Medieval knights are presented in films as brave, devoted warriors who would battle till the very end and never look back. As with current military, knights' life were indeed packed with a never-ending list of stressors.
Not only were medieval knights brutes, but they were also people who probably felt the effects of their labor.
Medieval knights are presented in films as brave, devoted warriors who would battle till the very end and never look back.
As with current military, knights' life were indeed packed with a never-ending list of stressors.
They were often undernourished, tired, and sleep deprived. They slept on hard ground outdoors, in the open to whatever weather may come. And since they often murdered other men and saw their buddies perish, their lives were filled with terror and bloodshed.
As a result of the stress that comes with living in battle, medieval knights sometimes experienced hopelessness, terror, helplessness, and delusions, according to a fresh analysis of historical writings. According to a Danish researcher, some may have even had post-traumatic stress disorder or similar conditions, much like their contemporary counterparts do.
The goal of the study is to humanize knights, who are often seen as ruthless and cold-blooded assassins.
According to Thomas Heeboll-Holm, a medieval historian at the University of Copenhagen, "as a medievalist, it's a bit irritating to hear people say that the Middle Ages were just populated by brutal and mindless thugs who wallowed in warfare." "My goal is to paint a complex portrait of historical mankind. As best as we can determine, they were individuals just like you and me."
A kind of extreme psychological discomfort currently known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been increasingly recognized as a consequence of the horrors of war, torture, terrorism, and other horrible situations since the Vietnam War. People must have uncontrollably high levels of stress after a harrowing experience for at least one month in order to be diagnosed with the disease. Flashbacks, nightmares, melancholy, and hyperactivity are a few possible symptoms.
According to Heeboll-Holm, psychologists now understand that the strains that troops face during combat may weaken their psychological resilience to the point that they eventually give in to anxiety disorders. He wondered if he may be able to locate allusions to indicators of trauma in fighters who battled throughout the Middle Ages, as medieval knights endured as many, if not more, challenges than do contemporary troops.
Heeboll-Holm concentrated on three writings authored by Geoffroi de Charny, a French knight from the 14th century who served as a valued advisor and ambassador to King John II in addition to other papers.
The motivation for Charny's writing of the translated texts, which included "The Book of Chivalry" and "Questions Concerning the Joust, Tournaments and War," is unknown. The most widely accepted explanation is that they were involved in an attempt to develop an ideological platform for the French chivalric order that would be competitive with the British one.
Even though a lot of these books have previously been examined in-depth, Heeboll-Holm was the first to examine the works from a contemporary military psychology perspective. Furthermore, Heeboll-Holm discovered many instances that would seem to indicate at least the possibility of trauma among medieval knights, even if it's difficult to ever fully comprehend a society that was so drastically different (and considerably more religious) than our own.
Among his works, Charny penned the following:
"Working in this field means working in the heat, being hungry, and sleeping little and frequently while keeping an eye on everything. And to be tired and to lie on the ground uncomfortable to sleep, only to wake up with a start. Furthermore, you won't be able to alter the circumstances. When your adversaries approach you brandishing swords to kill you and lances lowered to run you through, you will often feel fear. You are attacked by bolts and arrows and do not know how to defend yourself. You see individuals murdering one another, running away, passing away, and getting captured, and you witness your deceased friends' corpses laying in front of you. However, your horse is still alive, and you may flee in disgrace thanks to its swift speed. However, you will gain everlasting honor if you remain. Who else except a great martyr would willingly undertake such labor?"
According to Heeboll-Holm, Charny did not exhibit any indications of instability, but he often voiced concerns about the mental well-being of the other knights. And there's no denying that suffering was a common experience for medieval knights, according to Richard Kaeuper, a medieval historian at the University of Rochester in New York and author of several translations and articles on Charny's "Book of Chivalry."
According to Kaeuper, tales from that time period include a variety of graphic elements. Many stories describe soldiers clutching their guts with their hands or throwing up blood. One tells the story of a Castilian knight who, in his first battle, gets a crossbolt lodged up his nose. Another describes a combatant who has a sword cut through his mouth. There are constant allusions to poor food, unpleasant surroundings, and unrelenting fighting.
Heeboll-Holm's thesis fascinated Kaeuper, who noted that it might be difficult to read ancient writings after so many decades. The fact that knights never conducted their own psychoanalyses, at least not publicly, contributes to the issue. Rather, they either narrated events or gave other knights instruction on how to behave in certain scenarios.
According to Kaeuper, one of the most significant distinctions between the two eras is that, in the case of medieval knights, the latter were often raised to see themselves as warriors who battled for Christianity, having been raised in an aristocratic and noble order from an early age. On the other hand, modern warriors often abandon a life of great luxury for one filled with pain and violence.
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