I've recently been reading some 'self insert' fiction where a modern person is magically transported to the Middle Ages and proceeds to wander about doing the usual sort of things. Some of these stories are fairly mundane, for example A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, or Timeline, where the people might have some scientific knowledge to disrupt things, but others have the character also possessing magical abilities such as being able to fly or be very strong.
I'm wondering what the general reactions of people in the Middle Ages would be. Let's imagine, for example, that one day a young man wanders down to a town, no one know's him, apparently he's from a remote region (a valley in the Alps previously unknown etc) and his parents are dead and he's looking to find employment. Well what can he do? Then he picks up a boulder or punches down a wall or something.
Undoubtably any lord would want such a person in their retinue, but I've read some stuff around the Templars for example, and the opposition toward them, with some saying instead of fighting religous enemies, Christendom should instead concentrate on internal soul searching and so on.
I'm curious about a few things then, firstly, what would be the processes for examining this superdude? I thought of the Sampson comparison as an obvious one, so maybe some hair cutting I suppose. However, given the scientific method wasn't known of then I can't imagine medival scholars would get very far in understanding how the person's power actually works.
Secondly, what would the wider responses be? Attempts to have this person come work for X lord I imagine. Possibly take him on a crusade so he can punch the gates of Jerusalem open or something.
Thirdly, how is this person likely to respond? Might they be persuaded to conquer somewhere for themselves? How might their views of their own miraculous powers be shaped?
However, given the scientific method wasn't known of then I can't imagine medival scholars would get very far in understanding
Robert Grosseteste's early 12th Century Commentarius in Posteriorum Analyticorum Libros establishes the concept and understanding of using a controlled experiment and what we today would call the Scientific Method in arriving at a 'reasoned conclusion'. In particular, Grosseteste examines the medical notion that 'scammony' caused the discharge of red bile, and detailed a series of experiments to prove or disprove this hypothesis by controlling for other conditions known to manifest those symptoms. Grosseteste would reference this concept - as well as the need to differentiate correlation and causality - in a number of his scientific treatises. To this end, then, in a case of truly superhuman strength it would be plausible that a medieval scholar would undertake a regimen of testing to determine a biological cause.
Secondly, what would the wider responses be? Attempts to have this person come work for X lord I imagine. Possibly take him on a crusade so he can punch the gates of Jerusalem open or something.
Superhuman strength isn't of itself particularly useful in medieval warfare. Consider the extent to which modern superhero narratives have to go to in order for their super-powered but otherwise mortal heroes to not be shot. Superhuman strength is no guarantee against a crossbow bolt, arrow or javelin, for example. Early Medieval English warfare in particular revolved around disciplined shieldwall formations supported by screens of skirmishers; the account in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of the Battle of Brunanburh tells of 'many a Northern warrior shot over their shield'. By the period of the Crusades, raw strength would be less useful than, say, skill riding a horse or handling a sword.