Depending on how you define the Medival period or era? Netflix made a Zombie Apocalypse show with that concept called Kingdom in 2019. The setting takes place in 1600s Korea after winning the Imjin War against Japan with the aid of China on Korea's side under the Ming Dynasty 大明 or 明朝. Long story short Japan lost the war while both Korea and Ming China won the war. Of course it would be more towards the Renaissance era since they are using guns and gunpowder weapons along with traditional weapons.
Oh thank gawd someone referenced Kingdom - I LOVE that show! Shame it kinda ended open and ambiguous - but it definitely did a different take and that for one worked a treat.
Taking the plague to a different level. The Kingdom on Netflix has essentially explored this, but you are right on the grave impact to a medieval society. It would be interesting hearing Sir Richard Grimes talking about doing thangs and stuff!
Firstly, they were less reliant on technology and most people lived off the land. This would at least make it easier for them to form defensive communities as they had so many survival skills. The large towns and cities would just be gone. But great idea. I would love to see this in a TV series!! Plus everyone thought biblically so they would be seen as a punishment from God. You'd have crazy new cults forming.
Luckily for Medieval europe most of those crazy cults are quite harmless because they become extremist for Christ. Though they might have scared people by doing things like whipping themselves bloody and deliberately stepping over broken glass barefoot, they were extremely unlikely to commit violence against others, and almost invariably their off time was spent in service to the sick, elderly, poor and disabled. (Many groups like this emerged during the Black Death) It would be very unlike the way TWB depicts (and I think correctly) what would happen in the 2010s where people either become nihilistic and lose faith, or else try to use the Bible to justify their own little private cults. The way people try to reform infrastructure in Fear looks more like what you'd expect from the medieval era, though of course it would all still be about Jesus rather than around the stories of new quasi-messianic figures like Alycia and Maddison.
Enclosed self sufficent cities with Metal doors and the closing gate, would be a perfect set up. They would have to be very strict about someone inside dying, but overall its such a good possibility of surviving
@@TWDExplained I also have a zombie variant idea (pls don't steal it anyone) and wanted to know your opinion: (Context: in my story there are also infected animals) I have a variant called "the hive". It's a walking hive of hornets. These hornets protect it if you get too close and if you kill it you destroy the hive which makes the hornets chase you. If a hornet stings you it works like a bite.
I feel like a lot of people really forget that unless we talk the late medieval era, like at its very end to deal with gunpowder weapons becoming increasingly common, knights in shining plate armour isn't a thing. During the 10th century your average person / soldier was armed with chainmail, brigandines and just straight up cloth as armour. It isn't armour that's going to be the saving grace of people in the early Middle-Ages fighting zombies, but their weapons. The average and most common weapon was a spear and even in a fight between regular humans the spear will dominate anyone with a sword, and it'll be the same against zombies. Most people will also have had some kind of training to fight with spears, others will have trained with bows or crossbows.
One main issue is transport, as well as armour, shelter, and weapons Horses would probably be reserved for knights, lords, royalty, and carts, becoming expensive, carts becoming moving tanks to protect the resources, people and horses. The armour would not be kind to the wearer. It would be heavy forcing either the wearer to abandon all armour, some of the armour or train to be able to work within it. Castles would be hard to keep free of walkers. Big walls and drawbridges keep the living safe, but they also stop the living from evacuating the castle. Burning the infected would become a priority. Archers would probably request new bows, resulting in smaller longbows for short-range and quickdraw fights. Crossbows would undergo rapid evolution, creating deadlier weapons that have faster cocking, new designs being tested, designs becoming more intricate and more advanced. Some getting a dagger bayonette like attachment Someone invents a repeating crossbow, which gives rise to crude pump action mechanisms and the fusion of both. Arrow and bolt heads rapidly change shape, becoming designed to pierce the skull easily. Metal ore becomes priceless, lords force out mine owners from their business to hold or even gain power and infulence. Water would be a life and death risk if there is no castle well, making it worth more than gold, same with food. With arms advancing, armour would as well, people experimenting to get light and stong metals, eventually disvovering the process to make beryllium from granite, which unfortunately turns many alchemists from it's toxicity. Beryllium is experimented with, eventually leading to stronger and lighter metals, reulting in strong but lighter armour. Unfortunately, only lords and knights have access to this previous alloy for armour and weapons. This new alloy allows for better speed, with beryllium-iron alloy swords and daggers being lighter, allows for better movements, and less strain on the body. Later, the discovery of spring steel would make the alloy far better. Armour advances, a knight coming home from a near death experience realises the need to have more weapons, so has gauntlets made that use medevial drawer sliders made from metal, oil, part of a door hindge, part of a nail and a dagger blade , creating an emergency weapon thats either gravity or kinetically fed, later designs would allow the user to not need gravity or movement to release. It wouldn't be hard to hard to survive, you just have to be smart about it, and be creative
One thing to note is that armour, even a full suit of plate, is still much lighter than the total weight of the gear worn by modern soldiers today. And they wore that weight more easily than soldiers today because it was distributed all over their body whereas a modern soldier's gear is centred around the torso. Especially this, if we go with the 10th century we're talking chainmail at most, so it's not heavy at all.
