In reading stories of the warriors of the Middle Ages, we often find ourselves relating strongly to one type or the other. Some warriors were professional soldiers, prized for their specialist expertise. Others were conscripted by the state, trained to be cannon fodder. Stories of these men and women evolved into legends and legends into myths.

Medieval armies were a lot more complicated than most people imagine. They evolved over the centuries, incorporating new and interesting weaponry, tactics, and numbers of soldiers. Larger battlefield hand weapons like polearms meant fewer people could fill a battlefield, which affected the ground chosen by armies as battlegrounds. Weapons of a period determined the architecture of fortresses and the duties of soldiers.

Do you think you could bear slogging hundreds of miles through the muck in a pair of medieval boots? Could you stand in line with other soldiers almost sure to be skewered by thousands of arrows? Would you be willing to bake in a suit of armor while riding to the Holy Land? Would you be willing to take a life, not for justice or a higher ideal, but for a monarch ordained by God to rule you and your family? What medieval warrior would you be? Let's find out!