as has been said, pure water was very rarely drunk in those time periods, due to the risk of catching something, and the lack of decent fliters to clean dirty water with (seriously, try taking a glass down to the nearest natural water supply to you, like a river or pond, and filling it up. it will be full of random crap that you don't really want to drink).

most people prefered to drink a very weak beer or wine (often only 1% ABV), since the booze would kill most of the stuff livng in the water. I am under the impression that this weak beer was even given to children, form pretty much the point they stopped drinking milk, becuase it was safer than plain water was.


1. Probably a sword, both to defend himself and as a status symbol to show he's a knight. How common would it be to carry around a shield, too, if the knight in question wasn't anticipating a fight? Also, would a back-up weapon usually be necessary? Would a knight have something like a second sword, just in case?

A knigh'ts sword WAS his "back up" weapon, as his "primary" weapon was his lance. like the samuari, the sword as used when the primary weapon could not be used for whatever reason.

that said, most people would have a knife of some sort with them, for all those little things you need a knife for.


4. Would a traveling knight normally want to have armor on him? It seems to me like carrying around your armor would be awfully inconvenient for long-distance travel unless you were expecting a fight when you arrive. Would it be likely for a knight to carry around a part of his armor rather than the full suit? If the knight did have armor, was it also feasible/necessary to have a suit of casual clothes to change into for things like sleeping or being among company, or could the knight sleep in armor and act socially acceptable with his armor on?
5. If you had armor, you would certainly need a squire to go along with you to help you put it on. In any case, a knight would probably have a squire around anyways because it always helps to have a lackey. How many people might a knight consider necessary in his entourage? How feasible would it be to travel somewhere without a squire?
Armour is, and always has been, a pain to wear. it's heavy, it restricts your breathing and makes you tire faster, and it's uncomfortable, even when its perfectly fitted. While a knight trained form his tennage years would have been perfectly able to spend all day in his armour, he would only want to do so if he honestly thought he would need it. Forr examle, a lot of the viking troops at the Battle of Stanford bridge, thinking the Saxon army was several days march away, had left thier armour in the baggage train, and were forced to fight with just thier sheilds to protect them. A knight in "safe" country would be in plain clothes, or possibly just his gambeson (a padded garment worn under most armours to protect agianst crushing blows and pad the wearer).

as for sleeping in armour, it can be done, but without a good reason, you would not want to do it.

with the socially acceptability of wearing armour, i'm not sure. i think it would depend on the context. the closest reference i can think of is "when would it be socially acceptable for a modern day soldier to be wearing either his full dress uniform or his full combat uniform?", since a knight wearing his armour in a social setting would be emphasising his status as a warrior.