Medieval Knights: 12 of the Best

Q: Who were the best knights in medieval times?

The best knights were those who belonged to the military orders and so were full-time combatants. The three main orders were the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller, and the Teutonic Knights. Famous individual knights include the Norman knight Robert Guiscard, the Spanish knight Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (El Cid), and the English knight Sir William Marshal.

Q: Who was the greatest knight of all time?

The competition for who was the greatest knight is fierce but a good candidate is Sir William Marshal (c. 1146-1219 CE) who won every medieval tournament he ever entered across 16 years of competition.

Q: Who were the most honorable knights?

It is questionable if medieval knights were as honourable as their later reputation suggests. Perhaps the most honourable knights are those from legends such as Saint George, Sir Galahad, and the German knight Siegfried.

Mark Cartwright

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Article:	Medieval Knights: 12 of the Best
Author:	Mark Cartwright
Narrator:	Jennifer Sabir

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Jennifer Sabir

I hold a M.A. in Second Language, Policy, Culture with a passion for Russian language and culture and a working knowledge of French. Additionally, I work as a freelance linguist editor, enjoy voice work, and have experience with poetry translation.

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Mark Cartwright

Mark is WHE’s Publishing Director and has an MA in Political Philosophy (University of York). He is a full-time researcher, writer, historian and editor. Special interests include art, architecture and discovering the ideas that all civilizations share.

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