@DominionSorcerer It was more for speed and endurance. The metal alloy would allow armour that is lighter, allowing for better speed and endurance (after training with old style armour). The knight can move faster than it did previously. A full suit may distribute the weight a lot better, but they only had one way to get up on their own (roll to their knees and push up) which if the helm wasn't secured to the curiass at the neck, then the helm falls off exposing the face to be bit. If the armour had exposed places (usually the lower rear), then it could also expose flesh via damaged chain suit being pulled when they roll to their knees, otherwise they get walker drool dripped through the visor gaps if they're piled on, which could see the visor pulled open. whereas lighter armour could allow better ways of getting up. But both would require a knight to have an army to ensure they get up: archers, dogs, squires, yeoman, and other people ready to drop a duty to redirect their energy and attention to the fallen knight.
I honestly think they would fair quite well as most towns and castles at the time were meant to withstand sieges for extended periods of time, very low populations and the use of armor which unless absolutely overtaken by a bunch of zombies would render you basically immune to bites. The main issue I see would be how the virus works in TWD if you die you come back no matter what this is the major crux, but if bites are the only means of passing on the infection would be over relatively quickly no matter the age period because it would be easily contained, most cities back in those times had walls or some kind of earthen barricades not only would these stop zombies in their tracks but would also contain them within a set area should an outbreak happen.
I love this idea in concept Truth be told knights have a better chance against zombies then police or army officials armor shields swords defenses knights have more fighting chance then characters in The walking Dead
Cristians at the time would believe that the year 1000 would mark the end of times so would be cool if the walkers happeared at that year, also i believe they would manage pretty well since they all ready have self sustaining villages and fortresses and much more warriors than today so i dont think it would be that much of a change.
The anthropology would be fascinating considering most zombies stories rely on the fact that modern people are generally incompetent and ignorant while imagining themselves a skeptics and superior to their ancestors. It also relies heavily on the fact modern people run immediately to the government in a crisis instead of having the knowledge and skills to care for themselves. It also relies on the breakdown of society caused by the failure of government. Without a situation like this being strong enough to destroy a medieval society, and with people generally capable of looking after themselves and taking in new information it would be a much different story. The military would be better equipped to deal with the situation, and decentralized, while people retain a sense of transcendent value that would retain a lot of the political loyalties despite the outbreak (closer to what was seen with the Cartels surviving the outbreak in Fear, rather than crumbling like infrastructure-dependent modern systems) It's also likely that all of the 'religious crazies' would be doing public displays, dedicating themselves 24/7 to aiding people, and performing public acts of suffering in hopes of spiritually aiding people, rather than the cults and nihilism shown in TWD set in the 2010s. One of the most key factors is the problem of deserting. In TWD story the primary reason that the military failed is because of reliance on centralised leadership and recruiting, which meant that without clear orders from above whole vast battalions froze up, and most individual soldiers fled their posts in order to try track down family members in other parts of the country. In the medieval setting with military leadership and recruiting being mostly decentralised soldiers would not desert because their local leadership would be sovereign itself with no necessity to wait on central planning, and soldiers would be stationed where they live. Intact military units would remain protecting every population centre. Of course a huge factor with this too is the average medieval person was secure and felt sovereign so would not easily flee or renounce their job title. Sheriff Rick, (or Shire Reeve Ricard, maybe) would retain the title for life, even if everything went totally to pot, because that title was a meaningful and respected status on the individual rather than a job title granted by an organisation that ceases to exist without the infrastructure. There also would be profound effects in the monasteries (who would undoubtedly be the first people to figure out what is happening) would have made sure to inform everyone to the best of their ability while the modern governments, who assume themselves to be rulers rather than custodians, hide information in order to try prevent panic and so leave most people only finding out about the zombies first hand. You wouldn't have masses of people dying from infrastructure collapse either since it was standard in the time period for any settlement to be self-sustaining and with all of the equipment people will need for a lifetime, whereas in the modern era everywhere is deeply reliant on national-spanning and even globe-spanning infrastructure and supply lines. So I suppose in summary; medieval people for physical, phycological and spiritual reasons would fair much, much better than modern people. If you consider Zombies to be an allegory for the masses of people who emerge at the very end of a civilisation; desperate and starving people who are starved beyond their ability to reason and will rampage through and destroy any intact cities they find, you may find that historically many societies have proven their ability to withstand the zombie outbreak.
