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lies back in the five hundreds, were soldiers in a village had trained to fight viciouse invaders, learning how to fight on horse back, which amongst there fighting abilities attracted the attention of the king and emporor Charlemagne, who was very powerfull at the time. He used this to inspire the concept of a cavalry to fight the Saxons, a tribe centered in Germany. Over time, the knights became the first choice for protection for the kings and royalty of the land, and was a factor in the starting of feudalism, which is where the knights would protect the lord in possesion of land, and for the lords protectio, the knights were granted a portion of the lords land. Eventually however, knights as a facton began to get too proud, thinking themselves as higher than the church, which back then was dangerouse, however, action was only taken after the knights started to attack priests and other religouse officials. in response to this the church creating a treaty between the church and knights, that if the knights fought for and protected the church, then they would be granted a <span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; msoansilanguage: EN-US; msoasciithemefont: minor-latin; msobidifontfamily: 'Times New Roman'; msobidilanguage: AR-SA; msobidithemefont: minor-bidi; msofareastfontfamily: Calibri; msofareastlanguage: EN-US; msofareastthemefont: minor-latin; msohansithemefont: minor-latin;">guaranteed place in heaven. This lead to the start of the Crusades, the fight to spread the Christian religion out int the east, and from that the birth of the Crusaders, the knights who faught for this expansion. The begining of the first Crusade to the end of the eighth and final lasted from 1096 to 1270, spaning nearly two hundered years. The knights continued to be an integral part of the midieval life and then the life of the Renassance. During and after the Rennasance however, the concept of the Knight began to become less of an actual person and more of a title for a person of honor in Britain, such as what we have today, where being knighted is one of the highest of honors.
 * The history of knights**

Truman, Chris. "The Crusades." //History Learning Site//. Historylearningsite, n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2010. .

Weintraub, Aileen. //Knights: Warriors in the Middle Ages (Way of the Warrior)//. New York: Turtleback Books Distributed by Demco Media, 2005.

unknown. "Knights and Armor." //Knights and Armor//. Knights and Armor.com, n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2010. [].


 * Wepons of the Renassance**

another important part of the military is wepons that were used, as you cant fight without wepons. The wepons at the time would be seen ass primitive compaired to the wepons of today, but back then, they filled out whatever purpose was necissary.

first is the **Sword**, a wepon which is simular to a long bladed knife, which was the main wepon for knights and many others. It's main forms of attack are stabbing, thrusting, and cutting, and sometimes swords would come in varients that favored one form of attack over another. The sword could also come in varied legnths, which made it easier for certain kinds of combat, but harder to perform others. for example, a longsword is usefull for fighting farther away oppenents or soldiers on horseback, but is not as good fighting up close enamies or in close quarters, which is where a short sword would be a better wepon in those cases. Swords were used much longer before the midieval and renassance ages, being one of the oldest war wepons, along with clubs. A sword has many components, which are detailed in this picture:
 * Maces** were also a big part of the Midieval and Renassance era wepon list. A mace is a large round shaped object attached to a handheald stick for blugeoning opponents, essentially making it a metal club. The concept behing the mace is, like the sword, one of the oldest wepon desighns. Varients of the mace includes the **flail**, which is a chain, on which their is a ball at the end that is usially spiked. Another varient that has its origins back as far as swords and mases is an **axe**, a stick with a small blade on top, which itself inspired the **bardiche**, a long blade attached to a longer stick, and the **halbard**, whichis a generally two meter long staff toped with an axe blade with a long spearllike tip, for cutting and stabbing far away opponents.



And finaly, one of the most important wepons from the Midieval, Renassance times is the **Bow**, which, while not one of the oldest types of wepon like the previouse two groups, is one of the oldest ranged wepons. A bow is an arch shaped wepon, with the arch having one or more strings crossing from one side to the other. The intended ammo is an **arrow**, a foot to meter long pole that would have a sharp point on it's front end and multiple, usially three to four stabalizer wings on the other end. The bow, like the mace and sword, has its varients, such as the **longbow**, the **cross bow**, and modern **compound bows**. a longbow is simply a longer bow, with the arch being about five to six feet instead of about three feet. A **cross bow** is a gun like object, that fires shots by haveing them placed on an over extended elastic string, and then mechanicaly releasing that string, which causes the **bolt**, which is the name for cross bow ammunition, to fly forward, at impressive speeds but for the crossbows back then, not very far. A **compound bow** is a modern version of the bow, often used for hunting, which uses advance pully systems to make the bow fire farther and faster without much discumfort of the weilder.



unknown. "Knights and Armor." //Knights and Armor//. Knights and Armor.com, n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2010. [].

Jeffery, Graeme. "Archery History." //Home Page//. Centenary Archers Club, n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2010. [].