
Jun 6, 2009
Since the first military applications of gunpowder over a millennium ago, this volatile substance has contributed to the rise of empires, the fall of armies, and the significant alteration of society as a whole. The militaristic and societal effects of gunpowder in the 14th century reverberated throughout Europe, and forced extensive changes which revolutionized the course of military history forever.
There are even many famous literary examples of the Knight's downfall includes the poem of The Cid, and the classic story Don Quixote.
Early Guns in Battle
Guns were mainly used for siege warfare in order to destroy large fortress walls and defences, and their application to the battlefield was very limited until the late 14th century. On May 3 1382, the Battle of Brevershoutsveld was the “first decisive use of cannons to decide a battle in Western Europe” and following this battle, military leaders began to fully realize the power of cannons not only in siege warfare, but also against the relatively unprotected armies of their enemy.
The Battle of Brevershoutsveld
The Battle of Brevershoutsveld was between two rival cities in France, the cities of Ghent and Bruges. The army from Ghent had roughly 4-8 thousand men, compared to the 20-40 thousand men in the army from Bruges. However, the army from Ghent was also accompanied by a large number of artillery guns.
The men from Bruges left the safety of their city walls to attack the men from Ghent, confident because of their vast numerical superiority. In conventional medieval warfare, this superiority would have undoubtedly led to the annihilation of the army from Ghent with relative ease, but this was not the case: the army from Ghent easily defeated the army from Bruges.
Impact of Guns on Battle
The influence of gunpowder on the outcome of battle is unmistakable, as described by the French chronicler Jean Froissart; “The army from Ghent placed themselves on a hill […] then fired more than 300 cannons at once. At the moment [the soldiers from Bruges] heard the firing, they, like cowards and villains, flung down their weapons and fled.”
The guns frightened the vastly superior army from Bruges, leading to confusion on the battle field, retreat, and eventual defeat by the army from Ghent.
Chaos and Confusion Caused by Guns
This battle was probably not the first use of cannons against a rival army, but this battle was the first use of gunpowder to achieve such an unprecedented victory. From this date forward, cannons would continue to be used on battle fields across Europe with increasingly deadlier results. This contributed greatly to dramatic social changes throughout Europe during the 14th century.
The Medieval Knight
Medieval warfare was characterized by the dominant role of the cavalry, and for centuries the knight had stood as the ideal medieval warrior: armed with his sword and dressed in armour, the medieval knight would defend his kingdom and his lord to the death. The only worthy opponent on the field of battle were fellow knights.
Knights were members of a very exclusive social class, due to the fact that they “needed intense and expensive training, which was only offered to a select few, and so the common peasant could neither afford nor even really aspire to it.” At the dawn of the 14th century, knights were still convinced that “they were the topmost warriors in the world, that they were invincible against other soldiers, and they were destined to remain so forever.”
However, this was not meant to be; the development and proliferation of gunpowder ended the superiority of the knight, both on and off the battlefield.
Gunpowder and the Fall of the Knight
From the 11th to the 14th century, aristocratic warrior Knights dominated the battle field and “fought more often to capture than to kill.” This is evident after examining medieval battle records; at the Battle of Lincoln in 1217 for example, only three Knights were killed and over 400 were captured in battle. The emergence of gunpowder weapons changed the traditions inherent in medieval warfare forever.
Noble Opposition
Understandably, almost all nobles and knights were against the use of these weapons in warfare, because “traditional medieval warfare respected their social status, leading frequently to ransom rather than death in a battlefield defeat.” The new gunpowder weapons, and the men who wielded them, lacked this respect of the knightly class.
A good example of this is when in 1428 Thomas Montagu, the Earl of Salisbury and leader of the English forces in France during the Hundred Years War, “was killed in Orleans when a stone fired by cannons shattered, and mortally wounded him.”
Undoubtedly, Thomas Montagu would have been ransomed back to the English under the old medieval military system. This practice of ransoming off the enemy was made virtually impossible given the indiscriminate killing power of artillery and hand-guns. At the Battle of Verneuil in 1424, over 8,000 Knights were killed in battle and guns undoubtedly played a large role in this dramatic increase in casualties.
Contemporary weapons, armour, and tactics were rendered useless by cannon fire, as were traditional construction techniques used in castles and fortresses. Gunpowder ushered in an entirely new era of warfare, marked by dramatic changes in tactics, architecture, and social class.
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