Meet the actual knight of YouTube
He’s a millionaire British businessman who’s bringing medieval history to life
In a time when children would much rather be watching videos posted by their favourite YouTubers than just about anything else, it can be difficult for parents to know if “vloggers” are teaching their acolytes anything, well, useful.
Fortunately, a knight in shining armour has arrived on the scene. Quite literally. Jason Kingsley, a millionaire British businessman who moonlights as a practising medieval knight, intends to inspire a new generation of history buffs with his recently launched YouTube channel, Modern History. Each compelling little episode is a case of showing, rather than simply telling.
“I’m interested in challenging people’s perceptions, especially armchair historians. Rather than theorize it, let’s try it,” says the long-haired 53-year-old.
In one video, for example, Kingsley tests whether it is possible to put a lance through the eye slots of a medieval helmet while charging at full speed on a steed. Charging at full gallop on one of his 13 personally owned “warhorses”, he manages to spear the eyes on a gel head with a metal-tipped lance, proving that, yes, it could have been done.
“The kernel of the idea is to ask a question of the audience, then have a go and see what the outcome is,” he says. Generally, videos last for no more than five or 10 minutes — short, sharp and very entertaining.
When not clad in chain mail and poking things, Kingsley is chief executive and co-founder of Rebellion, a video-game development company based in Oxford, England.
Often working with English Heritage, he gives up several weekends a year to appear in oneknight shows at castles around the U.K., enriching visitors’ experiences. A further “four to eight” weekends are given over to jousting competitions. Now, he’s taken that passion online.
“I don’t think there are many presenters around who could even stand a chance of getting on a horse at speed and try to get out,” he says. “That’s the added value I’ve got. I can talk to the audience then get on a horse and show people what it’s like. And I can talk about it with personal experience.”
A graduate in zoology at Oxford, Kingsley believes young people’s passion for history could be invigorated not only by the method of communication, but also the type of content delivered.
“I’m interested in real history, not lists of kings and princes, but what it was like to live in the past and train a medieval battle horse. Will a warhorse trample on dead bodies or not? The answer is yes, they will” — one of many things Kingsley has tested in his videos, albeit using fake corpses. “I hope it’s educational, I hope it’s fun as well and entertaining. History is often about war and politics, and we don’t get the human stories very often.”