The notion that knights of were unable to move and maneuver fluidly during battle as soon as they donned their heavy suits of armor continues to remain a fairly popular misconception up to this day – a misconception that a group of Swiss medievalists led by Daniel Jaquet from the University of Geneva seek to dispel in a study published in Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History.
Several years ago the researchers published a video which detailed some of the findings they made.
This time, Jaquet and his colleagues sought to recreate the training regimen of Jean le Maingre, a French knight also known as Boucicaut. According to historical records, this powerful warrior who managed to score an impressive number of victories before being captured by English forces during the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, was known to perform a variety of feats during his training while wearing a full-plate suit of armor, including jumping on a horse, running, swing weapons and climbing a ladder using only his arms.
And while it is clear that moving and engaging in combat while wearing such apparel certainly takes a considerable amount of energy, it is equally clear that medieval knights were far from people sealed in veritable human-shaped metal caskets who fought slow and clunky battles.