I would watch for sure!! Something similar a throwback time as a zombie fan was the Korean show Kingdom .. slightly different zombies .. but was interesting how they dealt with them .. I highly recommend 📺 show!
Ngl if they could keep them out of the castles and cities and realize early enough how to kill then and all who die come back they might have a relatively easier time. Also compared to modern day infrastructure they’ll have an easier time bouncing back and rebuilding if an area is cleared. Like this is a society more used to things like raids and death. So i think they’d be more adaptable to zombies than modern people
If the Zombie Apocalypse happened during 15th Century (just saying like that) Cities would be Burning and Soldiers would have had Matchlock Muskets, Pikes, Lances and Cavalry and even Cannons they would Learn more quickly when someone gets bit you're banished or just simply killed, the People over at the New World wouldn't know this, as they Would soon notice people Re-animating back to Life
Very interesting video! I used to do medieval living history reenactment - 15th century, and know how resourceful medieval people were - they would adapt, despite initial heavy loss of life 😀🧟♂️
I saw a video on what would be the best armor in a zombie outbrake and midevil armor came out on top. Chain male under ware with the hard shell outer armor = no bite and no crush.
Hey James...this is such an intriguing concept! I feel that knights, in all that armor, would do well against zombies! The fighting scenes would probably be awesome! The knights with shields and swords... they'd most likely do well..I'd luv to see a movie or show like this!😊
I think they'd cope with it a lot better than us, somehow. Enough folks already thought walking corpses were a real thing back then. Now, say it happened nowadays where we (correctly, and very sensibly) prefer scientific explanations for things. I suspect folks such as myself with strong rational scientific tendencies would have a bit of an adjustment period, figuring out to cope with something that should very much be impossible :)
Game of Thrones meets The Walking Dead. Yes, I want to see it. Mankind back then would fair better than we would today. Simply because of the know how.
the armour alone would be better against zombies the weapons would be great except the hot oil, some execution methods too, my picks for zombie weapons would be medieval and a castle would be a great place to be
Very interesting video! I think in some ways they would have a leg up because of way they lived. They have chainmail & Armour that covered most of their bodies. Very skilled in swords & knives which are best because they are quiet & don’t attract walkers. They lived simply so they are already striped in way. I would think population would be less. Which I guess could be bad or good. I think common people would be worse off than common people in modern times. Structures weren’t built as well unless you were in castle. I think common people may be more skilled because they were more venerable to elements anyway. Some pluses & minuses. Either way it wouldn’t be fun! LOL!!
@@TWDExplained I would love to see you make a video about that. You can probably use pictures of footage from CoD WaW Nazi Zombies and Sniper Elite’s Nazi Zombie mode as well.
Not if a zombie horde surrounds the person wearing it. Heavy armor slows you down, so you can't move fast enough. The armor can protect against bites, but a horde will crush the person wearing it to death.
Imagine youre a conscripted peasant soldier. Your liege forms you into a unit and hands you a pike and short sword. Your first taste of fighting the undead is forming a schiltron/spear wall as a horde of undead shamble your way. The Archers loose flaming arrows into them. At the same time your unit slowly pushes into the undead. Most of your fellow soldiers are unarmed and begin falling as they cant hold back the mass of undead. Then you hear it, a horn blast as the local lord and his handful of lances of heavy cavalry smash into the back of the undead. At first they do well, trampling the undead. But then you hear the Horses beginning screaming as they are slowly clawed down. The Knights hold themselves well for a bit in the melee. But eventually even they are overwhelmed. Your only choice is to just run, as far and fast away as possible.
