How common it was in ancient and medieval Europe for a commander to charge in the battlefield along with his soldiers? Wouldnt this make him a very easy target?

by Contractjail

In historical films its quite common to see people with a commanding position to charge in the battlefield, mostly as a sign of their bravery and fighting proficiency. Also in popular beliefs there are images of e.g. Alexander the Great charging into fights like a normal soldier would.

But how much this represents historical reality? I would guess that it would be a not so wise choice for a commander to do so, even if we ignore the power dynamics inside the army (why a person in a position of power would risk his life like that)

It depends on your culture. In some, it would be unthinkable for a commander to not be there with their soldiers. Further, there are some battlefield dynamics you're missing. Today we expect most commanders to stay back and direct the battle, but that hasn't always been the case, nor even been possible - depending on culture, of course. Here are some previous posts examining leaders in battle:

u/Iphikrates provides the Classical Greek reasons in two posts;
u/Iguana_on_a_stick gives us the Roman perspective, also in two posts;
and u/Hergrim provides a deeper Medieval perspective.

While there is a measure of danger, like there is for all combat, it's also not as dangerous as people seem to think it is. I've a different set of posts for "did the combatants on the front lines of battles die" - let me know if you want those, as that also impinges on the relative sense of fighting with the men. And as always, if anyone else would like to put their oar in, please don't let me stop you!