Warriors For The Working Day
Military Art
By
Paul Hitchin
145 Walsall Road
Pelsall
Walsall
WS3 4BP
UK
Telephone
07967630942
Norman Knight – 1066
One of William the Conqueror’s followers
whobrought an end to Saxon England by
defeating King Harold and hiswarriors one bloody October day on Senlac Hill in 1066.The backbone of the Norman army was the mounted knight,
a feudal warrior trained in war from childhood, used to fighting from the
saddle in trained bodies of knights, they were the shock troops of their
era.The knight is dressed
in a knee length mail shirt, split to the crotch to facilitate riding, the
mail has a hood or coif worn over the head and above that the knight wears
a conical helmet with a nasal to protect the face. In this instance the
helm is constructed in several pieces and is painted, but helmets hammed
from a single piece of iron were also common. His kite shaped shield gives
good protection to the bridle hand and left side of the body. Armed with
sword or spear, which was sometimes thrown as a javelin the knights were
well used to fighting from horseback and the deep Norman saddle gave the
mounted warrior a secure seat in combat.The
illustration is interpreted from the Bayeux Tapestry which is a superb
historical source for these men who changed the shape of Englishhistory.
