The castle was separated into military and administrative sections. The military had tons of soldiers, probably more than needed! The two types of knights were common foot soldiers and aristocratic knights. Knights were assigned specific manors to attack by the lord. Basically, knights were ordered to serve like some people today are ordered to serve in the army if they are signed up for the duty. Knights could attack safely from the castle, travel on foot, or travel on horses.
To the right, you see a picture of a knight! You will read more about knights later on. But for now, knights were a a type of soldier for the castle. His armor is made of what appears to be steal or metal. This was for protection and trust me, knights needed as much protection from the armor as he could get!
What I found interesting is that military technology was constantly changed yet the lord decided that their weapons should stay the same. I’m wondering why the lord chose to do that if he knew there were better weapons of defense out there. Even thought it was basic, knight armor consisted of his main body suit, a strong helmet, a wooden spear, and the knight’s sword. This was for knights going out and attacking. For knights in the castle, they had to be responsible and some what smart because they were as the command staff for the garrison. But the majority of the military were foot soldiers. They were paid by what social class they were. Honestly, I don’t agree with that! Their main weapon was archery cross bow or a regular bow. The maximum range was about 200 yards for just an ordinary bow!
To the right, is a picture of what a cross bow would look like and still looks like now!
Other, less important, soldiers would just use a regular spear for defense purposes. Surprisingly, boredom was common for a soldier’s life but in the castle, there were activities to accompany them.
Service staff included a group of regular civilians. These people coked for soldiers, were stable hands, gardeners, herdsmen, and other various jobs in the outer bailey. In my words, service staff was just slaves with more respect and pay. The highest paid staff was craftsmen making bows and spears for soldiers. These people probably lived in houses of their own, or if you had lower pay, private chambers, or the same buildings where they worked. The military had many other jobs but I found these details important and interesting of the various tasks knights accomplished.
I dont think that it is fair that non inportant soilders only gota spear. did they have a shield?
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