Did Squires clean armor?

Armour had to be regularly cared for, and it was usually the duty of a knight’s squire to clean and polish it.

How did medieval knights sharpen their swords?

A grinding stone, referred to as a sharpening stone, was used. The stone was similar in texture to sandpaper but was of greater density and able to grind off parts of steel not just wood. Think of it as changing the shape of the edge of the blade, from flat to triangular.

How often did soldiers sharpen their swords?

If you’re asking about medieval times, no one has a good answer to this, although based on what we know about the iron and steel of the time the answer can be assumed that it needed sharpened after EVERY battle, and also probably needed to be sharpened as maintenance once every month or two outside war time.

How did knights prevent their armor from rusting?

The polished finish most weapons and plate armour had does protect it to a certain extent by slightly “closing” the grain of the steel surface by burnishing. The same way we always kept everything that rusts from rusting.

Do squires still exist?

Initially, a squire was a knight’s apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might be called a squire, and still later, the term was applied to members of the landed gentry. In contemporary American usage, squire is the title given to justices of the peace or similar local dignitaries.

What was life like for a squire?

The squire was expected to be with his knight throughout the day, helping him to dress, serving him at table, running errands and messages and sleeping by his door at night, ready to help fight off any intruders.

How did they sharpen swords?

They used a variety of flat whetstones in various grits and sometimes a rotating stone grinding wheel. Hundreds of viking and medieval whetstones have been found (whetstones actually date back to millennia before the medieval period) and medieval illustrations show men sharpening swords on wheels.

How were swords kept from rusting?

Olive oil, turnip oil, canola oil, linseed oil, rapeseed oil – all known to Medievals. Also animal fats were used. Often the scabbard had fur inside, which would contain natural fats and keep the blade from rusting.

How did Knights pee in armour?

It’s a myth that armor was so heavy that the knight had to be lifted on to his horse with a crane. When the fighting was over, they cleaned his armor with a mixture of sand and urine to stop it from getting rusty!

How was armor cleaned?

Cleaning armor is similar to cleaning anything metal: use a soapy rag to clean out the filth. How they did it and what they used might depend on the region and time period. Knights were too high-class to do the cleaning themselves, which is why Squires did the work.

How to determine the sharpness of a medieval sword?

Determining the sharpness of a Medieval sword must usually be done through deduction, using the literary evidence, armour of the time, and blade type to figure out how sharp the sword needed to be. So, when it comes to the sharpness of Medieval swords, the real question is, “how sharp did a Medieval sword need to be at any given time?”

Did medieval swords have a razor edge?

That many swords were not razor sharp does not mean that razor sharp swords did not exist – while a razor edge is brittle against armour and difficult to maintain, Medieval swords could always be sharpened after becoming blunt. Even once one has considered the purpose of the sword, one must also consider how well it was built and maintained.

Did an arms race exist between bladesmiths and Armourers in the Middle Ages?

Indeed, it would be accurate to say that a full-out arms race existed between bladesmiths and armourers in the Middle Ages, with armour developing to counter the latest weaponry, and bladesmiths modifying their swords to match.

What were swords used for in the early Middle Ages?

As a result, for the early Middle Ages prior to the Norman Conquest, we tend to see a lot of swords with relatively little profile taper – types X and Xa in the Oakeshott typology – and a lenticular cross section, built primarily for cutting, but also capable of thrusting. From the literature, cutting appears to be the primary use of these weapons.