How OLD were Medieval Knights & Soldiers in Battle? The Battle of Tewkesbury (1471)

"Too old to reenact." Nobody told Wlliam Marshall he was too old for fighting back in the day. No one should do that to people now, who want to have fun.

"42...certainly not young" I feel attacked :)

The very wide range of of military leaders throughout history always threw me off bc there were teenagers and geriatrics beheading people in most parts of the world for most of history

Correction about the battle of Visby: The townspeople (of Visby) weren't really involved in the battle. The losing side consisted mostly of people from the countryside with everything from (presumably) freeholders and yeomen up to countryside gentry and nobility.

Made me realize how scary a grey haired man-at-arms would be to face. Maybe slower, but massive amounts of experience.

It occurs to me that a lot of these knights were the oldest members of their families, and so skewed older. That doesn’t negate the original point, that mature and older men could fight.

I'm not surprised the guys in the best armor money could buy survived battles to serve at older ages. Also ransoms.

In summary, for my own benefit later regarding the Battle of Tewkesbury and ages of knightly combatants: It wasn't impossible, though somewhat uncommon, for a knight to be of late teens/early 20s. The average age of the knightly class seemed to hover somewhere around late 20s-40s, with a smattering of late 40s-early 50s as well. It was somewhat uncommon, though not impossible, for middle age or even nearing modern retirement ages of 50s, 60s, and even 70s to show up in full harness on the front lines.

You can’t be too old to die.

Leonidas was 60 when he died at Thermopylae. Roman legionnaires served for 25 years. Many militias were subject to recall into their 60s. I'm 69 and I can still pass the USMC PT test by a wide margin. Do better than some 18-year-olds. My skills with a sword, bow and arrow, rifle, pistol, and shotgun are better now than 50 years ago. I'm not as fit as I was then, but I'm still RED (retired and extremely dangerous). ;)

The fact that several of these guys lived to around 70 after years of countless concussions and on top of not having modern medical technology and nutrition is pretty amazing.

that just makes it scarier honestly, I've fenced people sub 25 and they dont scarw me nearly as much as ~35 years old. Experienced folks into their 40 or 50 are just unbeatable lol

For the Archers: It would be really hard to master a warbow as a teenager. That kind of upper body strengh is hard to build up for someone who is not a professional.

@Matt: I check out your channel on a regular basis - and often there is another interesting video on a subject hardly anybody else thought of waiting for me. Like this one. Thank you! I certainly will enjoy watching it! 👍🙂

I read that if you made it through childhood you had decent chances to make 70

They were landed gentry, so they had to be old enough to have full inheritance to be proper claimant of these titles. Also they had to serve their lord/kings call regardless of age.

Great video Matt! Henry "Hotspur" Percy's military career is nuts. This is just a snapshot of key dates, not counting the almost constant cross-border strife he was involved in. Born 1364. First campaign experience in France aged eight. Siege of Berwick 1378, captain of troops, aged 14. Scottish campaign with Richard II 1385, aged 21. French campaigns in Calais and Brest, 1386-7, aged 22/23. Battle of Otterburn, 1388, commander of English Forces, aged 24. Irish expedition 1395, aged 31. French expedition to Calais and Aquitaine, 1395-6, aged 32. Campaigns in Wales and Scotland, 1399-1402, aged 36-38. Battle of Homildon Hill, 1402, commander, aged 38. Battle of Shrewsbury, 1403, killed aged 39.

Any idea how often medieval soldiers suffered serious wounds and continued to fight battles after recovering? I kind of imagine that accumulated wounds would be more significant than aging when it comes to older soldiers in combat

I've been wondering about this premise my entire life thank you

The life expectancy statistic based on fetal survival rate is such a poor instrument to use to gauge the age of people throughout history. It's the same as it is today; add and subtract some variables.