Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

280 Knights
Germany were probably four or five times as great and never got much
higher. The two ranks of knight and fighting squire—collectively known,
from the following century at least, as hommes d’armes (French; men-atarms)—were
thenceforth to form a small elite at the core of an army in
which various infantry arms became increasingly important.
In the early subphase (1270–1330), corresponding to the reigns of Edward
I and Edward II in England, of the last “direct” Capetians in France,
and of the first Habsburg kings of the Romans in the Holy Roman Empire,
the principal developments were the following: (1) the decline in many
countries (including England and France) of knight service based upon the
traditional feudo-vassalic obligations, and its replacement by a new system
of retaining by contract and the payment of a pension and a fixed wage
during actual service; (2) the effective end of the Syrian Crusade, the retreat
of the Syrian orders, and the eventual suppression of the original order of
the Templars (in 1312); (3) the adoption of the first major elements of plate
armor; (4) the general adoption in Latin Christendom of the heraldic crest
set atop the helm (already generalized in German lands during the previous
subphase); and (5) the transformation of the heralds from freelance tournament
criers to “officers of arms” employed by kings and princes to oversee
all matters related to the proper conduct of tournaments and battles
and the identification of nobles.
The next subphase (1330–1380) saw a considerable elaboration of the
organization and splendor of royal and princely courts and a major revival
in those courts of the classical tournament. It began with the foundation of
the first true monarchical order (the Castilian Order of the Band), and
ended just before the foundation of the first such order of the second generation
(the Neapolitan Order of the Ship, 1381). These orders were modeled
directly or indirectly on the fictional societies of the Round Table and
the Frank Palace of the Arthurian cycle of romances, and were founded to
serve as embodiments of the values of chivalry as well as to promote loyalty
to the throne of the founder. The emphasis placed by the princes of this
period—especially Alfonso “the Implacable” of Castile, Pere “the Ceremonious”
of Aragon, Edward III of England, Jehan “the Good” of France,
and Amé “the Green Count” of Savoy—on both tournaments and orders
suggests the importance they attributed to knighthood; corps of knights
and squires continued throughout this phase to be major elements of all
princely armies. Indeed, in some kingdoms (including England) the number
of militarily active knights actually rose in the first half of this period. The
traditional melee tournament saw its last flowering in most countries in the
first half of this subphase. After about 1350, however, such tournaments
were held only rarely, their place being taken by the more orderly (and less
dangerous) joust.