Did they actually look like that?

[hellenes]

Question...

[Incongruous]

I'm guesing Hospittler of one of the higher positions?

[Kagemusha]

I would say that its a little bit overstylized Teutonic knight of high rank.Here are couple of his his orderly brothers:

[KrooK]

It seems to be Great Master of teutonic order. But I think that in reality he didn't have that cross over helmet.

[Watchman]

There was one phase when it was fashionable to have, well, pretty much anything atop your great helm as decoration. As such paraphenelia was normally made out of something like papier-mache or somparable materials the effect, one way or another, was purely cosmetical.

[Innocentius]

To give a simple answer: No.

Decorative things like the "crown" atop the helmet were only worn in tourneys and during other social occations.

[hellenes]

Well except the crown cross thing on the helmet is the rest historically accurate?

[The_Doctor]

Well except the crown cross thing on the helmet is the rest historically accurate?

Yes.

[Marshal Murat]

The shield looks a little small for a knight.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Shield size varied according to custom, period, social standing, etc. For those fighting on horseback with the lance, the shields trended smaller as the quality and specialization of the armor trended higher, with the shield eventually disappearing altogether from high-end armors in the late middle-ages/early renn.

Your Megaknight depicted in the first post is clearly kitted out for some form of ceremony/parade. Anything that could catch an edge -- particularly when you were trying to duck your head away from a shot -- and anything that could tangle you up/encourage a fall would be discarded in battle as a matter or practicality. The romans did the same thing with all the horsehair crests you see in movies, just a parade item.

[Innocentius]

Yes.

What?!

No, it must certainly is not. To begin with, the fabric seems to be silk, there is some form of pattern on the lance, the knight wears colours (gold) that were not used by the Teutonic Knights, he's got a flag attached to the lance, the "clothes" worn by the horse are way over-decorated (as the clothes belonging to the knight), the knight wears some form of robe and on top of that: the horse has some really odd proportions.

Perhaps, a teutonic knight in the mid-to-late 13th century (judging from the armour) could have looked like this at a tourney or parade or something (apart from the gold), so in a way it's all historically correct. But no knight would ever have dreamed of going to battle dressed like that.

[IrishArmenian]

If I remember correctly, most Catholic Warrior Monks wore white with Red Crosses (See English Flag, not UK, for a look-alike).
The Warrior Monks, despite their prowess on the Battlefield, wore chainmail, a large helmet like the one pictured (minus the bells and whistles) and a white tunic with a red cross on it. Most fought on horseback, but could dismount.

[Kagemusha]

The colours they weared depended on the order which they belonged. Templars weared the most famous white tunics with red crosses. Hospitallers black tunics with white crosses and Teutonic Knights weared white tunics with black crosses.

[IrishArmenian]

What about knights of Santiago?
I think they wore the same thing as the Templars.

[ajaxfetish]

I don't recall the original poster making a distinction between parade or battle uniform. The picture shouldn't be dismissed simply for being impractical on the battlefield, as knights often wore things they wouldn't dream of taking into battle. The picture is obviously very stylized and fanciful, but for the most part his harness looks pretty accurate to me (though keep in mind that equipment was in a constant state of evolution over the entire medieval period--I would assume about 13th century for this guy).

Ajax

[Watchman]

I'm under the impression most of that junk could right well have been worn into combat. The helmet decorations were made from light, fragile materials (only natural given what those great helms weighed, really...) so they wouldn't exactly "catch" anything beyond careless little birds...

I know the Teutonic Order's main colours were black cross on white, but they also had a whole lot of additional varitaion for different ranks, serjeants, "guest" crusaders and so on which was doubtless a very common practice among the Orders. Still, the one in the pic has in practice a gold cross on white - beats me if there ever was an Order or rank that used such scheme.

[KrooK]

It is definitely Teutonic knight. Highest members of that order had special version of cross on shield.

[KrooK]

BTW - they normally looked similar - but with polish sword into throat :)

[Stig]

BTW - they normally looked similar - but with polish sword into throat :)

[The Stranger]

how can you say from a frigging puppet that the material its made of is too light to be worn into battle.. DUH and the mantle ofcourse is of iron... and their lance is iron too...?

[Watchman]

What you say!!

[The Wizard]

Pretty damn stylized, but overall there's nothing major wrong with it.

[Kralizec]

His lance doesn't have that cylindric piece before the handgrip, that keeps the lance from sliding. (I have no idea what it's called)

[ajaxfetish]

I don't believe the earliest lances did either. I wouldn't consider it a necessary component. Perhaps the leather straps attached to it are meant to serve a similar purpose.

BTW - they normally looked similar - but with polish sword into throat :)

Gotta love our resident Polish Nationalist!

Ajax

edit: While it may very well be a Teutonic Knight, keep in mind that considering the stylized nature of the piece overall it could just as easily be no more than the artist's idea of what colors and designs would look impressive.

[Watchman]

He doesn't seem to be wearing any rigid body armour, so the "flare" in the lance would be useless anyway - if not outright dangerous. I don't think you'd want to transfer the impact directly into your damn ribcage after all...

[Cataphract_Of_The_City]

I 've noticed that the horse wears mail under the tunic. Does that mean that this was normal? I mean, I see pictures of knights with tuniced horses but I always thought that fabric was not a particularly good armor, but mail underneath would make a lot of difference.

[KrooK]

It seems to be knight from XIII , maybe very beginnin of XIV century - he have no plate armour but helmets and some minor parts. And look at helmet - it seems to be oldest version of full helmets.

[matteus the inbred]

It seems to be knight from XIII , maybe very beginnin of XIV century - he have no plate armour but helmets and some minor parts. And look at helmet - it seems to be oldest version of full helmets.

Usually called the 'great helm' or casque. He'd probably have a mail or leather skullcap on underneath it as well, to prevent it from being crushed into his head by a blow.
The picture looks, if a little clean and fanciful, quite accurate to me, and probably mid- to late-13th century as many people have already said.
Mix of chainmail and plate armour, fine, and the horse wearing chainmail as well, under a padded or thick cloth caparison. Not sure about the helmet design, but then this is probably a 'parade order' knight! You wouldn't want to fight in a cloak, it could be used to pull you off the horse...equally, I don't whether spurs would be a wise idea when your horse is wearing curtains like that!

His greaves seem a bit odd though...jointed strips...? Don't know if there's anything historically innaccurate about that, just not seen it before. Anything with vertical joins like that can be split by a blow, although I guess anyone hacking at his leg would be using a horizontal stroke as he went by...

[lars573]

how can you say from a frigging puppet that the material its made of is too light to be worn into battle.. DUH and the mantle ofcourse is of iron... and their lance is iron too...?

No lances were wood. Even the ones that had the fluted bit were made from wood. Carved on a lathe. The only metal bits would be the tip.

[Orda Khan]

His greaves seem a bit odd though...jointed strips...? Don't know if there's anything historically innaccurate about that, just not seen it before. Anything with vertical joins like that can be split by a blow, although I guess anyone hacking at his leg would be using a horizontal stroke as he went by...

They were very common, sometimes even made of thick leather or even wood.

Hospitallers black tunics with white crosses

Early on, yes. This was replaced later with white on red

........Orda