Random Deaitls About Life of A Knight During Medieval Times (12 items)

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  (#1) Most Days Began With Mass

  In medieval Europe, almost everyone was Catholic. Whether they truly believed in the religion was irrelevant. All people — and especially those in higher authority such as knights — had to adhere to daily religious duties. Knights started each day with a mid-morning mass at the local church. Presumably, this helped center them so they could start their day on the right foot.
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  (#2) They Were Chivalrous, Sort Of

  Most people have heard about how knights adhered to a code of chivalry. Many tend to imagine chivalry in a courtly sense, with knights being polite to women. The system was actually more often a way to keep belligerent knights in line.

  One set of chivalry rules, for example, addressed seemingly straightforward situations, which included refraining from these activities: beating up priests; stealing livestock; robbing, killing, or kidnapping random people; burning down houses for no reason; and assaulting women.
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  (#3) Meals Were Mostly Meat

  Modern science has made us aware of our food's nutritional value, but people in the Middle Ages didn't know much about what they ate. Their diets consisted primarily of meat and bread, in part because they liked it, but also because they thought that vegetables were poisonous.

  Meat was expensive for the common person, so knights likely had more access to meat products than the average serf did. They then had to determine if the meat they bought from the market was safe to eat.
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  (#4) Many Knights Cared A Great Deal About Fashion

  Fashion in the Middle Ages wasn't like it is now. Laws placed restrictions on the kinds of clothes people could wear. Serfs, for example, could only spend so much money on clothes because noble people, like knights, wanted to ensure they dressed better than ordinary folk.

  Knights had to be fashionable to distinguish themselves from the class below them, so they wore elaborate and fancy garbs. They also enjoyed emphasizing their crotch with large codpieces. 
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  (#5) They Drank Constantly

  Without easy access to clean water, most adults, including knights, resorted to drinking alcohol. Alcohol was essentially the only liquid people could drink without worrying about it being poisonous or tainted. And as with any group imbibing too much alcohol, the drinking habit could lead to violent or unsavory behavior.
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  (#6) Knights Were A Local Lord's Private Military

  A knight's job entailed being part of their lord's private military. In some countries, like England, this position involved being the exclusive vassal of the king, making knights the national military. Other countries, like France, allowed local nobles to recruit knights, leading to more decentralized power in the region. Either way, knights did the bidding and fighting of whomever they had given their oath.
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  (#7) They Only Worked About 40 Days A Year

  Though knighthood was a full-time job, knights generally worked only 40 days a year. As glorified mercenaries for their lords, they had to be ready to do battle or help escort their boss on trips, but sometimes those duties were quick and effortless.

  So knights had plenty of opportunities throughout the year to train, enter tournaments, hunt, and court women. Eventually, the supply of knights dwindled, and the ones who remained needed to work more — but it took a few hundred years to reach this point.
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  (#8) They Showed Off In Tournaments

  To practice and hone their skills without going into battle, as well as earn public kudos and prize money, knights participated in tournaments. Though knights did engage in jousting at these sporting spectacles, the first tournaments featured melees.

  In a melee, groups of armed horsemen duked it out in mock battles. Jousting, in which two armed horsemen tried to topple each other off horses, overtook the melee in the 15th century. Tournaments turned into glorified equestrian displays called carousels.

  These tournaments were open exclusively to noblemen, and it was a great honor to participate in them.
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  (#9) Their Armor Was A Hindrance

  Medieval knight armor might appear imposing, but there's a reason to believe it wasn't particularly useful. It was good at deflecting arrows, but most full-body armors were 66 to 110 pounds, which significantly weighed down the knights and affected their abilities to move and fight.

  Historians and researchers believe some armies in the 14th and 15th centuries might have won several major battles if only they had used less armor. The lack of weight could have made the knights faster, less tired, and more capable of running circles around other lumbering knights. By the 16th century, most soldiers had traded in their heavy armor for something more mobile.
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  (#10) Men Became Knights When They Turned 21

  People in medieval times struggled to reach 30 years old, but even still, most boys didn't become knights until they turned 21. Starting at 7 years old, future knights trained constantly to develop into stronger and more capable warriors.

  They learned horseback riding, archery, and swordsmanship until they were proficient enough to achieve knighthood. In time, they went through a "dubbing ceremony" and pledged themselves to a particular lord.
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  (#11) Minstrels Entertained Them At Night

  Evenings were often a communal time, and knights and noblemen needed a way to entertain themselves in the evenings. On most nights during or immediately after dinner, a minstrel came around to tell stories or play songs. On evenings without entertainment, the men spent time together conversing.
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  (#12) Knights Probably Slept In Shifts

  Most knights didn't get a single, uninterrupted sleep session. In medieval times, most people slept in two shifts. They may sleep for about half the night, then wake up for an hour to pray, write, or have intercourse. Afterward, they could go back to sleep for the rest of the night.

  Waking up in the middle of the night every evening might not sound relaxing, but studies show it likely wasn't detrimental to their health.

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