Christopher Gravett
The Medieval Knight
(Osprey, 2020), 192 pp. $15.00
Interest in medieval knights is as old as knighthood itself. This means that any new book addressing knighthood needs to be particularly creative in its execution. Christopher Gravett’s The Medieval Knight achieves just this.
Throughout, Gravett displays intensive and extensive attention to detail. The words on each page clearly show command over the subject matter but also hinge on a hinterland of knowledge and experience that has been built up over Gravett’s career as a senior curator in the Royal Armouries, Tower of London. This is a particular strength of the book as it takes on a multi-faceted approach to what a medieval knight was and what he represents then and now. With ease, Gravett is able not only to draw on 12th– to 15th–century contemporary artefacts that he would no doubt be very familiar with, but also on the literature and artwork of the Middle Ages as he fills out a complete picture of what knighthood would have looked like through time. This is reflected in the carefully chosen plates that adorn the pages of this book, but also in specific references he makes to familiar medieval texts such as Langland’s Piers Plowman, Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur. By drawing on these texts and their manuscripts – and in the case of Malory, William Caxton’s first printed edition – a connection is made between text and context, and the function of literature as “living” cultural objects that reflect (and perhaps even to an extent shape) our understanding of their historical contexts.
The Medieval Knight is divided into seven parts (including an introduction) that temporally span both the life stages of a medieval knight and the life of knighthood itself through the centuries (12th–15th): “Organisation,” “Training,” “Armour and Weapons,” “The Chivalric Knight,” “The Knight on Campaign and in Battle,” and “The End of the Knight”. Each chapter engages with the English and Continental (mostly French) traditions of knighthood, and also makes use of excess page space by including extra information to supplement the main text or further explain one of the many images or diagrams that accompany the text. This gives the reader autonomy over their reading as they choose to either read the book in full, or dip in and out at leisure.
The introduction immediately draws the reader into the Middle Ages and introduces the main subject of the book, the medieval knight. Here, Gravett nods to the complex and phenomenal attraction that exists for medieval knights: he raises questions about the psychologically compelling nature of the knight and what exactly a medieval knight was, which he suggests was not necessarily the “perfect heroic model [that exists] without jagged or jaded edges.” (19)
The first main chapter, “Organisation,” begins in the 13th century and makes reference to the Flanders and Falkirk campaigns before working its way up into the rudderless turmoil of the 15th–century Wars of the Roses. Throughout, Gravett makes detailed references to the often all too fragile political and historical landscapes that the medieval knight traverses. These references to contemporary contexts continue in the next chapter, “Training,” which follows along two temporal lines: 1) the development stages of becoming a knight, and 2) the training associated with knighthood through changing centuries, political systems, and technologies. Germane to this chapter is the emphasis placed on the importance of knighthood in the medieval society. Gravett explains in detail the ceremonial process of being knighted and makes reference to the duties and responsibilities that accompany knighthood. Here, he touches on the concept of the hero and the knight’s very tangible role on the battlefield, which he later addresses in his penultimate chapters, “The Chivalric Knight” and “The Knight on Campaign and in Battle”.
A section on training naturally leads into a discussion of “Armour and Weapons,” which is by far the longest and most thorough section of this book. Gravett is keen to debunk popular myths about medieval knights in this chapter and uses examples of medieval sieges and battles to place the medieval knight in situ in order to demonstrate that medieval armour is not actually as heavy as it looks and that one could actually move reasonably well – and even achieve great, heroic feats – in a full suit of armour.
Next, the book addresses the ideological concept of the medieval knight in “The Chivalric Knight.” Whereas up until the 12th century knighthood had primarily centred around the horse, in this section Gravett tackles post–12th–century ideas associated with knighthood. It is here that the medieval court life with its many peacetime tournaments and jousts, the 13th–century crusades, and the idealistic visions of knighthood as presented in medieval literature are all explored. This examination of chivalry runs up into the 15th century where it comes to function as a paradigm for knighthood: that one would have “good manners, respect for women, protection of the church and the poor, and courage in the face of the enemy.” (129) This modification to the concept of the medieval knight is reflected in the 15th–century resurgence of romance literature as well as other chivalric texts such as mirrors for princes and historical chronicles. This literature also served as instructions for how to act and fight in campaigns and sieges, which is where Gravett turns to in his section, “The Knight on Campaign and in Battle”. Here, Gravett makes use of illuminations from various manuscripts, archeological evidence, and chronicles to explore how knights really fared on the battlefield. Gravett suggests that fighting was less glorious, and actually rather “miserable,” (147) compared to the scenes portrayed in many medieval romances.
Just as King Arthur is rex quondam rexque futurus, Gravett suggests in “The End of the Knight” that “knighthood [remains] alive and well.” (185) Finishing in the 21st century, Gravett returns to the subject of his opening as he discusses the psychologically compelling nature of knighthood, concluding as he begins that although knighthood is complex it “provides a unique window into a time utterly different from our own, and for that reason alone […] remains compelling.” (19)
What is most evident from this book is the effortless grace with which Gravett distills an immense number of hours spent consulting sound scholarly texts such as Richard Barber’s classic The Rein of Chivalry and M. H. Keen’s indispensable Chivalry alongside medieval literature such as Malory’s Morte Darthur and historical records such as Froissart’s Chroniques. This is all, of course, gilt with decades of experience working in the Tower of London. Although a more advanced reader would have benefitted from some detailed endnotes, the purpose of the book – to give an introduction to knighthood – is more than well achieved. Most of all, the text is enticingly re-readable and will remain a favourite for the novice as well as enjoyable to the specialist.
Madeleine S. Killacky
Bangor University (UK)