@@gerardmcquade9102 so humans tend to try and deter enemies right, fire arrows to a force that might not know what the enemy actually is would be a logical course of action
I think they'd be fine. I mean, the initial outbreak would suck, but I don't see it being any worse than the Plague/Black Death. It probably wouldn't even be that bad, really. The lack of scientific knowledge probably wouldn't even matter, honestly. All the relevant information is easily observed. Especially in a Walking Dead scenario, if everyone is already infected and everyone dies is guaranteed to turn, that would take out a lot of the guesswork. If you die, you turn; if you get bit, you die faster. That's all you need to know. If it's a more traditional virus, they wouldn't be able to cure, but that pretty much goes back to being the same difference as The Walking Dead, anyway 🤷♂. Their fortifications would be a god-send. As long as no one is dumb enough to open the gates and let the zombies in, they'll be safe. And opening castle gates is a pretty loud time-consuming endeavor. It's highly unlikely that could even happen. Especially while a castle is under siege. And knights would be pretty much impervious to zombie bites. If you wear head to toe chainmail and a helmet and you're just not getting bit. Period. The only possibly exception is if the zombies are somehow super strong and can bite through steel, but that would be pretty stupid imo (maybe if we're talking magical zombies, perhaps, but in The Walking Dead? Forget it). Even if you run out of supplies, all you have to do is lock some knights in the gatehouse, let some zombies in, shut the gate, kill them all, then clear the bodies (maybe toss them back over the walls and/or burn them first, or something) and then go again until the zombies are cleared. Or, if you really have to, just force your way through the crowd. I guess you'd have trouble getting back in without flooding the gatehouse, but whatever. That should still work, so long as you're able to clear the bodies from the gatehouse without letting any living dead get past the gatehouse. Which again, shouldn't really be an issue. There's also the actual historical practice of pouring boiling water (and possibly oil) over the walls. Perhaps a bit of oil could be sacrificed to burn enough of the horde to allow some knights to leave the castle. And honestly writers of these shows always seem to underestimate how quickly you'd just run out of bodies. And I'm pretty sure populations were MUCH lower in the medieval era, so clearing out cities and castles that were overrun wouldn't be too big of an issue, really. Again, especially with impervious knights. All in all, I'd say the medieval era is over-prepared for a zombie apocalypse. There's really not much shambling corpses are capable of doing to fully armored knights or castles. You need specialized weapons to get past armor and specialized siege weaponry to topple fortified castles walls (as well as many city walls). And having citizens outside of a castle evacuate into a nearby castle was a common practice during a siege. At worst, it might be a bit crowded doing that for an extended time, but that's not too big of a worry, either, considering it shouldn't take forever to clear out all the undead. Then you just need to build fortifications around the cities, just in case... or not. Just wait for a horde to show up and evacuate to the castle until they either pass or they're cleared, one way or the other. Then go back to business as usual. At most you might see more watchtowers to watch for hordes, but again, hordes wouldn't really be a thing back then, with lower populations. And castles were often well-stocked an prepped for sieges, anyway, so I just don't see it being too big of a deal once everyone figures out how it all works. The only real issues specific to the time period would be superstition, imo. You might see some zealous factions rise up, such as clergymen, believing that the curse is from God and either that it can be dispelled through faith and/or religious practices (which most people would be able to easily observe how ineffective that would be) and/or those who believe it's a just punishment from God who choose to aid the undead, or something. But even then, that's not hugely different from pre-existing medieval threats. They might come up with some cheap tricks every now and then, but people would figure them out pretty quickly. Commoners might be so superstitious as to be useless and ineffective in fighting zombies (at least initially, give them some armor and weapons that would likely change over time), but experienced knights would have no real issue, aside from a bit of ego, potentially, but even then. Aside from the occasional accident (like being buried by corpses and suffocating or starving, or getting their helmet knocked off and subsequently getting bit in the face, etc.), they'd likely be fine. I supposes such knights who die while wearing their armor would pose and additional challenge, but even then, they would be easily handled by other knights. The living would be able to exploit the weaknesses of armored zombies much more easily than they would be able to with a living opponent, and in ways that zombies would be unable to employ in the first place. That being said, I would *LOVE* to see a medieval European zombie show! If nothing else, it would be great to see one in which the challenges are actually overcome and society is actually able to move forward and continue to progress with minimal setbacks.
