GENIUS FORUMS

It was recorded by a certain monk that the warrior who the legend of King Arthur was based on, managed to personally slay 900 people in one victory ( his eleventh battle ). Do you think this is possible ( even if he killed woman and children, too ) Apparently he was eventually killed in battle. I am not quite sure what the Guinness Book record is concerning single-handed wipe-outs. Either the monk was stoned, there was false propaganda or...

I used to be a fairly active sword fighter and especially in melees and group combat. I've seen two fighters hold off 100ish. But 900? No way. For one thing your teammates would get there first. For another, medieval armies weren't really that large.

probably also depends on how long the battle was. Maybe extra soldiers kept coming in the whole time from different directions. depends on tactics used.

HUNTEDvsINVIS wrote:probably also depends on how long the battle was. Maybe extra soldiers kept coming in the whole time from different directions. depends on tactics used.

True. A single victory is different from a single melee. Katy, go to Pennsic - that will give you more of a feel for what it was really like, where the ground moves with the thunder of hundreds of people running. Plus keep in mind that the rules where we fought made it a bit different from reality. If you really lost your leg in battle, you probably would not fight as well fron your knees as you can if the rules say just kneel down - and if someone lost an arm in battle, they would not be able to run around and just fight with the other arm for the rest of the battle - most likely they wouuld bleed to death before finishing the fight with the one that took their arm. If it were reality and I took someone's leg in a mideval sword fight, I would not continue to fight that person as they would no longer be a threat, and they would likely just bleed to death from the loss of a leg anyway - and if you're not wasting your time fighting the fallen (and counting them as kills), you can get a lot more kills in.

As for 900 people, especially considering that a single victory could refer to a whole war rather than just a single day's battle - yes, it is possible (although exaggeration is common in folklore), but yes, even close to that many kills would inspire legends.

Well, the things you list would make it even more unlikely to get 900 victories, not moreso. Besides, I was always taught "leg'm and leave'm" so you don't fight with the wounded and count them as victories. And I've been to major wars with hundreds of people per side... not to mention res battles where people are coming in so there is an unlimited supply for however many hours. People still don't hit tripple digits.


Not to mention that it was more valuable to take a noble or knight hostage than kill them and most people would do exactly that. There was significantly less bloodshed in medieval battles than people think.