What In your Opinion Really ended the age of Knights

[Sir Nate]

I think it was Guns.
Not gunpowder, but Pistols, muskets. Any gun really.
The knight even with all his glorious armor would be shot down in a charge.
It's sad.
There are many contributors other than guns though that led to the end of knights.

[Sir Nate]

Deadliest warrior Knight v.s. Pirate
This fight is So rigged. The Pirates Guns failed to kill the knight. But earlier in this episode they show the morning star tear open a dummy's entire face. The night hits the pirate 2 times with it. (doesn't die.) pirate is shot in stomach by crossbow.(doesn't die) Knight wins sword battle. Trips in sand. Gets up. fights more. Trips again. (meh didn't want to get up the second time) Pirate finds random pistol and wins.
If some can post full episode please do. I honestly believe it was rigged, because there are more pirate fans these days.

http://www.filmplakaten.de/posters/king-arthur-filmplakaten-hd-clive-owen-keira-knightley-ioan-gruffudd-small.jpg

[Sir Nate]

Sorry wrong thing.

[SirNathanQ]

I don't think it was mainly guns. I'd say the shift in military practice, tactics, and recruitment that stripped the knight of his tactical/military role, and made him practically obsolete. It was at this point that being a knight became solely a societal position, a denotation of rank, social etiquette and breeding. From there it was simply a long downward spiral until today, where knighthood it to be born with the right last name, or to make a few good movies or songs.

[Sir Wolf]

heavy greed.

[Lord Dane]

Predominantly, the end of a feudal system. Knights reigned during this time period.

[Sir Brian]

That particular episode is a pet peeve of mine but as you've already surmised was chock full of BS.
As to the decline of knight's being an overwhelming force on the battle field I completely agree with
Sir Nathan's assessment:

I'd say the shift in military practice, tactics, and recruitment that stripped the knight of his tactical/military role, and made him practically obsolete.

Starting as early as the 3rd crusade there was a shift of tactics that developed a combined arms approach, the battle of Arsuf being a prime example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Arsuf

Also at the beginning of the 14th century the infantry and militia came into their own and were no longer the ill equipped and poorly trained rabble as demonstrated in the battle of the Golden Spurs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Golden_Spurs
which also happened to be a portent for the French of the way the 14th and early 15th centuries will go for them!

[Sir William]

The arrival of the war bow was the harbinger of change as far as tactics in warfare are concerned.  Earlier armies made use of shorter, lighter bows to differing effect, but in Europe, the bows of the Welsh and English archers, which were cheap and relatively easy to produce (as opposed to making a sword or axe, for instance), would prove to be especially effective against even highly skilled and well-equipped cavalry.

[Lord Dane]

Sir Brian said FRENCH.  Grrrrrrr!!!!

[Sir Nate]

Sir Brian said FRENCH.  Grrrrrrr!!!!

It was The French That Brought The Downfall of Knights!

Yes it wasn't just guns, I agree. I didn't even think of the longbow. But then I think of Agincourt. but most of the time a large group of archers would kill many men.
just like in Arn the Templar.
Which that kinda bothered me in arn, how the heavy cavalry were being killed by arrows even though many historical documents state that knights would look like porcupines after an arrows folly. Maybe they had bad armor.

[Sir Edward]

Nah, it can probably all be blamed on LEGO archers...   

[Sir Patrick]

I say the longbow and then guns. Both were cheaper to field than a fully-equipped knight. The archer required a lot of training, whereas the handgoner did not, so we see guns replace bows. So in short, economics made the knight obsolete in the military sense.

[Sir Nate]

Nah, it can probably all be blamed on LEGO archers...   

Now I want to make a Lego post

[Aiden of Oreland]

Nah, it can probably all be blamed on LEGO archers...   

Well, back when the bow was the success of England's victory in battles, the French were in some deep doo doo during the 100 years war in 1424, but the French Basically created full plate armor outside of the Little French town of Verneuil. Which allowed their cavalry to charge at the English. The As the English bowmen released a cloud of arrows, the Calvary of continued forward with hardly a scratch. The arrows was simply stopped by the arrows. The archers confused and scared, panicked and ran in every direction as the knights in shiny armor slain them.

[Sir James A]

Missed this thread somehow

I think it was Guns.
Not gunpowder, but Pistols, muskets. Any gun really.

Medieval period guns without gunpowder were essentially large, fancy clubs.

Deadliest warrior Knight v.s. Pirate
This fight is So rigged.

Yes, all the Deadliest Warrior fights are rigged. The winner is determined by the computer simulation they do based on the (extremely flawed) weapons testing. It has nothing to do with an actual fight. The only thing to take from that show is the cool tests they do - any of the stats, battles, and half of the "experts" are useless as a source of information - entertainment, sure - information, not so much.