From Page to Knight
A future knight started training at age 6 as a page.
A young page was often sent to a knight’s castle for training. As a page he
learned simple household skills and basic fighting skills with wooden swords.
He served the lord and lady of the castle. Some learned to read and write as
part of their training. At about age 14 the page became a squire. He often
lived in a group with other squires and learned to use real weapons. They often
got used the heavy armor by running around in chain mail. Squires looked after
the lord’s horses, practiced swordsmanship, hit targets with lances, and helped
dress his lord in the heavy armor, which could sometimes take up to an hour.
Full knight training, from page to knighting, could
take as long as 15 years to complete, depending on how well the participant
learned and applied his training. Generally after age 21, they could be
knighted, though some could be knighted earlier if they fought well, especially
during times of war when fighting men were in need. Only the king or another
knight could knight another person. Upon being knighted, a knight was given a
sword and spurs (spurs were worn at the knight’s ankle). These were most always
worn as symbols of his knighthood. If his knighthood was ever taken away for
disloyalty or other reasons, so were his sword and spurs. After a knighting,
celebrations including tournaments, feasts, dancing and music took place, sometimes
lasting for days. Some squires were knighted quickly without ceremony before or
after a battle for showing great courage.
At first, anyone who had been trained, and could
afford the mount and armor, could be a knight. Later in history, only important
men of title could be knighted. This ensured loyalty in high places as well as
continual funding. A knight’s armor, being very costly, could only be afforded
by rich nobles, a wealthy sponsor, or as an expensive gift from someone. Some
squires remained squires because they lacked the funds to buy the required
horse and armor.
Armor, Weapons and Tournaments
Heaviest suits of armor weighed about 50 pounds with
the chain mail weighing about the same, but the mail seemed heavier because it
hung on the knight, but the plate armor sat on the waist and was more evenly
distributed over the body, so it seemed lighter. Each type of armor was generally
considered a separate suit for different battle tactics. Chain mail might have
seemed heavier, but it allowed for more movement than plate armor. Full chain
mail and full plate armor were not worn together, but pieces of each could be
added to the other to create a hybrid suit for efficient protection and
mobility. Example: Plate armor was sometimes placed over the mail at the
shoulders and neck area for added protection. Since stainless steel didn’t exist at the time, chain
mail rusted easily, so it was regularly rubbed down or rolled in sand to keep
it clean and free of rust.
A garrison consisted of a team of knights and other
soldiers protecting a castle. Knights (soldiers on horses) only made up about a
5th of a medieval army, with the rest being soldiers on foot using
bows and arrows, crossbows, lances, pikes, axes, maces, flails, etc. Some knights thought archers were cowardly because they shot from a distance and it
was safer, but I’m sure there were other knights who didn’t think so and were quite good with
the bow and crossbow. Bow archers could shoot at a rate of about 12 arrows per
minute (1 every 5 seconds).
The size of warriors’ shields, from full body length
to the size of a man’s torso, grew smaller with the advancement of sturdier
armor.
Most knights had about three horses: One for battle,
one for carrying his gear and one for traveling on. A knight’s war horse was
specially bred and weighed almost twice as much as an ordinary horse.
Firing stones and iron balls with cannons and
gunpowder weren’t widely used until the 1300s. Trebuchet’s (giant catapults)
and giant crossbows were more widely used.
Medieval enemies sometimes got into a castle by
bribing a guard to open the gate or by climbing up the drains. Through the plumbing?
Ewe! Stinky bad guys!
Tournaments were a way for a knight to practice and
sharpen his skills with sword and lance. A decree from King Edward I stated
that tournament blades and lances must be blunted or protected at the tip to
prevent serious injury and death. No use killing off his army of good knights
and soldiers during practice. Edward once banned tournaments for a time because
knights were participating in those rather than fighting in Edwards battles
with the Scots. During long sieges,
knights sometimes held tournaments with enemy knights to relieve the boredom of
waiting.
Behavior
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| God Speed! by Edmund Blair Leighton, 1900 |
People expected knights to stick to high standards
of conduct: Bravery, loyalty, generosity, and being truthful. This was the code
of chivalry. They also treated noblewomen with great respect and were expected
to be completely devoted to the lady he loved. Sometimes ladies tied a scarf or
ribbon on a knight at a tournament. His wearing it showed the dedication of his
performance to her.
Knights killed enemy knights without reserve, unless
an enemy knight surrendered, then the surrendered knight was treated with
respect, and not thought less of for having surrendered.
A knight loved to hunt and did so for entertainment,
sport and to provide meat for the family. He hunted large prey on horseback
with the use of dogs, and smaller animals on foot with the use of birds.
Sometimes he paid peasants to run ahead and make noise to scare the animals out
of hiding.
Coat of Arms
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| Medieval Times knights line up |
The surcoat/surcote that went over the chain mail or
armor was decorated with designs and pictures that represented the family or
region in which the knight was from. This was known as the coat of arms. The
coat of arms was also painted on shields and often made into a cover that was placed over the horse as well. This allowed people to recognize the knight. A
son could wear his father’s coat of arms while the father was alive, but had to
add an extra symbol to indicate the son’s place in the family. Upon the
father’s death, the eldest son could remove his indicating mark and fully
inherit the father’s coat of arms. If a man had no sons, the daughter could
inherit his coat of arms and she’d be known as a heraldic heiress. Sometimes
women created a coat of arms by combining her father’s and husband’s
symbols. These coats of arms were often
bisected with a different symbol represented on each side.
Conclusion
Knights began to be phased out around the mid 14th
century as kings began hiring year round mercenaries working for a wage instead
of knights to fight their wars. Many knights also preferred to stay at home and
look after their estates. Even as early as 1300, knights began to lose their
advantage on the battlefield as technology and weapon engineering became more
powerful, such as the cannon, longbow shooting arrows right through armor, the
use of pikes that forced a knight to dismount and have to fight on foot, and
different tactics used by foot soldiers. With the ascent of more powerful and
wealthy merchants, kings looked to them for financial and political support
rather than knights. Kings even began to knight the merchants, though this was
more of an honorary title than anything, for they weren’t expected t fight.
Some countries today still knight people as a reward for a service rendered to
their country.
(Tidbits taken from a great young-readers book, Knights,
by Rachel Firth with wonderful pictures and illustrations by Lucy
Owen
Thanks for sharing valuable information, Keep posting like this
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