by David Smith

Created on: August 22, 2009

Many people in the world think that being a knight was the end all goal of everyone in the Middle Ages. This was simply not so. As far as the nobility in a feudal society was concerned, the knight was the lowest there was. I do not say this to minimize the importance of a knight of the role they played in society, but to illustrate that the knight was often the slave of fashion in the Middle Ages. Fashion was equatable to wealth, and wealth improved their social status.

As military commanders first and foremost, their money was often better spent on the equipment for making war. Also, with heraldry being a means of identifying the knight on the field, most of what was worn on the field of battle was centered around the knight's coat of arms. A knight had to keep a few outfits of "dress" clothing, however, for functions of state, audiences with royalty and the ever popular tournaments. The more that the knight could spend on these dress clothes, the better his status would grow.

Near the end of the Middle Ages, there was a trend toward the knight to become more of a slave to fashion. Knights tended to try to wear more of the garments that higher ranking nobility were wearing. Along with the actual clothing, a typical knight had at least three suits of armor. One suit was worn into battle, one was worn at the various tournaments the knight would attend, and one that the knight would wear to functions of state, etc.

The tournament influenced the knight to take a much more active look at fashion. Some knights, like Sir William Marshall, did nothing but travel from tournament to tournament, and they were definitely slaves to fashion. Without the necessity of going to war, the knights were much more interested in looking better than every other knight at any tournament they would attend. So, during the Middle Ages, much like today, the knights greatly attempted to keep up with the fashion trends of the times. The only notable exceptions were the Christian orders of Knighthood.

The orders of the Christian Knights included the Teutonic Knights, the Hospitalier Knights, and the Knights Templar. As part of the charters of these orders, the knight vowed to live in poverty, denouncing all material things save for the instruments that they needed to make war. The knights wore the heraldry of their order, which often enough was just a simple cross on white fabric. This eliminated the need for the knight to worry about making trappings with their personal arms on them. As far as the times that were spent out of armor, the Christian knight made every attempt to appear poor. They did not shave regularly, did not keep their hair groomed and did not bathe regularly. They believed that this brought them closer to the ideals of Christian living.

Learn more about this author, David Smith.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.