Knight

:For the chess piece, see knight (chess).

Becoming a Knight

During the High Middle Ages, it was technically possible for every free man to become a knight, but the process of becoming (and the equipping of) a knight was very expensive; thus it was more likely that a knight would come from a noble (or wealthy) family.

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The process of being knighted began before adolescence, inside the prospective knight?s own home, where he was taught courtesy and appropriate manners. Around the age of ten years, he would be sent away to train and serve at a grander household as a page. Here, he would serve as a kind of waiter and personal servant, entertaining and serving food to his elders. He would learn basic hunting and falconry, and also various battle skills such as taking care of, preparing, and riding horses, as well as use of weapons and armour.

Related Topics:
Page - Falconry - Armour

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At about fourteen years of age, the page was assigned to a knight to serve as his personal companion and aide, as a squire. This allowed the squire to observe his master while he was in battle, in order to observe and learn from his techniques. He also acted as a servant to the knight, taking care of his master?s equipment and horse. This was to uphold the knight?s code that promoted generosity, courtesy, compassion, and most importantly, loyalty.

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Once the squire had established sufficient mastery of the required skills, he was dubbed a knight. There was no set age for this, but it usually occurred between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one. In the early period, the procedure began with the squire praying into the night. He was then bathed, and in the morning he was dressed in a white shirt, gold tunic, purple cloak, and was knighted by the king. As the Middle Ages progressed, the process changed. The squire was made to vow that he would obey the regulations of chivalry, and never flee from battle. Then women would buckle on his armour. A squire could also be knighted on the battlefield, in which a lord simply struck a man on the shoulder and says, ?Be thou a knight?.

Related Topics:
Tunic - Chivalry

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