Right or wrong, Benedetto is part of the church and is using the church as his personal shield. He knows very well his church does not and would not sanction his impromptu sermons. He was trying to game the system to push his own personal agenda. The problem here is there is no Church of Benedetto. Then or now, you can't co-opt a church for your own goals.
Ishan saved them both with an unnatural rain.
Nearly a thousand years have passed from then til now. Heavy cavalry was the armor division of today. You still can't move armor through mud.