Crusander Against Housecarl

Who wins? Housecarl or Crusader


  • Total voters
    32
Who would win in a one on one fight? A dismounted knight from the first crusade or a housecarl, such as one from Hastings?
 
Crusader, because of better armor and weapons. Might want to specify when though, since there were crusading organizations into the 19th century if you count the St. John.
 
Crusader, because of better armor and weapons. Might want to specify when though, since there were crusading organizations into the 19th century if you count the St. John.

The crusaders had pretty similar weapons and armor in the first crusade to that of the Huscarls in England, the biggest difference is that crusaders fought on horses most of the time. Dismounted they are nearly equal barring the greater experience the Huscarl has fighting that way. That and the Crusaders fought in pretty much the same way as the Norman knights invading england, who yet again had a main advantage of riding on horseback.
 
I personally have to go his the housecarl as they had similar armor to the crusaders of the time (the first crusade was barely thirty years after Hastings) and while the crusaders possessed a pretty deadly aresnal of both one and two handed weapons, the main weapon of the housecarl was his two-handed ax. The sheer power of any blow struck and the fact that somewhere along the lin, so ass thought to himself, " um, this giant two-handed, doesn't give enough killing power. So I'll switch hands so that the head strikes the non-shielded side."
 
Hey! Us Christians show brotherly love to any Christian, be it Roman Catholic to a Roman Catholic, or Roman Catholic to a Protestant. Hell we show brotherly to atheists, Muslims, you name we show brotherly love* to everyone. Always have always will. Espically Christians from Spain a few centuries back.





*definition of brotherly love may change based on skin color, wealth, religion and whether or not I like you :D
 
Crusader, 9 time out of ten, rides the lone Huscarl down. The Huscarl lunges at the horse, the horse shies away from shiny death, sword comes down from above into the shoulder, technology wins.

The remaining one time out of ten the horse doesn't shy early enough, is hit by the axe, stumbles down and throws the rider, who, if he doesn't break his neck at once, gets finished off by the axe of doom.

(Seriously - as fearsome as say, the Varangian guard and related formations in Byzantine service were, the Normans beat them over and over and over again. That's the closest you'll find to a direct comparison. Horses are nimbler and tougher than one might think, that gives a lone horseman a strong edge over a lone footman.)

Dismounted: here it's harder to say, I don't think I'd give the edge to anyone as such because they were equipped almost identically.
 
Crusader, 9 time out of ten, rides the lone Huscarl down. The Huscarl lunges at the horse, the horse shies away from shiny death, sword comes down from above into the shoulder, technology wins.

The remainign one time out of ten the horse doesn't shy early enough, is hit by the axe, stumbles down and throws the rider, who, if he doesn't break his neck at once, gets finished off.

(Seriously - as fearsome as say, the Varangian guard and related formations in Byzantine service were, the Normans beat them over and over and over again. That's the closest you'll find to a direct comparison. Horses are nimbler and tougher than one might think, that gives a lone horseman a strong edge over a lone footman.)

Did you miss the part of the OP where he said "Dismounted".
 
Did you miss the part of the OP where he said "Dismounted".

Corrected that ;)

At that point it's a bit of pure guesswork, since both could be said to overlap in timeframe and the equipment (long infantry shields, versatile mid-length swords, armour etc.) are near-identical.
 
Corrected that ;)

At that point it's a bit of pure guesswork, since both could be said to overlap in timeframe and the equipment (long infantry shields, versatile mid-length swords, armour etc.) are near-identical.

The axe may end up beeing a deciding factor since that is far more effective against the chainmail worn by most knights than the sword.
 
The axe may end up beeing a deciding factor since that is far more effective against the chainmail worn by most knights than the sword.

Oh, it would wreck mail. Heck, if it hits something key like a clavicle, it can kill without shearing the metal just by breaking bone.

Depends if there's space to swing it and if the other guy can take it on the shield. I'm not a re-enactor, I'll let those people comment.
 

CalBear

Moderator
Donor
Monthly Donor
Who would win in a one on one fight? A dismounted knight from the first crusade or a housecarl, such as one from Hastings?
Please stop spamming these X vs. Y threads.

A couple are interesting. A never-ending barrage not so much.
 
Top