This video is kindly sponsored by History Hit: With code SCHOLAGLADIATORA you will get 50% off first 3 months. This is the link which applies the code at the sign up page: access.historyhit.com/checkout?code=scholagladiatora&plan=monthly

One popular theory I've heard for the surcoats' origins in the crusades was as a way of stopping your maille from heating up as much in the sun. Having re-enacted wearing a maille shirt in the Aussie sun, I can confirm the surcoat did make a difference.

"A Templar Knight is truly a fearless knight, and secure on every side, for his soul is protected by the armour of faith, just as his body is protected by the armour of steel. He is thus doubly armed, and need fear neither demons nor men."

Yes, the knee defenses were critical for adventurers; no one wanted to be the "then I took an arrow to the knee" guy.

Something fun about the Knights Templar is that they still exist today. The ones who survived the purge escaped to Portugal and changed their name to the Order of Christ in 1319. They were secularized in 1789, briefly disbanded in 1910 and revived in 1917. Their Grand Master is the president of Portugal.

So you are saying they had cutting edge swords .... got you

Current mood: knight fighting another knight while their horses hug in the background

That was excellent Matt. Could you do a similar dive into the arms and armour of the Islamic equivalent of knights of this period? I can honestly say that I would love to know more about this subject. 👍

I enjoyed this 'timeline progression' format of discussion. I'd enjoy more content like this of other time periods, or other countries. Thank you.

Great video again Matt. I think you would love The Palace Armoury in Malta. This is a Knights Hospitaller museum/ arms & armour collection stored in a palace. Maltese military history is fascinating as it has been strategically important for centuries and has had a great variety of different military bodies connected with it.

History Hit is a sponsor made in heaven for Matt. HH make great content, more traditional TV style historical videos but they are really good. Wonder if Matt will ever colab with them

Just a thought I had while listening on what the purpose of the surcoat was. Maybe it was to help keep the knights cooler. I imagine a loose white sheet basically covering all their armor would to reflect the intense sun they would have been in. Wearing metal armor in hot intense sun would probably cook a man. Their armor directly in sunlight would probably be untouchable hot. Like any metal sitting in the sun on a hot day.

I love these thorough "piece by piece" analysis of X warriors on X century. I think these are my favorite kind of videos of yours, Matt!

I know it's not completely historically accurate movie, but one of my favorites..."Iron Clad".

Great video. The knightly orders were always fascinating Would love to see a video on the knights hospitaller during their stay on Rhodes. What changes were made to accommodate ship born combat?

Super appreciated, especially from a fanboy of great helms such as myself. I'm sorry for the full plate fans, but boy, templars look so badass!

Interesting as always! Hope you're working on another history video like Flodden, I really enjoy those.

They may not have added greaves over mail leggings for knights very early, but historically don't greaves by themselves go back to antiquity? Like Greek hoplites?

Wow. It's amazing how the Great Helm is so closely associated with the Crusades and the Templars yet it wasn't developed / used until the Third Crusade. Replica helmets are usually called "Crusader Helmet".

I’d like to see a video about the weapons of the Nizari Ismaili assassins. We’re their daggers curved or straight? Etc. Thank you for another great video.

Wonderful video, Matt! I very much enjoyed learning more about the Templars.

Great stuff Matt 👏 thanks for sharing with us

A super interesting insight! I would love to see more videos like this about specific warrior groups...maybe some deep dive videos too? Thanks!

Great vid. A video on the various knightly orders would kickass. More of the history of the orders than just the arms and armour. This video has me thinking how far away did the various order draw their members from their order's place of origin. Yes I should serve prison time for that last sentence. Maybe a collaboration with Meteron, Shad, Lindybeige and Skall...Tod? Anyways just a thought. 😀

This is a video I needed, but never realized that I needed it. I love this video - great topic that I hope you can find a way to revisit somehow down the line.

Very enjoyable and informative. Thank you Matt.

Excellent video. A lot of work went into this. Thank you. 👏

Kettle hats were also an important knightly helmet during the later crusades in the middle east and through into the late 15th century. I imagine that the templars would have made exstensive use of them.

