Knights and knighthood. This article deals with the term knight as it has traditionally been used to describe an honorable military and social rank during the Middle Ages (A.D 400’s through the 1400’s). Knighthood refers to the knight’s occupation, group, or class, as well as a knight’s supposed dignified character. To learn more about the modern title of knight used to describe honorary, fraternal, political, or religious orders, see Knighthood, Orders of.
The term knight developed largely after the medieval period (the Middle Ages). Medieval writers used the term milites for the people who are now commonly called knights. Milites is the Latin word for soldiers and had been used since the days of the Roman Empire.
The word knight comes from the Old English word cniht, which means household retainer. Old English was the chief literary language of England from about 500 to 1100. At first, cniht described French mounted soldiers who came to England after the Norman Conquest of 1066. These knights were merely paid warriors, an occupation open to most men, and the term carried little social distinction.
Around 1180, the rank or title of knight began to become more exclusive. The rank became a mark of honor and distinction. Many knights were landowners and considered gentlemen.
Knighthood was often earned and not exclusively hereditary like the ranks of nobility. Knights could come from lower classes or the peasantry, and the children of knights often never achieved the rank.
During the 1200’s, knighthood also began to become more of a social status than a military one. Knights often filled a political and social class between the peasantry and the nobility, and their main object was the efficient working of their lands. Called to arms by their princes, kings, or queens, knights often did go on military campaigns. But they fought mainly because they were landowners, who were obliged to provide military service to their rulers, not because they were knights.
The age of knights and knighthood is often called the age of chivalry. The word chivalry comes from the Old French word chevalerie, meaning horse soldiery. But the term came to mean the code of behavior and ethics that knights were to follow. Changing military tactics and social structures—as well as the introduction of gunpowder—ended this age by about 1500.
Training.
Modern notions of a knight’s training were developed largely from literature and are often more romantic than realistic in nature. There is evidence of such training, but little proof that it was the common path to becoming a knight. Knighthood was most often not the result of military training, but rather the byproduct of learning to become a lord and fulfill the role of a landowner.
Sons were often sent to live with knights or other important people, but it was for the benefit of education. Boys learned about administration, agriculture, history, religion, and trade. They did receive training in arms, but they were trained in such arts as music, reading, and writing as well.
The following discussion of training describes the specific military training of a knight taken largely from literary accounts of the Middle Ages and afterward.
Page.
A young boy in training to be a knight spent the first years of his life chiefly in the care of the women of his family. During this time, he learned to ride a pony and care for horses. At around age 7, a boy left home to begin training for knighthood. As a page, he joined the household of another knight or a nobleman. There he learned to handle small weapons. He also learned the code of courtesy and behavior expected of a knight.
Squire.
A boy began his training as a squire at 15 or 16. He acted as a valet, or personal servant, to the knight who was his master. He set the table and served meals. The squire received serious training as a mounted soldier. He rode with his master into battle and took part in the fight. In battle, the squire wore silvered spurs to distinguish him from a knight, whose spurs were gilt. The period of service usually lasted about five years. Then the squire was eligible for knighthood.
Knighting.
Romantic descriptions of knighting ceremonies portray them as simple. A squire knelt before a knight, who struck the squire on the back of the neck with the palm of his hand. Later, a tap with a sword replaced the blow with the hand. This tap was called the accolade, from the French word col, meaning neck. The tap was followed by the words, “I dub you knight.”
Ceremonies were also described as religious in nature. Before a squire was knighted, he might keep vigil in a church. He confessed, fasted (took no food or drink), prayed, and promised to use his weapons for sacred causes and ideals.
Chivalry
was the knight’s code of behavior. The code of chivalry grew out of stories and songs describing the heroic deeds of knights. A “true knight” had faith and a deep love of the Christian religion. He defended the church and was ready to die for it. He loved the land of his birth and gave generously to all. His strength served to protect women and the feeble. A knight championed right against injustice and evil, and never surrendered or flinched in the face of the enemy.
