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DANGEROUS people you meet on a MEDIEVAL road

Modern History TV

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Jason Kingsley, the Modern Knight, discusses dangerous people you might meet whilst travelling on a medieval road. Robbers, criminals, outlaws, desperate men even a medieval army on the march. The medieval road could be a dangerous place. Travellers could encounter far more than mud, bad weather and broken bridges. Outlaws, highway robbers, bandits, deserters, mercenaries, marauding soldiers and even entire armies on the march. In this episode, we look at some of the bad people you might meet on a medieval road, and what made medieval travel so dangerous. From ordinary criminals and professional robbers to outlaw gangs, displaced soldiers and armies devastating the countryside, the dangers of the medieval road could come from almost anywhere. What happened if you were attacked by highwaymen? Who became an outlaw? Were medieval bandits really the romantic figures later stories make them out to be? And what was it like when an army passed through your neighbourhood? Using historical evidence and a bit of experimental archaeology, we explore the darker side of medieval travel, medieval crime, highway robbery, outlaws, bandits and warfare in medieval England. This is the medieval world as it might actually have felt to the people living in it. #MedievalHistory #Medieval #History #MedievalEngland #Outlaws #HighwayRobbery #MedievalCrime

Starring the magnificent SilverMoon

No AI, AI free, human made, no gen AI. Everything in this video is filmed, tested, and experienced in real conditions. No AI-generated content. Join this channel to get access to perks: @modernknight

20 Comments

@Cinnder 1 month ago

I love the way you brief us as if we're time travellers about to go on an expedition to the past.

@stolenporridge 1 month ago

Just casually carrying that wicked glaive and not mentioning it is peak bandit energy

@darmok42 1 month ago

The "masterless men" sounds a lot like your classic RPG adventuring party.

@t_k_blitz4837 1 month ago

It's especially worrying when they demand shrubberies.

@tl8211 2 weeks ago (edited)

My great-grandfather ran an inn in Southern Brazil, in an area that had just suffered with a civil war: local peasants that lost their lands to a railroad combined with the railroad construction workers that didn't get their promised tickets home started roaming around and things only got worse from there.

An "army" unit came by his village... apparently some local militia from a landowner. They came to my great-grandather's inn, and asked for food. The whole village had to pool together to get them fed.

Then at the the end the commander called my great-grandfather and his family out, and asked him how much he wanted as payment, very politely, with his hand behind his back. But my great-grandfather saw something in the commander's eyes and just said "as much you want to pay, sir'. That's when the guy pulled out a big knife from behind his back and said "you're a very smart man, you don't know what I would do if you tried to rob me", then paid a tiny amount of money, far less than the food's worth, and left laughing.

I suspect that's how many medieval armies would act.

@zakkart 1 month ago

Reminds of a Chinese saying that "When bandits pass, it is like a comb; when soldiers pass, it is like a fine-tooth comb".

@yobgod.ababua 1 month ago

Most aggressive beggars would think twice before confronting someone with such an imposing polearm, I'd hope.

@levix6667 1 month ago

Please never stop making these videos❤

@captainthrall 1 month ago

"If you see an army coming, get out of the way." Brilliant advice.

@kairysisKrantas 1 month ago

"If it is enemy army, you should run. If it is your own army, you should run probably too"

@AdDewaard-hu3xk 1 month ago

Traveling armies are like locusts.

@FRIGTARD123 1 month ago (edited)

your joy of teaching about medieval life is infectious as much as it is important for widening perspective of modern people. the goat king of da norf returns!

@szameth 1 month ago (edited)

I live in a swampy region in Flanders called 'Gratiebossen', meaning 'Mercy Forest', because it used to be the hiding ground of a gang of bandits who posed as salesmen during the day to scout around, and returned to rob at night. Legend has it that they never showed any mercy for their victims.

@Benjaminswolo 1 month ago

I feel like not showing up 5 times to court before getting outlaw status is really generous. Crazy amount of chances

@baddudecornpop7328 1 month ago

6:15 being careful of ppl with no fixed abode is still as relevant today😂

@flashgordon6670 1 month ago

Pls can you do one about Medieval Fayres, festivals, circuses and entertainers?

@gg2fan 1 month ago

One thing that really strikes me reading for instance the old Norse stories, is that it'll casually describe characters spending some time as a highway robber as if that's just a normal career path people sometimes opted for. Like when you're between jobs you just go beat up or even kill some folks and take their stuff, then you get to be the hero of the narrative later anyway. Maybe that's a misreading on my part, not understanding the moral context of the story though. But it makes sense in that society too, since they did a lot of raiding against 'other' peoples, that would inevitably come back inwards.

@adamant4107 1 month ago (edited)

That's the first time I really understood that.
Outlaw = Outside the Law and
"... anyone can do anything to you. You have no protection from the Realm."
That's interesting.

@Peptuck 1 month ago

One of the nastier elements of chevauchee, or the "small war" was that it also weakened the main army by harming the carrying capacity of the land around. A friendly army on its own territory would expect to be resupplied by friendly towns and villages while on the march to wherever they needed to fight, but if a raiding force swept through in the weeks prior to the army marching through, the local farms won't be able to supply them with food. They would have to cart in their own food supply or worse, raid their own peoples' reduced stores for food, causing further devastation and starvation.

@johnleake5657 1 month ago (edited)

"I don't even know if ordinary people would get the attention of the courts." Remember that 'the courts' for ordinary country people would not be the King's courts but the manor court, the private court of the possessor of a manor. So that likely means whatever records existed have been lost.