The Myths of the Middle Ages

The Middle Ages Braveheart and Robin Hood. Lord of the Rings and Merlin (“5 Biggest…”). These Hollywood classics all influence how people tend to perceive the Middle Ages, a time period that stretched across the fifth and sixteenth centuries. Contrary to Hollywood’s beliefs, life back then was very routine and social activities were an important addition to everyone’s’ life, whether they were a peasant or royalty (“Medieval Life”). However, Hollywood has deemed it fit to slander the Middle Ages with myths such as a knight in shining armor, the death penalty as a common punishment, and peasant life as a horrible and unlivable condition (“Top 10…”). All of these ideas are present in Hollywood classics, but do any of them hold a fraction of truth? Surprisingly, knight life tended to be as dull and unadventurous during the Dark Ages, another name used to describe this time period, as those in the military today. Those who didn’t serve the King were typically hired by lords in order to protect their land, or fiefs, from bandits and other invaders. By offering protection and housing, nobles (lords or barons), would acquire peasants, or serfs, to “farm the land and provide the lord with wealth in the form of food and products” (“How Knights Work”). This shows how people were just like the modern working class in that what they did helped the higher classes. These lords typically gained the fiefs from the King himself “in return for loyalty, protection, and service” (“How Knights Work”). Basically, the lords helped out the King by providing mini armies for any incoming threat.
As knighthood was not an inherited position, it was common for the younger son of a lord to begin the path to knighthood. At age seven, they would be bestowed with the title of page. “Huntsmen and falconers taught them how to hunt, and priests or chaplains taught them religion, reading and writing” (How Knights Work”). This quote shows how Knights were not mindless human beings