The Path to Knighthood

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The Path to Knighthood


In the Middle Ages, being a knight was the most honorable position a man could hold. They were heavily regarded as the most honest, courageous, and brave individuals that one could be. But, one could not just decide to be a knight, and easily become one. There was a very long process involved in becoming a knight, one that took up about fifteen years of a future-knight’s life. If one was born of the right blood, often the son of a current knight, they would become a page at a very young age, before becoming a squire, and finally a knight.


At the young age of only seven years old, one began the training that would lead to knighthood. The training usually took place at a nearby castle, often the castle of his father’s lord. As training for knighthood was a full-time process, the young boy would leave his home to go live here. A boy in this stage of the training was known as a page. Generally this lasted about seven or eight years before graduating to the next level. Being a page, especially towards the beginning, was the less intensive part of the training process, often focusing on manners and etiquette. But, the young pages also engaged in battle training. They would be given rounded off wooden swords with which to practice sword skills, obviously a very important quality of a knight. Another training activity they engaged in was lance practice. One way to train for this was to have a setup with a target on one end of a pendulum, and a dummy on the other end. When the lance struck the target, the page would have to immediately duck to not be hit by the dummy. They were also introduced to hunting and bow and arrow skills. Learning to ride a horse was a very important part of being a page. A knight’s horse was often his most prized possession, during times of battle and during everyday life. Since being able to ride a horse was so important to a knight, they began teaching it early on. The young pages did engage in different types of combat training, but much of his teachings during this time were for social reasons, teaching the pages nobility and proper manners. Pages were sort of like little servants for the Lord and the Lady of the castle at which he was trained. It was his duty to accompany the Lord and Lady. While accompanying the Lord and Lady, he was obligated to fulfill any of their demands. They often had to clean for them, wait on them, and do whatever else they asked. Knights were taught to have a high amount of respect for women, and to always help one in need. This was taught early on by the women of the castle.


After holding the title of a page until the boy is fourteen years old, he then becomes a squire. This was the second and final step before knighthood. This stage lasted for about another seven years, until the boy reached the age of twenty-one. They continued teaching him much of the same things, but the training was more intense than that of being a page, as the boy was much bigger, stronger, and physically capable than he was as a knight. Although pages did do things that helped trained them for battle, such as lancing, sword fighting, and horse riding, they learned much more about battle during the time they were a squire. They now practiced these techniques with real weapons, often against real knights, instead of using things like rounded-off wooden swords and target setups. While a page had to accompany the Lord and Lady of the castle, and fulfill any of their given demands, a squire did the same thing for a knight. Each squire was assigned to a knight. The knight to which he was assigned would personally lead and teach the squire to become a knight. This is the stage during which the boy would learn to wear and take care of his heavy armor. He was required to do things such as clean his knight’s armor from rust. This was done by putting the armor in a barrel of sand, and scrubbing to rub away the rust. This was also when the boy was awarded with his own sword and shield, a necessity in being a knight. The more intense part of being a squire was also involved in being the knight’s personal aid. The reason this could be intense, and often dangerous training is because the squire had to follow the knight to battle, if he was to go. During battle, the squire would continue to be the personal assistant of the knight. If anything happened to his armor or his weapons, the squire’s job would be to promptly bring a replacement piece for the knight. If something happened to the knight’s horse during battle, as well, the squire would give up his for the knight to ride. It was also their duty to take the knight away from the battle field should be injured or even killed. During times of battle, a squire even went as far as actually helping the knight fight, should he be outnumbered, or desperately need the help for any reason. After being a squire for an entire seven years of his life, he was then knighted.





The ceremony involved in becoming a knight was one that young men heavily looked forward to. The ceremony was very elaborate, and the entire thing took up an entire night, and was completed the next morning. To was away his sins, and be clean for the new life of knighthood, the squire would first take a bath in holy water. After doing this, he would stand before the altar and pray, often taking the entire night. The squire would also confess his sins to a priest. The next morning, the knighting ceremony was held. Before an audience of other knights and ladies of the castle, the knight was presented a new lance, sword, shield, and full suit of armor. The lord would then give him the accolade. This was a blow given either to the neck or the shoulder by the lord’s fist, or the flat part of a sword. The lord would say, “In the name of God and St. Michael and St. George, I dub thee knight; be brave and loyal.” The squire was then a full fledged knight, able to uphold all the knightly privileges.


Although it was a very long process to become a knight, taking up almost 15 years of one’s life, it was regarded as well worth it. There was a high amount of respect for anyone who was a knight, and this was not something that could or should have been accomplished in a short period of time. Instead, it is accomplished by making the training be a lifestyle, as is knighthood, rather than a side job.





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