Medieval Knights, Violence and PTSD

The SAXO Unit at the University of Copenhagen is studying the subject of knights and violence which I find fascinating.  As reported at ScienceNordic.com in a piece entitled Violent Knights Feared Post-traumatic Stress, violence was not as glorified as we have been lead to believe.  

They discuss a book written by a knight who fought in the 100 Years War, which is really cool.  Check out the whole thing over at the original link, but here's a taste:

In his book, de Charny advises knights on how to relate to the fact that they must kill people when they are at war. He also mentions some of the hardships knights face: poor sleep, hunger, and a feeling that even nature is going against them.

It also notes that sometimes the justice system failed to provide justice so men took retribution into their own hands and that was considered acceptable, acknowledging the limits of society issuing justice.