Subject: cavaliere knight

Culture: Venetian

Setting: Genoan wars, Italy/Mediterranean 14thc

Evolution:

Context (Event Photos, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Field Notes)

* Nicolle/Rothero 1989 p4

"[T]he Venetian social order was strictly feudal. Though within the city no individual held land by knight tenure, various Church and other properties were tied to military service.

"The Venetians were soon famous for their roving and warlike spirit, keen business acumen and pride. An almost modern sense of 'national' identity unified the city and saved Venice from many of those class struggles which rent the rest of medieval Italy. Even the Serrate -- the 'locking' or 'closing' of the Venetian ruling class at the end of the 13th century -- did not dampen the loyalty of the Venetians, rich and poor, to their Serene Republic, even though it thereafter excluded all other families from political power.

"It is worth noting that only one Order of Chivalry, the Cavalieri di San Marco, was ever founded in Venice and no Venetian could join a foreign order without government approval. Venice remained a republic throughout its independent history, while politics and the army were kept firmly separate. Belligerent as they were, the Venetians had a businesslike attitude to war which seems to have been regarded as an extension of commerce by other means."

* Nicolle/Rothero 1989 p11

"Despite their web-footed reputation, the Venetians had fielded effective armoured cavalry even in the 13th century, a regulation of 1239 assuming one war-horse, two other horses and three squires for each Venetian knight. The 14th century poet Petrarch declared that this 'nation of sailors' surpassed all others both on horseback and at sea."

Armor

Hammer

Sword

* Oakeshott 1960 p210

"[The Type XIV sword] was a style more generally Italian ...."