I know perfectly well that I'm not nearly well-versed enough in this time period to really bring much to this discussion--not to mention the fact that I'm not on the Sethomas plane at any point--but there were a couple of points that I really wanted to say, so here I go:
Quote:
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The reason why it lasted more than a few months? The French interpretation of chivalry (see above) forbad them from dismounting along with relying on yeomen mercenaries, which the English did both. As a result, they were slaughtered time and time again by the Welsh longbow. Many knights went into battle understanding this, but in all seriousness they’d rather die with an arrow on horseback than to stop using their horses or, worse, employ lower-class fighters along with their tactics.
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There was another battle that this reminded me of, (and I had a nice long explanation for why I couldn't remember the name but yay Google) the Battle of Pylos, between the athenians and the spartans. It's not quite the same thing, but I remember it being explained that the spartans would not use bows and arrows as they felt them to be a cowardly weapon, and after the 420 hoplites were taken back to Athens they complained about this, saying that their defeat wasn't manly so it didn't count. But then it went on to say that this was one symptom of the spartan mindset, holding fast to the past methods of glory, and this was also of course one of the reasons for their downfall. It's a laboured connection but a connection nonetheless.
The second point was that I've noticed in my own thoughts that it seems like we've fallen into a mental rut--certainly the genius people are
out there but there are so many periods of time that were simply swollen with amazing individuals. I'm just glad that it's not just a paranoid thought process on my part.
And I wish you were someone that I could simply sit down and have conversations with, because as much as you'd leave me behind I'd just
love it.