In real life, a knight did not always resemble the ideal image of a “true knight.” His code of honor and loyalty was sometimes applied only to members of his own class, and he often acted brutally toward people of low birth. In the Middle Ages, high social and economic status was often equated with moral superiority. Peasants were poor, then, because they were morally inferior. Therefore, knights might not treat peasants with the same care or respect that they would treat wealthy and important people.
Armor.
Knights are traditionally associated with the weapons and heavy suits of armor worn in tournaments and fields of battle in the late 1300’s and 1400’s. At that time, knights and other wealthy soldiers often wore heavy metal plating to protect against blows from swords, arrows, and other weapons.
Aside from plate armor, knights often wore a garment of padded fabric or leather covered with interlaced metal rings called mail. Mail was the principal armor for knights and other warriors for centuries before the addition of plate armor. Metal helmets and shields also aided in protection. Mounted knights often carried a lance, but the most useful weapon was usually a sword, mace (long-handled club), or battle-ax.
Heraldic symbols known as coats of arms, often painted on a shield or surcoat (long-sleeved, hooded garment), helped identify knights. Horses and flags too were often marked with a knight’s coat of arms.
Tournaments
developed in the 1100’s, probably in northern France. Large numbers of knights and other wealthy men gathered and split into two sides to fight each other. These fights were much like real battles, and they provided valuable military training. The tournaments were also played for money, and defeated knights often had to pay ransoms to the winners to recover their freedom and possessions. A tournament could last for several days and range over the countryside.
Royal rulers opposed tournaments because such large gatherings of armed men could lead to rebellion, and because they were bloody and wasteful. As a result, they could be held only with royal permission. Those who broke this rule suffered imprisonment and loss of property. The Christian Church supported the ban on tournaments and refused burial to men killed in a tournament.
In the 1200’s, warlike tournaments gave way to jousting, which was combat between two men. Jousting took place with blunt weapons and was confined to an enclosed field. The joust often became a social gathering attended by ladies and common people. Tilting also became popular. In tilting, two knights on horseback charged at each other in the lists, or narrow lanes, separated by rails to keep the horses apart. The purpose of the tilt was to unseat the opponent with a blunt lance or pointless sword and win the honor of the day.
Knighthood in literature.
Knighthood and chivalry were favorite themes in medieval literature. Poets and minstrels of western Europe created stories of kings, heroes, and their ladies. The stories centered on life in a castle, chivalry, and tournaments and jousts.
In the 1100’s, French poet-musicians called troubadours began composing songs known as chansons de geste. These songs idealized love and described the knights’ heroic adventures. Some troubadours were knights and wrote exaggerated accounts of their own adventures. Bertrand de Born was an outstanding knightly troubadour. Many European kings, such as Alfonso X of Castile and Leon—now part of Spain—and Richard I (the Lion-Hearted) of England, also composed chansons.
One group of stories made up the Arthurian legend. King Arthur was a historical figure about whom little is known. He probably lived about 500. The King Arthur of legend supposedly dined with his men at a round table. His knights, including Lancelot and Galahad, were Christian warriors who faced perils and searched for the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail is usually depicted as the cup or dish that Jesus used at the Last Supper with disciples on the night before he was crucified. King Arthur’s knights protected the weak, and each was guided by the love of a lady.
The earliest detailed account of the legend of King Arthur appeared about 1136 in the work of a Welsh chronicler, Geoffrey of Monmouth. The Norman poet Wace used this legend in his work Le Roman de Brut. Chretien de Troyes, a French poet, wrote verse romances about Arthur’s knights, between 1165 and 1181. Chretien was the first to mention the Holy Grail. The Arthurian themes inspired Marie de France, author of the Lai de Lanval, written about 1189. The English author Sir Thomas Malory‘s version of the Arthurian legends, Le Morte d’Arthur, was published in 1485.
Charlemagne, the king of the Franks from 768 to 814, rivaled Arthur as the center of legend. He was the model defender of Christian Europe against Muslim invaders. One of the most famous works in which Charlemagne appears is The Song of Roland. This epic poem was written about 1100 by an unknown French author (see Roland).
