Knights still have to be fed and armed with the taxes of peasants, and they'll follow the orders of the societal structure that funnels them those taxes. You pr

Knights still have to be fed and armed with the taxes of peasants, and they'll follow the orders of the societal structure that funnels them those taxes. You protect yourself by getting involved in politics and shaping the economic and cultural power balance of your society so you don't get to a point where you need to use violence against state security forces. Once you reach that point, you've already lost.