Why did knights suck so bad?

[Hurin_Rules]

Lets not minimize their accomplishments.

The knights helped dramatically extend the borders of Western civilization. The period of their spread, the so-called Twelfth Century Renaissance (really from about 1050 to 1250), saw Europe finally come of age and become a real rival to the much older and much richer civilizations of Byzantium and Islam.

The knights helped turn the tide of the Reconquest in Spain, which had been dominated by Muslims until this time. Spain remains predominantly Christian to this day, due to this.

Knights spread Christianity and Western institutions into Central and Eastern Europe, often by conquest. The Teutonic knights were particularly successful in this regard-- Prussia was taken from Pagans, Hungary and Poland converted to Christianity.

Knights also took back much of the Mediterranean, like Sicily and the Balearic Islands, as well as a host of smaller crusader states from Malta to Rhodes, Crete and Cyprus.

In 1204, Knights took the lead in a military feat that every barbarian and Muslim people had dreamed of for nearly 1000 years: the conquest of Constantinople. In fact, the Fourth Crusaders took it twice in less than a year, when army after army, from Vikings to Arabs to Bulgars, had failed.

Finally, the knights led the conquests of the crusades. This was a remarkable achievement (the First Crusade in particular) given the technologies of the Middle AGes: to project a force of tens of thousands into a foreign, alien land, march it through thousands of kilometres of enemy territory, and set up colonies/crusader states that endured for two centuries. Nothing quite like it had ever occured (even the initial phase of Muslim conquest expanded, they didn't simply project a force thousands of kilometres away from their nearest base.)

The question is an interesting one. But do be aware of the remarkable accomplishments of Western armies in the high Middle Ages, led as always by an armoured spearhead of knights.