Becoming A Knight
Thinking about the medieval times conjures up images in the brain of kings, castles, and dragons. However, one of the most common thoughts of a majestic man in shining armor accomplishing daring adventures, a knight. Becoming a knight was not an easy process, it required complete dedication to the craft, and a lifetime devotion to be a warrior. This essay takes an in-depth look at the current scholarly thoughts about the training that young children had to complete in order to become a knight, namely, being raised until a certain age inside the house to learn skills, becoming a page, graduating to a squire, and then finally taking an oath and becoming a knight. The childhood of a youth that was going to become a knight was started in a few
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This training was not in order to build a resume or legend within the ranks of the aristocrats, rather it was necessary for survival in war. In the book The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe, Angelo claims that hand to hand combat was focused on the most during martial arts training (Angelo 172). However, mounted combat and sword fighting were very common in knights training (Angelo 227, 119). An easy way to practice these tactics was by way of tournaments. These tournaments were very common, at the beginning of the middle ages the tournaments were used almost exclusively for battle practice, however, later in the middle ages the tournaments became a more specialized art, leaving the actual military practice behind. Still, in these tournaments the nights could practice jousting, swordsmanship, and hunting, among other endeavors in order to hone their skills. Physical strength was vastly important, but mental strength had its place in a knightly training regimen as well. Knights spent many knights studying military strategy, and a popular way to do this was to read military manuals. The manuals that these knights committed to memory were not just words on a page, they were full of schematics and diagrams (Rodgers 113). A knight also had to be mentally strong to deal with the heavy burden of war. Knights were mentally resilient to failure due to extreme pride, fear of dishonor, and a desire to uphold lineage (Rodgers 85,267,169). Knights had to be up to date on current events so that they knew what was happening around them, and around the house of the
This training was not in order to build a resume or legend within the ranks of the aristocrats, rather it was necessary for survival in war. In the book The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe, Angelo claims that hand to hand combat was focused on the most during martial arts training (Angelo 172). However, mounted combat and sword fighting were very common in knights training (Angelo 227, 119). An easy way to practice these tactics was by way of tournaments. These tournaments were very common, at the beginning of the middle ages the tournaments were used almost exclusively for battle practice, however, later in the middle ages the tournaments became a more specialized art, leaving the actual military practice behind. Still, in these tournaments the nights could practice jousting, swordsmanship, and hunting, among other endeavors in order to hone their skills. Physical strength was vastly important, but mental strength had its place in a knightly training regimen as well. Knights spent many knights studying military strategy, and a popular way to do this was to read military manuals. The manuals that these knights committed to memory were not just words on a page, they were full of schematics and diagrams (Rodgers 113). A knight also had to be mentally strong to deal with the heavy burden of war. Knights were mentally resilient to failure due to extreme pride, fear of dishonor, and a desire to uphold lineage (Rodgers 85,267,169). Knights had to be up to date on current events so that they knew what was happening around them, and around the house of the