Parkour meeting the quest for the holy grail in real life seems like a fantasy come true, but unfortunately that’s probably all it would be. I happen to love watching Parkour. I couldn’t do it for the life of me but it’s interesting to watch those that do manage these movements as they run, jump, flip, and perform acrobatic feats of strength and agility that are simply amazing to behold. Now if they could do that in chainmail armor however that would be something quite impressive to see. These suits of armor were not the incredibly heavy plates that went into full body armor that you see knights jousting with, but they were still an extra bit of weight that had to be moved with and lugged around as the knights engaged in battle back and forth.
It’s been stated more than once that the Templar Knights, the order that was founded in 1119 and recognized in 1139, were the elite warriors of the Catholic church that fought during the Crusades. The quest for the holy grail is something that has been an ongoing legend rooted in myth for centuries now, and has touched upon the order as well. Many legends and rumors of the Templar order have arisen since they were disbanded in 1302, and much of this conjecture has gone into stating just how impressive and highly skilled they really were.
I hate to disappoint because I tend to believe that those of the Templar order were in fact the elite, but Parkour, which has its roots in a lot of different disciplines, wasn’t founded until the 1980’s, well after the Templar order was disbanded obviously. While both subjects are thought to be impressive and very much held in awe by many people, they don’t tend to mix this well. For starters, Parkour requires a great deal of strength, stamina, and skill. You don’t see a lot of Parkour practitioners wearing much of anything save their clothing when doing their tricks and there’s a good reason why. Think about ascending a flight of stairs. In your street clothes and without any added weight it’s pretty easy. But if you start to add on some weight you’ll feel a very profound difference.
Now take into account the running, jumping, and other movements that are needed in Parkour. Tack on at least 22 pounds more or less when these knights are wearing chainmail armor, and the effect would become even more noticeable. It’s possible that the Templar Knights could have been strong, capable, and possessed of some unearthly stamina, but it’s not that likely that they would be able to sustain their energy for that long. It’s one thing to run, jump, and do battle for a few furious moments when you’re carrying around the kind of weight that you can drop immediately. But when the added weight is strapped on to your body there’s a big difference. It affects the way you move and how long you can maintain your current level of activity. 22 pounds worth of armor would slow a lot of people down.
Like I said I hate to be a buzzkill since this is an awesome video, but Parkour and knights don’t really mix that well in real life. The clip is pretty fun to watch though.
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