Oh yes they did. Medieval battles were lead from the front. Not because of some stupidity of the commanders, but because it was expected of said commanders and because morale would have been greatly lowered otherwise and said commander and his family would have lost a lot of prestige. Also medieval battles, once the armies were in battle array, were hard to guide, so really once the forces were started into motion there was little a commander could do other than to participate in the battle.
Battles were not lead from the front. Well, maybe in HRE or France (maybe England) but the map covers also the Rus, Hungarian, Byzantine, Turkish territories too, where it was not common that the commander led the charge. Sometimes it happened that the commander thought that the charge from his personal bodyguard could turn the tide, but if all went well, the commanders, and especially kings/princes preferred to have an overview, which meant they rarely fought hand to hand with the opposition.
This is for the commander of the battle.
However other nobles (which in game terms would include most males at court) actually had to lead formations. (commander of left wing for example) Which meant that they can become injured in battle.
Basicly I partly agree. The battle was not lead from the front, but formations were, so there should be a chance for injury. I also concur with the idea that a battlefield injury shouldn't mean death in a year like it did in CK1. Nobles had the best armor, and if taken prisoner were usually taken care of well. (in hopes of ransom)
Annibal said:
Most medieval battles in Europe were like duels relying on chevalier ethics. We cant talk about pure tactical battles.
This is not true.
There were numerous campaigns by HRE into Hungary, where HRE troops:
- were surrounded
- were actually forced into small skirmishes
- had their supply lines cut (ships were sent on the Danube with food, but those were sunk)
- scorched earth were used often
Also, Polish, Rus Druzhina, or hungarian, serbian, croatian royal servants, italian infantry, Byzantine cavalry, had the opportunity to train together as a unit, and they were used like that in battle too.
As for the original question, a trait would be enough, a new skill is not necessery.
Like someone who is leading from the front has decreased martial, but increased prestige, who is leading as a real general has increased martial.