The armor used in the Middle Ages was gradually perfected,
until at length the knight became a living fortress. In the early feudal
period he wore a cloth or leather tunic covered with iron rings or scales, and
an iron cap with a nose guard. About the beginning of the twelfth century he
adopted chain mail, with a hood of the same material for the head. During the
fourteenth century the knight began to wear heavy plate armor, weighing fifty
pounds or more, and a helmet with a visor which could be raised or lowered.
Thus completely incased in metal, provided with shield, lance, straight sword
or battle-ax, and mounted on a powerful horse, the knight could ride down
almost any number of poorly armed peasants. Not till the development of missile
weapons—the longbow, and later the musket—did the foot soldier resume his
importance in warfare. The feudal age by this time was drawing to a close.
PREVALENCE OF PRIVATE WAR
The nobles regarded the right of waging war on one another
as their most cherished privilege. Fighting became almost a form of business
enterprise, which enriched the lords and their retainers through the sack of
castles, the plunder of villages, and the ransom of prisoners. Every hill
became a stronghold and every plain a battlefield. Such neighborhood warfare,
though rarely very bloody, spread terrible havoc throughout the land.
