Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

From the mid-tenth to the beginning of the twelfth centuries, the political
sphere was dominated by the further devolution of political authority in
the Romance language–speaking parts of Great Francia from the counts to
the new class of castellans, by the vast expansion of Christendom through
the conversion of all but two of the remaining pagan and barbarian peoples
of Europe both to Christianity and to Christian civilization, and by the first
steps in the direction of a policy of offensive warfare against the remaining
enemies of Christendom: the Muslims of the south and east. The subphase
of preclassic knighthood was characterized in the core regions of Great Francia
(northern France and adjacent regions of Germany and Burgundy) by the
perfecting of the classic equipment of the knight, a great increase in the number
of knights, and the first steps toward the crystallization of the knightage
as both an international professional corps and a distinct social category.
The classic profile of the knightly sword appeared ca. 950 with the
elongation of the crosspiece on the hilt to either side of the blade—presumably
to protect the hand. The main improvement made in knightly armor
in this subphase was the replacement of the old round shield of the
first phase by a much longer form in the shape of an elongated almond,
with the point to the base. This form, apparently first used in Lombard
Italy ca. 950, spread to most of France by ca. 1050, presumably because it
provided better protection for the exposed left leg of the mounted knight.
The other improvements of the subphase affected the equipment of the
knight’s horse and were probably more important. By 1050, knights generally
seem to have adopted not only stirrups—known in Great Francia
from ca. 740, but at first little used—but a better saddle (with a high pommel
and cantle), a better bridle, and horseshoes for their horses. These, in
combination with the new shield (and possibly an improved, longer lance),
made possible the classic knightly tactic of charging with couched lance
(i.e., with the lance tightly held under the right arm, so that the whole
weight of the knight and horse were concentrated in its point). Nevertheless,
this tactic seems to have been invented only in the following subphase.
The political developments associated with the rise of the castle-based
dominions called castellanies between 990 and 1150 in most of Great Francia
led to a rapid increase in the number of knights in the vassalic service of
castellans, and the spread of the northern French type throughout the region
and beyond it. In some regions, a combination of the degradation of the
rights of peasants and a simultaneous increase in the economic and legal
standing of the knights led to the emergence of the knightage as a distinct
stratum of rural society, between the peasants (whose right to bear arms was
restricted and whose access to the courts of supermanorial lords was denied)
and their own noble seigniors. The positive development affecting the
knights’ position was the growth in the number of knights who were pro-
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