"Early Crusader Knights" Topic

Can one use normal mounted Norman cavalry as early Crusader knights? Thinking of doing a Crusader army in 15mm.

Yes you can. Most of the knights of 1097-99 looked like the knights of the Bayeux Tapestry/Norman Conquest.

In support of Perris0707, Ian Heath in "Armies and Enemies of the Crusades 1096-1291" writes that "it is generally accepted, quite rightly, that the knights of the First Crusade and, to a lesser extent, the Second Crusade would have been little different from the Norman knights depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry…"

Yes looking at medieval paintings of early crusades a couple of things stood out.
The similarity to Norman armor is a big one.
The use of bright heraldry colors with crosses painted over their shield heraldry. It was striking to see crosses on tunics and shields in a variety of colors, some were white, black, red, green, blue, and brown.

As an example see knights on the archivolt carvings above the Leoni door of the church of San Nicola in Bari, 1099 to 1106 AD. Also the Bible of Saint Stephen Harding, Cîteaux, abbaye Notre-Dame, Bourgogne, France, 1109-1111AD

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

In support of Perris0707, Ian Heath in "Armies and Enemies of the Crusades 1096-1291" writes that "it is generally accepted, quite rightly, that the knights of the First Crusade and, to a lesser extent, the Second Crusade would have been little different from the Norman knights depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry…"

I'd dispute this. Besides mail sleeves becoming longer, fashion changed a bit between the 1st Crusade & the 2nd, principally the length of tunics becoming more like robes or gowns, which would be a visual difference even on fully armored figures.

Damon.

Shorter mail sleeves could still be used seen for mounted sergeants etc. FRANKISH MOUNTED SERGEANT in 'Armies and Enemies of the Crusades 1096-1291' by Ian Heath seems to use 'Chronica Majora' by Matthew Paris. Saint Albans, England, ca. 1240-53 as a source for this.
Longer sleeves for knights already predominate in the Battle of Beerzet, 'Bible of Saint Stephen Harding'. Cîteaux, abbaye Notre-Dame, Bourgogne, France, 1109-1111AD

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

One is rather forced to use Normans as specific first crusade figures are few and far between. Khurasan's 1st Crusade range uses the same knights as the Norman range.
OG15s 1stC range has figures from various other ranges including Normans and Spanish. The Italians in the range do have mail sleeves to the wrist but seem to have surcoats as well which I'm dubious of.
For 2nd & 3rd Crusades I would use Legio Heroica except I think they are unavailable. Mirliton are also late 12th century and would just about fit 2nd Crusade, though some of the helmets are probably a bit too rounded and some of the shields are flat topped kits. They are very suitable for the 3rd Crusade and are based closely on link

One thing which would help to make the figures look less like Bayeux tapestry Normans is to use different shield designs. Early 12th century shields are shown with a variety of devices which tend to be a lot more geometric than the 1066 curvy crosses and beasts. You can see this on Druzhina's example and there is a good selection at link
They are a decade or so after the 1stC but perhaps show the way that most of the Crusading nations have already gone.

One of the manuscripts in Swampster's 2nd link is from Prudentius' Psychomachia 'Conflict Of The Soul', so just a reminder that the Vices and Virtues are female so may have influenced the robes worn in some illustrations.

Druzhina
‌Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers