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Medieval Knighthood
Copyright 2008
©
Kalif Publishing – All Rights ReservedA Publication of http://www.knight-medieval.com and http://www.castlefiction.com/heroicdreams/ Learn all about knights, castlesPart 1: About the Ceremony of Medieval KnighthoodPart 2: Chivalry of the Medieval KnightPart 3: How a boy became a Knight
Part 1: About the Ceremony of Medieval Knighthood
Becoming a knight was much more than a tap on the shoulder with the flat edge of asword. It was often an involved process that spanned several days. Here is an overview of a typical knighting ceremony in the middle ages.The ceremony of knighthood was the final stage in a process that a man followed since hewas a boy. It was the symbolic culmination of his pursuit of proficiency on the battlefieldand in the courts of nobility. It marked his transition from boy to man and fromcommoner to royalty. This ceremony was very important and had a lot of symbolicsignificance to him and to the people around him. It focused on three important aspects of knighthood: religion, allegiance to the King, and the code of chivalry. And it often lastedthree days.On the day before the actual ceremony there would be long meals and discussions withknights, clergy, and royalty about the roles and responsibilities of a knight. And in theevening before the ceremony the knight would retire alone to the chapel and spend theentire night in prayer and fasting to purify him and prepare him for knighthood. He wouldwear a white tunic, which symbolized his purity, and over it he would wear a red cloak which symbolized royalty. On the morning of the ceremony he would bathe as a symbolof his new purity.During the actual ceremony the knight would receive gifts such as spurs, a shield, asword, and sometimes armor. Each of these gifts had symbolic significance. His sponsor,who was often a knight or a lord, would give these gifts to him. He would say an oath andswear fealty to god and to his king and he would affirm his devotion to the code of chivalry. The ritual part of the ceremony would end with the sponsor tapping the knighton both shoulders with a sword then introducing him as “sir” to the nobility. Thisceremony would often be followed by a large banquet.On the day after the ceremony there would often be a tournament for the new knight andhis peers to show off their combat skills and abilities with weapons.The ceremony of knighthood was a highly ritualistic and stylized ceremony filled withsymbolic meaning. And it was a very important part of the culture of the middle ages.
 
Part 2:Chivalry - The Roots of the Code of the Medieval Knight
Chivalry has come to be very watered down in modern day times. For the most part wethink of chivalry as the way a man behaves toward, and around, women. And while thisdoes characterize chivalry it is actually a very small component of what chivalry was.Chivalry was an all encompassing guide for living. This included combat, horsemanship,law, religion, management of people and lands, and well just about every aspect of aknight’s life.
There has been a long-standing debate about chivalry and whether anybody actually followed any of it and I believe it was something that knights aspired to. Let me explainwhy I think so.
The early middle ages were an extraordinarily tumultuous time and there was no suchthing as chivalry. Europe was in darkness, plague ravaged the people, and war was foundeverywhere. The prime rule of thumb during this time was that might was right; and theonly rule that was effective was rule by the sword. Barons, lords, knights and kings took  by force what they could take.But, Europe slowly came out of this darkness in the centuries leading up to theRenaissance. The plague disappeared, Kings consolidated their lands (which causedstability) and the Church exercised power over a significant portion of the continent.So what happened?
 
What happens when stability occurs and food once again becomes areliable resource? People turn to new ways of doing things. They gain the freedom toexamine themselves and their lives. They search for meaning in new ways, and it is fromthis stability that the Renaissance was born and the ideals of chivalry were also born.Chivalry is a natural development of the need for structure and organization in any largeculture or society. As a society grows in size and complexity it needs a set of rules of  behavior for its people and chivalry was exactly this. It was a set of rules that laid outhow a knight could manage himself, his people, his affairs and also how he could better himself. So among other things the code of chivalry was the first self-help program! Seethat, chivalry is so much more than just holding a door open!We tend to think of chivalry as a very limited set of rules but chivalry was a code for living that influences much of the culture we live in today. It is a fascinating topic andthere were books written about chivalry going back more than 500 years - and some of them are still in print. Among the best of these are A Knight’s own book of Chivalry byGeoffroi De Charny and the Book of Knighthood and Chivalry by Ramon Lull.
Part 3: How a boy became a knight in medieval times
 
For almost seven hundred years between the ninth and sixteenth centuries knights werethe lords of the battlefield, admired and respected for their abilities and their chivalry andcourage. So how did a boy in these centuries become a knight?Becoming a knight was a tradition that changed over the centuries of the middle ages and by around the sixteenth century, with the advent of gunpowder and firearms, had prettymuch become just a symbolic title. But there was a commonly accepted normal route thata boy could take in his quest to become a knight during the height of the Middle Ageswhen knighthood was important.The Rule of BirthrightThe first requirement for a boy to become a knight was the requirement of his heritage.Generally, only boys born to certain men were allowed the opportunity to become aknight. These requirements were usually that the boy be the son of a knight, Lord, awealthy merchant, or someone who held title and position in the court of the king or alord.Where Training took placeContrary to popular belief, the king did not usually train boys to become knights. Thiswas the responsibility of the king’s lords, barons and knights. Each of these men heldstations, titles, lands and manors of his own. And it was to the lord’s manor that the boywould go to train under the knight of the king.Over the centuries of the Middle Ages what a knight was expected to do changeddramatically and chivalry did not come into the picture until the late middle ages. We willtake a look at the traditional picture of what a knight learned in these later centuries.Training Begins as a PageAt around the age of six or seven a boy, who was of noble lineage, would report to thelocal lord’s castle or manor to begin his training as a knight. There he would learn a hostof basic skills to make him a well-rounded and educated knight. He would learn thefundamentals of court life such as table manners, care and maintenance of armor andweapons, and how to care for a horse. He would also learn how to read and how toappreciate music or even play the lute. His training would begin in the martial arts withhis learning how to hunt and how to hawk.The Page Becomes A SquireAt around the age of thirteen, as the boy is starting to develop the body, mentality,strength and abilities of manhood he is promoted to squire. He is then assigned as the personal assistant to a knight and it is in this time that he focuses on the combat arms of knighthood. He would get intensive training in weapons, armor, tactics and mounted
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