I really like your historical views, thanks for that! A surcoat also hides where the gaps or weak spots in your armour are, so can't be targeted directly as such, also keeps blood, bodyfluids and other dirt from your mail and armour, nothing as bad as trying washing bloodclots out of mail and other intricate armour parts. Buff leather was a very thick and tough type of leather, not boiled but treated so that it is tough against cuts, arrows etc. The buffcoat is a 16th century heritage of that. Leather is underestimated in archeology and history simply because so little remains of it if at all.

14:14 aww the horses are hugging.

I remember seeing illustrations of knights in the 1200s with square pieces of wood or leather attached to the upper arm with cords. I was a kid then and I still don't know if the rectangles are supposed to be decorative or protective but they appear for a very short time and then just disappear in the early 1300s. I can't seem to find these illustrations nowadays (I only found modern ones a few years back) and I'm not sure anymore if I just hallucinated them or if they were actually a thing during the crusades. This was a great video and fun topic! You mentioned Christians being allowed to use Muslim weapons and this now has me intrigued as to what kinds of arms the church considered Muslim weapons back in the day. Would love to see videos on Islamic golden age arms, armor and culture someday.

Awesome video! Really cleared up my misconception about great helms an templars!

Alright last one, I swear. A vid of nothing but looking at artwork and effigies depicting arms and armor and talking about them would be awesome. Maybe drag in some other experts to discuss? I remember seeing the Black Prince’s effigy on his tomb for the first time and what an impression (figuratively bot literally) it left on me with the detail of his armor. I thought it was so cool- I think I poked around it for like half an hour. I definitely got some weird looks. Lol.

I’ve loved the Knights Templar since I was a kid. Really cool history, and if what I’ve heard is true they got done real dirty at the end by the French king and the pope. Pretty horrifying actually

This format if video if the evolution of a very specific group of people is extremely interesting. Hope you can apply it to other kind of warriors or groups. If not by military order maybe geographical or other parameter that lets you focus like you did here

The tabards and sir coats were implemented to stop armour from heating up in the sun for Templar’s.

Great work as usual. I would like to hear you explain it a little differently sometime. You approach the subject as weapons and armor of the knights. I am interested to hear it explained as - the knight’s choice of weapon against his opponents armor/weapon. And the knight’s armor development against his opponents weapons. I think one source mentions that he (the Templar) should have a Turkish mace. I’m not sure but I think this is a round mace and not flanged. Your thoughts?

I don't know why I'm so fond of maille? Obviously plate is superior, but I still love it 🤷🏻‍♂️

Great video! Thank you Matt!

That was very good. Another topic that could work in this general format/structure would be the Border Reivers. There's a developmental timeline, it is not overly covered on YT and is a fascinating period of history.

It's fascinating seeing how many elements from medieval Roman panoply slowly found their way into knightly arms.

It's my understanding that daggers were around in this earlier period, it's just that they had a negative association. They were considered the weapons of assassins, murderers, and people who relied on sneakiness. As such, they were not viewed as honorable arms for a knight. However, as you stated, Matt, the innovations in armor made it increasingly difficult for the dagger's effectiveness on the battlefield to be overlooked! Also, even though the classic quillon dagger wasn't yet being carried in a military context, there were dagger-like weapons in the earlier Middle Ages, specifically, the scramsamx (my own made-up word for the seax/scramasax😁).

That was a great video. I would love to see more like it.

Cérveilière, you brought it up at the end, literally means "brain-plate". Thank you as always Matt.

Jolly useful, TY Ol' Bean. 👍

Nice video Matt! Question, what about the use of falchions compared to arming swords? The art you showed doesn't feature them regularly

enjoyed this - be interesting to see you review some osprey type books or bronze age kits of different periods and regions - i remember your bearded dragon vid but what is in the tanks on your shelf behind you? vid enjoyable as always

Excellent video. Thanks.

I love watching your vids and then diving headlong into the historical rabbithole. Should be more videos about applications of leather armor in the mideval era as apposed to the romanticized images we get in movies and tv.

Surcoats most likely became common out of either fashion or to make it easier to know what side someone was fighting for on the battlefield. If everyone simply has mail covered gambisons in melee combat, it would be easy to end up fighting against someone on your own side.

