Not really a research question, but I keep running into sites that say that left-handed men couldn't become knights because the left hand was regarded as "sinister."

Is there any truth to this? I can see where left-handed men may have been taught to fight with their right hand, just as left-handed schoolchildren used to be taught to write with the right hand, but I have a hard time believing that anyone actually went around monitoring prospective knights to make sure that they did everything else with their right hand.

Funnily enough, I was just wondering about this the other day too when I was going up the spiral stairs in a castle's tower. I haven't seen anything on this but I suspect that the main training was done 'right-handed'. However, as a knight who could fight ambidextrously, as it were, would only be an advantage (especially up those stair-cases), I'm sure there must have been some who could also use their left hands.

Quote:

"but I have a hard time believing that anyone actually went around monitoring prospective knights to make sure that they did everything else with their right hand."

The mind boggles!