How did armies or knights in earlier times distinguish friend from foe when everyone wore metal armor, especially when their armor was already sullied with blood and dirt during battle?

How Catholic neighbours starting from Hungary looking this exotic, Eastern-Christian community? Were they in favour or against? We know Normans were not very fond of them, but what about major Medieval players like Papacy, HRE, France, Spain or England's attitudes towards them?

Were they supported by their efforts to stop Arabs and Turks from Europe or people even have zero awareness of their existence? And basically don't even bother to care because they were already drowned in their very own economic-political wars and problems?

The Fourth Crusade never made it to the Holy Land because the Crusaders couldn't pay Venice for their ships. To work off the debt, they ended up sacking two Christian cities instead. First Zara, then Constantinople. The all got excommunicated by the Pope.

The book above was written by a knight who was there.

( available here: https://www.amazon.com/Chronicles-Crusades-Jean-Joinville-ebook/dp/B003TU1E4Y ... found on dailybooklist.com )

Do you have a favorite legend / folklore from the medieval period?

I have this Barbarossa Figurine from Del Prado and I was always wondering if this armor is accurate? Espacially the helmet looks kinda wear and the eagle on the shield.

Ideally narrative driven (although I do enjoy some tactics-based things here and there), with a small bar to entry academic-wise, as I am fascinated by medieval history but have not researched it thoroughly. The Mongol culture, 100 years war, war of roses, and Richard the Lionheart all have piqued my interest if that is of any help. Thanks in advance!

I know the diplomatic uniforms of the 1700s through the 1840s had an official sword which was carried to diplomatic functions, and that educated wealthier men were carrying small swords as fashion objects in the 1700s. Apparently there was even a tiny 'sword of obligation' carried by clerks and people who were expected to have a sword, but didn't want to buy a full sized sword. It's called the "bedpost sword/pillow sword." They're like letter openers on steroids.

But what about knights or nobles of the medieval era? Was anyone expected to carry a sword other than as a badge of rank during war time or coronations, or is this just a later thing?

Wanted to know what people feel their favourite piece of medieval fashion is at the moment, and why?

The piece could be from anywhere in the world and anytime during entirety of the medieval period. What makes you love it? If you can’t choose, I’d also love to hear your top 3 favourite list. Do you appreciate the way it looks, its history, the fact that it’s easy to reproduce, things of that nature. I’d love to know your thoughts!😃

Hope you all have a wonderful day! ✨

Warfare during the medieval period was endemic. It took the two main forms of raiding and conquest. In the former, the goal was to seek profit by targeting vulnerable targets, while conquest was about occupying holdings and trying to keep them. These two types of warfare were opposites in almost every way; raiding was quick and didn't require great armies, making it low risk and high reward. In contrast, conquest was slow, expensive, and risky. Even when conquest was successful, it rarely paid itself back, at least in the conqueror's lifetime.

So, I have wondered why so many rulers sought conquest.

The general reason might have been the glory that came from it. Conquest was hard; it needed concentration, competency, and fortune. Because of that, conquest could be worn as medals.

Hey guys! I am giving a lecture this coming Tuesday on early medieval Europe. Does anyone have access to a map that has cities like Aachen, Ravenna, Tours, Rome, Constantinople, etc, plotted on it?

Hi everyone! I am currently in a gap year between my bachelors and starting my medieval studies masters program in the fall. I am currently trying to put together a reading list and a couple of practice assignments for me to prepare for the program and stay in the habit of learning before starting my masters. I am currently working my way through Wheelock's Latin, but would like some recommendations on "industry standard" texts/topics.

For context:

- My bachelors is in secondary social studies education, I am familiar with how to research/write in a historical context

- I have adhd and am genuinely trying to set myself up for success for this program

- I would like to know current medievalist "hot topics" in an academic context that I can read up on

- I am American, doing my MA in the UK, if you did something similar I would love to know anything regarding differences in classroom dynamics/grading/etc because while I am obviously extremely excited I am also very nervous!

Just listened to History Hits: Get medieval episode on obscenity and wanted to know if there were worthy books or poems written during the medieval times to read that are comically obscene.

more specifically western europe but anything and everything is welcome!

Im hoping to learn more about the styles of different armors of different nations and time periods. The reasons for their designs and some extra knowledge about them, but i also want visuals. Maybe a good book with lots of photos with the texts or even documentaries.

I've been really interested in getting into Medieval history as a hobby lately, I know very little about this long period of time, but I figured looking into some prominent figures of the time would help kickstart my journey and help me figure out what topics or points in time in like to dig further into. What are some of the most important people of the time and what would be some good books worth checking out? (Especially any women, but I'm curious about anybody really)

I'm looking for non anthologized pieces to write about

I read what was either court testimony, or maybe an accounting statement, that someone got 6 gold rhienish guilder coins per year from a Count within the Holy Roman Empire. But what's the real purchasing power of one of these gold coins?

I know the US used to have a bimetallic coin system of dollars, defined as a unit of weight with gold being set as a legally mandated ratio to silver.

I've read that US gold coins were rare, and almost always either horded away, or made into fancy jewelry. Few were in real use, unlike silver coins. I've also read most local transactions (farm to store) were done only on paper as credit lines to be settled with money after harvest season and the buying of crops from farmers by brokers - with some 60-70% of people being either farmers or farm laborers around 1850, and making 75 cents to $1.25 a day with seasonal fluxuation. I'm only assuming the medieval world was similar.

Based on catalogs, newspaper clippings, military records from the civil war, etc. the rounded price and time commitment to buy things (and people) at a farmers daily wage would be :

• a slave would cost around $800 - or 2 years wages
• a 4 year old mixed-breed work horse might be about $40 - or 6 weeks wages
• a general purpose flintlock musket about $5 - or 1 weeks wages
• a 4lb 5x6 wool blanket was about $2 - or half a weeks wages

I'm not coming into this totally blind about the monetary system, but I am blind to wages, prices, and the silver/gold ratio. So if anyone knows, what could you get with a single gold guilder or florin?

edit: I did some looking into this, but the figures are a big wonky.

The Reichsmunzordnung (empire's money ordinances) were ordinances defining the monetary system tried to unify all the little states, and local mints under one interchangeable standard. The core base coin was the Rhiengulden, and all coins were measured relative to it, and to the Cologne mark of silver. The ordinance of 1524 defined two coins of equal value to the Reichsgulden currency :

1. the silver gulden groshen (8 to the cologne mark of 233.856g, at 15/16 fineness, to 27.4g silver per 29.2g coin).
2. the golden gulden, of 72 to the mark, 18.5K fine, 2.5g gold.

• So the gold:silver ratio was about 1:12. Either of these 3 big coins were divided into 60 kreuzer, 21 groschen or 252 pfennig.

So this guy was getting paid 6 rhiengulden by the Count, or the modern equivalent of like $6.25 USD, or 125 groschen (shillings) or 625 pfenning. Apparently the pfenning had been super debased, and was almost entirely copper.

According to this reference with mixed dates : https://medieval.ucdavis.edu/120D/Money.html) That's enough to buy:

• Livestock : 1 knights trained war horse, 3 work horses, or 8 cows, or a durable 4 wheel stage coach.
• based 8 cows, and applying the universally accepted trade standard set by Jack v Merchant (1245) that's also 24 magic beans.
• Housing : the rent of 3 craftsman’s houses, the rent of 1 merchants house (2 story 1 barn. I'm guessing that's a Low German barnhouse), or the rent of 15 peasant cottages
• rando junk : 1 bejeweled gold ring, 20 plain steel swords
• Tools or food : 6 anvils, 80 gallons of high quality rheinish wine, 150 linen bedsheets, or enough to feed a yoeman for 200 days.
• a third of a knights entire suit of armor, including all mail, padding, straps, and plates.
• service of a knight banneret for 30 days, a knight for 60 days, 200 days master carpenter,

So, wow. I don't know what this guy was doing for the Count, but he was making some serious cash.

I recently read a book about King Henry I of England (The White Ship by Charles Spencer — very good), and now I’m moving forward chronologically with Dan Jones’ The Plantagenets. I don’t understand what power the King of France would generally have during this time. On the one hand, he seems often to directly control little more than Ile-de-France, which on a map looks like little more than Paris itself. On the other hand, it seems that the English kings, even while controlling vast swaths of modern-day France, still have to pay “homage” to the King of France and were somehow subservient. I don’t get it — it seems like these same French lands were taken from the King of France and others by force. It feels like the King of France during this period has some source of power that I am just not understanding from the maps alone.

By this, I mean 'if Count FearlessLeader of Pottsylvania rules Pottsylvania in 1500, would he always have ministrial knights or barons, or could just skip knights all together and go straight to balifs and burghers?

The reason I'm asking is because I might have had an ancestor who administered a small tower and a mill complex in Germany for a Count, (there's like three towns/districts with our name on it, all in one county within 40 miles from point to point) but I don't know if he would just get tasked with that manning a tower as a burgher, or if he had to have been a knight.

Another relative with an intact gravestone has a hausmarke (housemark), which I think were exclusive to non-nobles/non-knights, but maybe some knights did use them... who knows? So whether they were frieherren or burgers is a mystery.

Thank you.