Timeline for How did knights who required glasses to see survive on the battlefield?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
28 events
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| Nov 18, 2022 at 9:37 | comment | added | Tristan | @ShadowRanger and ofc reading was almost universally done aloud (or at least with moving lips), rather than silently (as it is today). It's earlier than this era, but Saint Ambrose (in the 4th century)'s ability to read without moving his lips was reported as near-miraculous | |
| Nov 17, 2022 at 20:51 | comment | added | ShadowRanger | @Tristan: Yeah, aside from the (relatively small) number of knights elevated from the commoner classes, knights were nobles and typically expected to be literate (fighting is all well and good, but you need to be ready to do lordship duties should age or injury end your fighting days). They didn't actually write much (writing was hard/sloppy, scribes handled that for them), but most of them could read (not necessarily as fast as modern people, who practice reading on novels a hundred times longer than the practical reading needs of the time, but well enough) and write at least a little. | |
| Nov 17, 2022 at 13:55 | comment | added | Tristan | "a knight didn't need reading glasses, supposing they could read. Many of them couldn't" was illiteracy really commonplace in the knightly class? I wouldn't be at all surprised if many commoner men-at-arms couldn't read (at least not well), but I'd have thought genuine knights would likely have had reasonable literacy | |
| S Nov 17, 2022 at 13:01 | history | suggested | CommunityBot | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
It's myopia (short-sightedness) that knights had to contend with, not hyperopia (far-sightedness). If they were able to see well in the distance they would be fine.
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| Nov 17, 2022 at 10:12 | review | Suggested edits | |||
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| Nov 16, 2022 at 11:29 | comment | added | Michael | I think you’ve confused near-sightedness and far-sightedness in your answer. A knight doesn’t have to see things closer than a meter or so clearly. Therefore for a knight being far-sighted is no problem, but being near-sighted would be. | |
| Nov 16, 2022 at 2:39 | history | edited | Jos | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Nov 16, 2022 at 2:26 | comment | added | Jos | @Martha I've correct that. | |
| Nov 16, 2022 at 2:24 | history | edited | Jos | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Nov 16, 2022 at 2:19 | history | edited | Jos | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Nov 16, 2022 at 2:14 | comment | added | Jos | @ilkkachu, you're right. I've correct that. | |
| Nov 16, 2022 at 2:13 | history | edited | Jos | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Nov 16, 2022 at 1:48 | comment | added | Austin Hemmelgarn | @JamieB Even ignoring the fact that most archery was volley fire and not one person shooting at a single target, archery is arguably more about math or muscle memory than sight. I’m legally blind and I do just fine with archery provided I have accurate information about the shape of the target and the range, and I know a number of people who have even worse vision than me who are not only decent archers, but actually place well in archery competitions. It’s no different than modern artillery computing firing solutions ahead of time. | |
| Nov 16, 2022 at 0:15 | history | edited | Jos | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| S Nov 16, 2022 at 0:10 | history | suggested | Greg Martin | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Nov 15, 2022 at 23:58 | review | Suggested edits | |||
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| Nov 15, 2022 at 20:38 | comment | added | Martha | @ilkkachu: medieval glasses were for presbyopia, which is not quite the same thing as hyperopia. In particular, the glasses for presbyopia are pretty simple magnifying lenses, while for hyperopia, you need to find a balance between helping the eyes focus up-close while not making distance vision noticeably worse. | |
| Nov 15, 2022 at 20:07 | comment | added | ilkkachu | Hmm, I have a hard time reconciling the two statements "...myopia, the opposite of what glasses at the time could assist with" and "Glasses that help for hyperopia or far-sightedness weren't invented during medieval times". Which one were the glasses invented for back then? | |
| Nov 15, 2022 at 19:18 | comment | added | vsz | This answer focuses a bit too much on how expensive glasses were... but knights were rich landowners, their equipment cost a fortune, so money wouldn't be an issue. However, you don't need perfect vision in order to gallop at an enemy formation to impale them on your lance, or to cut them down with your sword when you're fighting them in a melee. | |
| Nov 15, 2022 at 18:42 | comment | added | Michael Richardson | @JamieB Most formations of archers shot in volleys (which musketeers also did once they were available). Arrows were generally aimed upwards at a significant angle to gain distance. | |
| Nov 15, 2022 at 17:28 | comment | added | fectin | @JamieB you're thinking of musketeers as snipers, shooting at individual enemies. That's a mistake: musket formations shot primarily at other formations. Even quite-bad eyesight can still be plenty good enough to see a formation at musket ranges. My eyesight is not great (something like 20/100), but I can still see where a person is at 100 yards, at least against a contrasting background. That's good enough to shoot in the right direction with more accuracy than the average musket provides. | |
| Nov 15, 2022 at 17:08 | comment | added | JamieB | It is interesting to think that a lot of early archers or musket users washed out simply because they couldn't see the targets. Wonder if there's any historical documents that mention this at all. "Selected 200 men for crossbow training. 8 out due to illness or injury. 14 out because they're blind as a bat." | |
| Nov 15, 2022 at 15:47 | comment | added | ccprog | @MCW as usual in 19th centuriy, you get different answers in different countries. Germans would point to Joseph von Fraunhofer (production and grating technology) and Ernst Abbe (theory of optical aberations, glas technology and its commercialisation) as the most important contributors. | |
| Nov 15, 2022 at 15:28 | comment | added | QCD_IS_GOOD | @MCW "The first lenses for correcting astigmatism were designed by the British astronomer George Airy in 1825." (from wiki) | |
| Nov 15, 2022 at 10:43 | comment | added | MCW♦ | When were the first lenses to correct astigmatism? | |
| Nov 15, 2022 at 9:18 | history | edited | Jos | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Nov 15, 2022 at 2:15 | history | edited | Jos | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Nov 15, 2022 at 2:08 | history | answered | Jos | CC BY-SA 4.0 |