The Life Of A Knight - Essay Example

many aspects of the knight’s life including their history, how one became a knight, who they worked for, the benefits associated with the honor and their day-to-day existence including tournaments, the most important activity for the Knight when not engaged in combat. Knights were proficient mercenaries. Many traveled looking for employment doing combat. They were steeped in a chivalrous tradition, bore the noblest arms and rode the finest horses. “The incessant private warfare that characterized medieval times brought about a permanent military class and by the tenth century the institution of knighthood was well established” (Duby, 2004).

The successful Norman invasion in 1066 necessitated the nobility of England to create Knights. They provided an effective force in an effort to protect lands. By the eleventh century, these professional soldiers were approaching nobility themselves. “The number of knights declined from the thirteenth century onwards. The true knight disappeared in the sixteenth century in France and much earlier in other countries” (Hull, 2003). Knighthood was bestowed on those found worthy by a light touch on the shoulder with the flat of a sword in the hand of someone of nobility.

The dubbing of a knight would normally occur with much public fanfare accompanied by music and celebration. Knights could also be created in the field of battle in a quieter ceremony. Typically, when the son of a knight reached age six, he was sent to a nearby castle where he was educated in knighthood. The Page, the first step in becoming a knight, attended training schools usually run by a knight to learn all there is to know about becoming one. “This started with religious and moral training such as trust in God, to be humble, be generous, be a defender of the poor and widows, respect others, eat well but do not get drunk, avoid evil men, and do not lie” (Gautier, 1957).

The Page was taught the Bible usually through the use of