I can even envision an alternate history in which society progressed to continue many medieval practices (such as armor, weaponry, and castle architecture), and improve them technologically, to defend against a continuing zombie threat, while still moving forward to something parallel to our modern day, but still with castles and knights/armor, etc., but with more modern aesthetics and technology.
nice comment - lots of detailed thought. Thanks! I guess the only worry for a knight out in the open is being 'horded' to death - so many of the dead trying to get at him that he is simply underneath a pile of them he cannot get out from - could suffocate and then become one of them. I do agree with the logic of let a few in, kill them, get rid of the bodies - repeat. A moat or a trench, a big hole, - as in TWD modern day, there are so many things they could have done. They even set up the lore to do so. They are attracted by noise - this could be the single most useful 'weapon'/tactic they have. The main problem would be inside the castle/fortification when someone dies and turns in the middle of the night. Since everyone probably would not have their own lockable room, night watch guards would have to be implemented for those who sleep.
@@TWDExplained moats were fairly common, already, so even if a castles didn't have one, they'd adapt pretty quickly. And again, while it may be true that people turning in the night would be an issue (as with any time period, really 😅🤷🏻♂️), again, I'm sure they'd adapt 😉. And you might be surprised how common some level of night watchmen were probably already a thing back then. Both in cities and in castles (especially castles, as they were occupied by important people such as nobles and royals), but they wouldn't probably need to increase security. And even then a simple latching door might be enough to stop a zombie, or at least stop them enough that someone would be alerted to the commotion of them throwing themselves against the door long before they could knock it down, lol 😅🤷🏻♂️.
If the townspeople had to evacuate and go into the castle, that's when 'not everyone would probably have a locking door'. I imagine people sleeping in the court area, etc. It does seem they would deal with it better than modern day probably - except for the superstition stuff.
@@TWDExplained true, I see what you mean, you said locks, as opposed to just having a large number of people sleeping in the same area (be that rooms or out in the open). I'd imagine that injured people likely be separated from healthy people anyway, generally speaking. Not saying it's not an issue, but I'm sure many of the concerns are likely things that they already had to think about more than we do today. We'd be totally blindsided by a lot of stuff like that nowadays, but it would have been, if not super common, then likely common enough to not be a huge shock for them, considering it's so similar to things they had to deal with already 😅🤷🏻♂️. What with the way their society was laid out and the regular threat of sieges, and the like 😉.
🤔😲 Sounds Kinda Boring 😲 I Wouldn't be Into it lol 🤔😊😁 They The Living Wouldn't have a Chance Back Then Weapon's Were not Good enough - Up to Snuff lol😲 I Dont know I Don't think The Living Would Have Any Kind of A Chance Back Then. 😁😂🍁
Your channel is pretty much dead. Other TWD channels are now branching out to other horror/zombie movies/tv shows, but you're stuck with the channel name.
I have been reviewing other things and plan to continue with all of it. Just because of the channel name does not mean it's all I do. TWD is a favorite of mine, and still a favorite of many. There will always be a TWD fandom, even after I am gone.
@@TWDExplainedI'm sure you get alot of suggestions for content ... here's mine. There a demo for an XCOM-lite zombie game called Dead Season. Ex Heroes series by Peter Clines, Irregular Scout Team One series by Florence J Holmes I started playing and painting Zombicide, it's been fun. Dead of Winter looks good. I've never been accused of having great taste but I hope something looks interesting
Initially, the religious fear would quickly sweep across the land and many people would flee to fortified towns and castles, leading to untold numbers of deaths. But, long term, our medieval forebears would probably have a much better chance of turning the tide. Nearly EVERY man and most of the Women could use bows and swords, because they had to in that World. They were also used to burning diseased dead, so disposing of Walkers with fire wouldn't be an issue for them. Most sizeable towns and cities were walled and heavily fortified. Again, because they had to be. A Knight's suit of armour would be virtually impenetrable to zombies and their bladed weapons(swords, axes, etc) deadly. The Dark Ages saw the rise of seige weaponry and crossbows, all potentially deadly to the undead and, very importantly, not as noisy as guns. All-in-all, after the initial religious panic, the Medieval World would be far more able to defeat a zombie apocalypse than today's World...🏴😎🇮🇱
