Elegant Medieval Knight Costumes

The Renaissance period was at the tail end of the middle ages. You could say it was the connection between medieval Europe (the dark ages etc.) and the modern period as it was a time of rapid change and advancement  in many aspects of human endeavor. Even though there was an advancement in the way people lived in Europe during the Renaissance, that didn’t mean there was no fighting and the knight was still as relevant and needed as ever. Here are a few Renaissance Knight costumes for you to look at.

So what is a Renaissance knight costume ?

Well, to begin with, you have to understand that the changes that occurred due to the Renaissance were not uniform around Europe. They are claimed to have started in Italy and this was probably the epicenter of change. On the outer reaches of Europe things probably continued as they always had done. So you could see the traditional suit of armor adorning knights in far flung outreaches of Europe.

But as technology advanced, a suit of armor was merely cumbersome and didn’t protect the knight from new weaponary. Rudimentary rifles, pistols and cannons were figuring more in battle than ever before and a suit of armor was no match for these weapons. Speed of movement became more important in big battles and this also figured against heavy armor.

So a musketeer costume is a good example of a renaissance knight costume. There is no armor in this costume. It certainly looks good though. Funny how the three musketeers never fired a musket in their adventures as told by Alexandre Dumas.  They were more renowned for their sword fighting skills but in reality there principal use was to fire the early rifles or muskets.

A more traditional Knight costume is the evil knight. To be honest, I don’t think he comes from any particular period in history. He’s just a villain plain and simple, whether it is from dungeons and dragons fame or otherwise. This costume is sure to make a great impression at any party and the mask looks great.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 at 1:50 am and is filed under Medieval Knight Costume. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.