Some new information (with images) (20.Aug)

[Kalah]

Real paladins commonly used one-hand swords. Because they held a shield in the other hand. They were usually mounted, as they had the status of knights. There were exceptions, of course.

[ThunderTitan]

There where no real paladins... you're thinking of palatines.

[Kalah]

No, those were Romans. Skip forward half a millennium, would you - to the paladins.

[ThunderTitan]

Actually i'm pretty sure in french they where still named like that... and i was sure that they kept the name in english in a scholarly setting... but now i can't find it... and wiki says that they've been called with the d since the 13 century (which is still like 400 years after Charlemagne).

But palatines where still around: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count_palatine