Apprenticeship:
Age Seven:
In order to become a knight, a boy must be born into a noble family. Some boys as young as seven years old would begin training as a pageboy, and move into a knight's castle.
As a pageboy, he would be taught the ways of proper conduct, and how to serve a table. He would perform duties around the castle, and learn how to hold a shield properly. He would learn about armor, weapons, and horses.
A pageboy would help serve the lady of the castle, sometimes playing chess or checkers with her. He might sing or play instruments to entertain the lady. Many pages were taught to read and write at the castle. He would also learn how to handle falcons and hawks.
Nine To Thirteen:
Between the ages of nine to thirteen, the pageboy was considered a "valet," and now he could take on greater skills such as riding a war-horse.
Fourteen:
At age fourteen he could begin to serve as a "squire."
A squire served as a special servant to a knight. Although he still served the table, he could now go into battle with his knight, and learn the ways of the sword and lance. If the knight was wounded in battle the squire was responsible for tending to his knight's wounds. The squire would handle falcons, hawks, and learn how to cut up a deer. Pages and squires would learn archery, and sword fighting.
Eighteen and Twenty:
Between the ages of eighteen and twenty, a squire was ready to become a knight. On the night before the great ceremony, the squire would soak in a hot bath full of soap and herbal perfumes.
He would confess his sins so he could be pure for the ritual of knighthood. He would keep watch over his weapons in the chapel all night, known as Vigil.
The next morning, he would dress in symbolically colored clothes: red - for his blood, white - for purity, and brown - for his return to the earth upon death.
At the ceremony, the squire knelt before the knight who trained him, or the king, and was dubbed (christened) by placing a sword to each shoulder. From that day forward the new knight was declared "Sir." The king sometimes knighted squires before battle to increase the number of knights.
Knighthood:
There were different classes of soldiers, some were known as the foot soldiers, but the king's knights were known as the czars of the battlefield. In other words—knights ruled. In the earliest part of the Middle Ages, kings had little influence, so the finest knights dominated the land.
Many simple men, or ailing men unable to fight had to put themselves under the refuge of the knighthood. The knights worked in alliance with their king but "Sir Knight" was always allowed to do as he pleased. Not one man or woman in the whole kingdom would ever dare to stand up against a knight.
Bib:
Gravett, Christopher. The World of the Medieval Knight.
Peter Bedrick Books. NY. 1996.
Hills, Ken. The Crusades. Marshall Cavendish Corp. NY. 1991.
Levibiel, Timothy. The Crusades, World History Series. Lucent Books, Inc. San Diego, CA. 1995.
Ross, Stewart. A Crusading Knight: How They Lived. Wayland Publishers. England. 1986.
©1999 jcpinkerton
