Did Medieval Warriors Get PTSD?

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Warriors of the Middle Ages are often remembered as fearless knights in shining armor — paragons of courage, duty, and faith. Chronicles tell us they rode boldly into battle, defended castles with honor, and fought without hesitation. But the reality, as always, was far darker. Behind the myths of chivalry lay sieges marked by starvation, raids that left villages burning, and battlefields where the noise of steel gave way to the silence of the broken.

This video explores a question the chroniclers never asked: did medieval warriors suffer in ways we now recognize as trauma? From trembling hands in the aftermath of battle to visions reframed as divine punishment, the Middle Ages left scattered evidence of men haunted by what they endured. Their voices were largely erased, silenced beneath the myths of glory — yet the human cost of war has always been the same. Across a thousand years, only the vocabulary has changed.

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