The glamour associated with knights in shining armour, colourful tournaments and heroic deeds appeal strongly to the modern imagination. However, few pieces of military dress and equipment have survived to provide direct insight into the way that war was waged in the Middle Ages. For a comprehensive view of the nature of medieval warfare we rely on written documentation and the information preserved in paintings, sculptures, carvings, and other pictorial sources. The most numerous by far of these are the miniatures and drawings found in manuscript books, partly because books tend to...

Widely popular in Europe throughout the Middle Ages, the phenomenon of courtly love is said to have had its origins with the troubadours of the 11th century. In its true sense it referred to a stylised and idealistic relationship between a knight and his lady, which was motivated by the aims of chivalry and required by convention to be unrequited, the real reward of the knight's devoted service being an educational one. Such courtly liaisons became a powerful force in shaping the literature of the day, in particular with their significant contribution to the ever popular tales of romance...