The End of the Knight

Knights dominated warfare for centuries, but technology destroyed them. The English longbow at Agincourt in 1415 showed how dangerous massed archers could be — though not by punching through plate at long range. Modern ballistic tests suggest war arrows rarely pierced quality breastplates; instead, volleys killed and panicked the horses, found gaps and joints, and helped funnel the French knights into a muddy killing ground where many were crushed or cut down after their charge collapsed.

Then came gunpowder. A musket ball did not care how expensive your armor was or how many years you had trained. By the 1500s, knights were obsolete on the battlefield. Swiss pikemen had already demonstrated that disciplined infantry formations could defeat mounted charges. The romantic myth survived, but the reality died with a bang — fired by commoners who could not afford a horse but could pull a trigger.