Leadership from the front is an important tennet of early medieval kingship, and one that we see frequently in contemporary sources. Some prescient examples come from Anglo-Saxon England: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recalls how both Edmund of East Anglia and Æthelred of Wessex are killed in battle against the Danes. Æthelred's younger brother is Alfred the Great, and both the ASC and Asser's Vita Ælfredi give numerous examples of his military leadership. At the Battle of Ashdown, for example, Asser says that Alfred led the charge against the Vikings with a great ferocity and struck down many enemies, and the ASC recounts examples of Alfred personally leading boarding parties to capture Viking ships. Further prominent examples can be found at the Battle of Brunanburh, where again the ASC tells us that King Æthelstan and his brother Edmund led the charge which 'clove' the Danish shield wall.

Perhaps the most famous example is from the Battle of Hastings, where at different points in the battle, both Harold and William were thought to have been killed in the fighting, with William being forced to remove his helmet and show his men that he is still alive. There are other, later examples; one that springs to mind is Edward, the 'Black Prince' who was famed for the ferocity of his charges during the Hundred Years War.