I don't know if you already did an episode about it. But I would love to see you cover the difference and abilities of the small sword VS its sibling the Colichemarde.

The horses at 14:20. Wow, just wow

Great vid. Interesting to see the Kettle Hat helm in such early artwork. I always thought of it as more of a late 14th and 15th Century helmet, but here it is in early to mid 13th Century Artwork. It’s one of my favorite helmets, and especially interesting as it even influenced (dare I say developed into?) the British helmet of WWI and WWII. Maybe you could do a vid on it some time?

I've got that book on my nightstand right now, excellent read.

Brilliant video sir.

Clicked on this one instantly LOL "The Templars" is a great book. Umberto Eco wrote about them a lot too.

Oh man you've opened the gates now you have to continue this format and do many more warrior loadouts

One of your best vids! Gratis.

17:25 are those horses meant to be: A) fighting B) hugging C) dancing Or D) the artist had a weird equine fixation and it’s about to get r-rated?

really enjoined this armor and history lesson

Man this vid has me thinking of so many things. I feel like a lot of people think of knights in mail much more maneuverable than knight in plate, a concept that I think a lot of fantasy fames probably also propagate. But when you think about all the layers a knight in mail wore- take the head for example, a padded cloth coif, mail coif, cervelliere, and great helm, or all the layers on the torso of clothing, gambeson, chain, coat of plates, tunic all belted together- it makes me wonder if the later suit of armor, that at first glance may seem heavier and more cumbersome, may actually have been more comfortable and lighter feeling to wear due to how the weight was distributed. Another future vid idea? ok, I’ll leave you alone now. Unless something else comes to ming in the last 3 mins of the vid. Lol

The plate on the chest for jousting comment made me realize I've only ever seen that depicted in the age of plate. Were folks jousting before that? If so, just using mail? Ouch. Might be a good idea for a video! How, if at all, jousting armor influenced battlefield armor. And vice versa.

Fascinating - great vid.

The only theory I can think of for going from cone - round - to square helmet would be if your dealing with cavalry men or a horsed opponent and your on foot then if they swing at your head the blow won’t glance off into your shoulder. That’s about all I got.

Very cool! Teutonic Knights next? 👀

Well, a dose of Schola Gladiatoria is a good way to start the day.

I thought that the surcoat was introduced to help keep the sun off of the metal armor, which helps keep the heat down when fighting in a sunny place like the Middle East.

14:20 (yes also shown a bit earlier) but that is a really amusing picture with the angry horses fighting just like their masters 🙂

The main weakness of knight templars was the fact that did not know anything about Skallagrim and his KZfaq channel, and thus were unaware that spears are much better than swords. According to Skallagrim, that is. ;-)

Wow! The knights templar have been getting a lot of love lately.

Absolutely loved this video mate.atb paddy

Very interesting video (Especially since I'm writing a medieval-fantasy and I've decided that the tech level for arms and armors is (along with a few culturally explained exceptions) set around the end of the XIIIth century. As an aside: 29:10 I was wondering what was "Kuh-Bully" haha. Just a little tip, it might be easier to pronounce if one keeps in mind that "Bouilli" (boiled) is pronounced Boo-Yee. I'll be indulgent of course on the pronunciation of the word "cuir" (leather) as it has two of the bane of the englishmen when trying to speak french, the U and the R. :P

Maces being a cutting edge technology is surprising on a least a couple of levels! =)

Good video thanks ⚔️

I need to read more. Fascinating as we go from Post-Roman rule into Byzantine rule, the rise of the Carolingian rule armor is dominated by mail. In the span of but a century it seems, the Norman Conqueror set off a domino effect that caused a armor race that doesn’t end till rifles suddenly make it all obsolete

Love it when Lucy pulls a yukky face.

Am I the only one who had a Whiterun guard speaking in their head while Matt talked about leg protection?

I see you said the face plate ends up growing and going around the back, but if you look at the tapestry bit you showed in this video you can see a mounted soldier with a nasal helm with plates hanging off the back like samurai helms. So it may have grown from the back to the front face plates. Did you notice that on the tapestry Matt ?

