Knights were not winched onto their horses.

1415

A full suit of plate weighed 15–25 kg spread over the whole body; men in armour could run, vault into the saddle and even do somersaults.

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The event

• Hundred Years' War1337–1453 · France. The Plantagenet kings of England contested the French throne with the Valois in a war that ran, with truces, for 116 years. Despite English victories at Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt, France eventually recovered nearly all its land, and both nations emerged with a stronger national identity.

15th century

More amazing facts

• 1408 · 1900 Less than 4% survives of the world's largest encyclopedia before Wikipedia.
• 1410 · 1490 Legend says the maker of Prague's astronomical clock was blinded so he could not build another.
• 1411 · 1429 Rublev's Trinity (1411 or 1425–1427) and Joan of Arc's relief of Orléans (1429) belong to the same generation.
• 1414 · 1415 The Ming court mistook a giraffe for the mythical qilin.
• 1414 In Japanese and Korean the giraffe is still called “kirin”, the name of the mythical qilin.
• 1420 · 1912 For almost 500 years the Forbidden City was home to 24 emperors.

All amazing facts (1058) →