Some questions about medieval knights

[Furious Mental]

Don't know about the rest of Europe, but when Anglo-Norman knights fought dismounted it was generally when they expected to face a cavalry charge and they were placed in the front ranks of the army in front of the fyrd. Since the fyrd presumably fought in a shield wall and this was already pretty good at stopping a cavalry charge, I'd expect dismounted knights to have fought in the same fashion. Since at that stage knights seem to have used a relatively light lance, and carried a big kite shield, it was easy enough. In the Hundred Years War English knights sometimes used their lances like pikes. One account of a battle referred to their formation as being like a "hedgehog", which would suggest something like a schiltron. Once fighting on foot became the rule they probably more as individuals since the sort of weapons used- two handed axes or swords, hammers, etc needed room to swing. More than likely they had a retinue to accompany them though; if they were just men-at-arms maybe not.