History hit sponsorship? Nice! I hope this means you get to collaborate with them.

there's a video on tod's workshop where they test mail over padding and padding over mail and theres a significant difference in protection between the two arrangements with mail under the padding offering better piecing protection. it wouldn't surprise me if the surcoat was constructed with this in mind

As some who has worn armor in the sun...I think the tabard fabric covering is there simply to keep the sun off your armor. It helps.....I've experienced it myself first hand. Plus it looks cool.

It would be interesting to see (if you've not done it already) a similar format video on the arms and armour of the Saxon/ Viking period (5th-11th century say) as a counter to the absolute drivel that you see in most period films and TV series. The Vikingpunk costumes do wind me up a bit : )

I am german, living in state Baden-Württemberg. When in 1525 Highmaster / Hochmeister of Teutonic Order decided, to transform Prussia from a catholic Order State into an ordinary noble duchy ( a vassal state of polish kingdom), the , German Master' / Deutschmeister of Teutonic Order decided, to use the new title ,Hoch- und Deutschmeister ' ( high and german master) , and ruled only the remaining territories in HRE. Then Bad Mergentheim became Capital of Teutonic Order. In 1809 Napoleon abandonned Teutonic Order. In Bad Mergentheim, the Castle is Museum of Teutonic Order. There is a sword, used by , Teutonic Knights ' of 19th century. Teutonic Order still exists, but last knight died 1971.

1:40 Happens every time. You start fighting and your horses break the mood with a hug.

what were those horses doing hugging hahahahaha

My understanding with daggers is that they were used to stand small exposed areas not protected by armor like armpits, eyes, or neck, etc. also that because knights now were so heavily armored it was hard for them to get up if getting knocked down and while being knocked down they could be taken out with a dagger.

That was utterly fascinating, It's of course futile to hope that some Hollywood film makers or BBC producers would listen and learn and look at the examples you showed. Anyway, I wish we had "History Hour with Matt" when I was at school, I'd not have yawned and slept through so many hours.

The fully decked out Templar riding on armored war horses are a magnificent and exquisitely terrifying vision.💯

14:20 are those horses hugging?

Interesting video! Something you could explore next is the arms and armor of the Muslims during the crusades. Just an idea, it’s a topic I’ve never known much about. Cheers!

is it possible that it was common to wear a surcoat over your coat of plates in order to make it harder for your opponent to aim for a gap in the plates?

14:15 The first thought I had seeing this image was "Those horses seem really worried about their riders"

Can you do a video on the Knights Hospitaller?

Matt I'm wondering how swords on horseback were used during that time against heavily armoured opponents ?

Is there any particular advantage to a flat top over a conical one? Surely the conical shape would be better? Another brilliant video by the way

Well articulated history of a period of development that is often fictionally perverted. One addition to the discussion would be a discussion of the ability of craftsmen to produce sheets of useable Iron and mild steel. The first benefit would be for head protection and later for other areas. The history of ferrous metals during the period could be traced in part by the development of large workshops and the use of water power to assist in production.

**video suggestion** - those little shield type things you sometimes see on Knights shoulders, almost like a pauldron but it's a little shield, we need to discuss

A truly interesting discussion would be why so many "innovations" mentioned here are features of armor that faded from use following the end of the Western Roman Empire. Greaves are well known pieces of armor in the Middle East and Mediterranean as far back as the Bronze Age and appear on classical statuary. Some face protection was fairly standard in the Roman military at times, at least cheek pieces and some protection of the back of the neck. What drives such waves of fashion in armor? Even now, we see shifts in helmet styles from definite protection against shrapnel, to the current US style which looks a lot like cyclist's helmet with next to no protection to the sides and the front. Even a limited visor that might protect from solar glare is gone.

Please do a video on cross gards vs basket hilt sword

The shield and helm went flat for the same reason sleeves went long. They had more money. Thus, being more likely to fight from horses and less likely to fight against them, they weren't so likely to be hit on top of the head. Notice the common enemies of the knights held onto the pointed helm longer because they were likely to get hit from on high. Also, western knights liked flailing weapons.