And, under certain conditions, people of non-noble birth could be knighted (although the knighting was often regarded as their admission into lower nobility). Knights were not born but created, by other knights, feudal lords, or sometimes priests. Second, it is wrong to assume that every nobleman was a knight. During a campaign, a knight depended on a small host of retainers, squires, and attendants who lent armed support and looked after his horses, armor, and other equipment-not to mention peasants and craftsmen, who made the organization of a feudal society with its warrior class possible in the first place. Although knights were the dominant force of most of these armies, they were invariably-and with time increasingly so-supported (and opposed) by foot soldiers, such as archers, pikemen, crossbowmen, and handgunners. First, knights rarely fought alone, nor did medieval and Renaissance armies consist entirely of mounted knights. This erroneous but common belief is probably a result of the romantic notion of the “knight in shining armor,” an image that itself harbors a host of further misconceptions. Misconceptions and Questions Relating to Armor The following text will attempt to correct some of the most popular misconceptions, and to answer some of the questions most frequently asked by the public during guided tours of the Museum’s arms and armor galleries. Among these, the lance rest, an object protruding from the proper right side of many breastplates, probably holds first place. In other instances, certain technical details that escape an obvious explanation have become the focus of lurid and fantastically imaginative attempts to explain their original function. Perhaps the most infamous example is the notion that “knights had to be hoisted into their saddles with a crane,” which is as absurd as it is persistent even among many historians. Most of them are utter nonsense, devoid of any historical base. Their origins usually are to be found in a lack of knowledge of, and experience with, genuine objects and their historical background. The field of arms and armor is beset with romantic legends, gory myths, and widely held misconceptions.
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