A knight in shining armour
The age of knights and castles is one of history's most exciting, and this word search gathers it. You'll be finding the KNIGHT in his ARMOUR and HELMET, armed with SWORD, SHIELD and LANCE, ready for the JOUST in a grand tournament.
Each puzzle pulls a fresh selection from the list, so the kingdom changes every time you play — gentle on Easy, and a Hard-mode siege once the diagonals and backwards words appear.
Inside the castle walls
A medieval CASTLE was a fortress and a home, and the words are here. Cross the MOAT and the DRAWBRIDGE, pass under the PORTCULLIS, climb the TOWER and walk the BATTLEMENT, and mind the DUNGEON below. When enemies came there was a SIEGE, with a CATAPULT pounding the walls. There's the young SQUIRE training to be a knight, the code of CHIVALRY, the colourful BANNER and HERALDRY, the DAMSEL of the tale, and a noble CRUSADE to fight.
How you really became a knight
Becoming a KNIGHT took most of a childhood. A boy from a noble family would start at about seven as a page, then around fourteen serve as a SQUIRE — looking after a knight's ARMOUR, horse and weapons and training daily with SWORD and LANCE — before finally being 'dubbed' a knight, often in his late teens. A full suit of plate ARMOUR could weigh 20–30kg, yet was so well balanced that a fit knight could run, mount a horse and even do a cartwheel in it. The colourful HERALDRY painted on a SHIELD and BANNER wasn't decoration; it was an identity badge, since a helmeted knight was otherwise impossible to recognise on the field.
Castles were just as cleverly designed. Almost every feature was a defence: the MOAT and DRAWBRIDGE stopped attackers reaching the gate, the heavy iron PORTCULLIS dropped to seal it, arrow-slit windows let defenders shoot out while staying protected, and spiral staircases famously curved clockwise to cramp a right-handed attacker's sword arm. When all that held, attackers settled in for a SIEGE, trying to starve the castle out or batter the walls with a CATAPULT — which is why these stone giants still loom over so many towns today, and why they're such a hands-on history topic.
Great for a medieval history topic
It pairs perfectly with a classroom topic on the Middle Ages, knights and castle defences — Easy mode keeps the grid small with no diagonals or reverse words. Play online, print a PDF pack, or use our Make Your Own tool to build a grid from your own medieval words.