ABSTRACT
Eltet was called a miles christianus because he had taken crusade vows. He and
the men of his class, however, are almost never referred to as milites. They were
noble, powerful and trained in the handling of weapons. And they certainly
were rich enough to buy themselves the armour of knights, if they had possibly
wanted that. Why then do we never meet them as knights in the sources? Why
does Bartholomeus Anglicus, in his encyclopaedia of around 1240, mention, as
one of the peculiarities of the Frisians, that they refuse militares dignitates?37
The simple answer, or at least the direction in which I want to seek it, is that
they were not used to fighting in heavy armour on horseback.
