How to Be a Knight
Be born into the noble class., Be born male., Learn from your parents what it means to be a knight., Become a page., Become a squire., Be invested as a knight.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Be born into the noble class.
In the feudal era, the opportunity to become a knight was, in practice, restricted to the nobility, as it was they who usually had the wealth necessary to own and maintain the horse, armor, and weapons that knights needed to defend their lords’ lands.A family could be made a member of the nobility (ennobled) by the king if one of its members performed an outstanding service worthy of a knight. -
Step 2: Be born male.
While in modern times, both men and women can be knighted, historically only men were knighted as a matter of course.
In fact, the word “knight” derives from the Anglo-Saxon word “cniht,” meaning “boy.” There were exceptions, however.
In 1149, the Order of the Hatchet was created to honor the women of the town of Tortosa in Catalonia (Spain), who dressed as men to repel the Moors who had invaded their town.
They were made the equivalent of knights.The legends of Charlemagne do note the adventures of a female knight named Bradamante (Bradamant), who was Charlemagne’s niece.
However, Bradamante initially posed as a male until meeting and falling in love with Rogero (Ruggiero)., For the first seven years of his life, a boy would learn the manners required of a knight from his parents, who told him stories of chivalrous deeds and took him to tournaments.
Play time involved taking up a wooden sword and shield against imagined enemies of the liege lord. , At age 7, a boy would become a page (also called a varlet, meaning “little vassal”) in the service of a noble and any ladies of the court who resided under the noble’s roof.
He would be dressed in the lord’s colors and placed under the older pages in the lord’s service.
As a page, his service would be divided among household duties, physical activities, and education.
Household duties included serving as waiter and busboy at the lord’s table, maintaining the lord’s clothes and helping him dress.
This included helping the lord into and out of his armor at jousting tournaments.
Physical activities included learning to ride and hunt, both with arms and with a hawk or falcon.
The swordplay he practiced under his parents’ roof would become more formalized, and the page would also learn how to joust by holding a lance while riding a wheeled hobby horse pulled by two other pages toward a target.
Education built on the manners training the page received from his parents, and also included religious training and developing thinking skills through games such as chess and backgammon.
The more wealthy the noble, the greater the prestige associated with serving as a page to him.
However, the more wealthy the noble, the more pages he had and the greater the competition among the pages for status within the noble’s house. , Usually at age 14, but sometimes as young as age 10,, a page would be apprenticed to a specific knight as his armiger or squire, from the French “escuyer” for “shield bearer.” In this role, the knight-in-training was regarded as a young man and so had greater duties, responsibilities, and expectations than when he was a page.
The household duties of waiting at table on the lord of the manor were now transferred to assisting his knight in similar fashion.
The squire also helped his knight into his armor and maintained it, assisting him both at tournaments and in battle, and saw to the care of the knight’s horse.
A squire who assisted the lord of the manor in this fashion was known as the “squire of the body” and was considered the highest ranking of all the squires of the manor.Swordplay with wooden swords and lance-play on a hobby horse were now replaced with real weapons.
Squires also had to learn to swim and climb to be able to storm a castle.
Manners lessons included learning the code of chivalry (conduct in battle and regard for those the knight served to protect)as well as music and dancing.
Squires also learned the art of heraldry, the symbols for their own and other noble houses so they could tell friend from foe on the field. , Assuming the squire showed himself worthy of his lessons, at age 21, he would be dubbed a knight. (In some cases, such as particular valor in combat, he might receive the honor sooner, much as battlefield promotions are accorded today, and with only a brief ritual dubbing.)The formal knighting ceremony was highly ritualized and involved the following steps:
A night vigil in the chapel of the castle whose lord the knight-to-be would represent, including a ritual bath to symbolically purify the candidate.
The candidate was clad in a white vestment to represent purity, covered with a red robe to represent nobility.
On his feet and legs were black shoes and stockings to represent that he would give his life in the service of his lord and chivalry if need be.
The sword and shield the knight would wield would be placed on the chapel altar, while the candidate knelt or stood before it in silent prayer for a period of 10 hours.
In the morning, a Mass was held with a sermon on the duties of the knight.
At this point, the knight-to-be’s friends and family were in attendance.
The priest then blessed the sword and shield and handed them to the knight’s sponsor, who then passed them to the lord who would conduct the ceremony.
This might be the lord of the manor, a greater noble, or even the king. .(By the time of Henry VIII, only the reigning monarch conferred knighthood.)Two sponsors presented the knight to the presiding lord, in whose presence the knight swore an oath of allegiance and vows to shun traitors, to treat women with the greatest respect, and to observe all the rituals of the Church.
The presiding lord then presented the knight with the sword and shield and touched him on the shoulder with either the flat of the sword or the flat of his hand, saying, “I dub thee Sir <the knight’s name>.” The sponsors then put the sword and its scabbard around the knight’s waist and spurs on his heels, at which time the knight could use the title “Sir” himself.Becoming a knight required being able to afford the expenses associated with the honor.
Those squires who could not afford it were called “arma patrina” and were allowed to carry a lance and shield, but did not have any of the other accoutrement of knighthood.The "Squire of the Body" often accompanied the knight onto the field of battle, where he would, at a distance, hold and maintain the knights spare accoutrement.
If the knight fell in battle, the Squire of the Body would take up a weapon and protect his knight's body.
Should the squire prevail over an assailing knight, he had the right to take the horse, shield, armor and sword from the knight he defeated.
That would then become his armorial, and he would automatically assume the knighthood of his vanquished. -
Step 3: Learn from your parents what it means to be a knight.
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Step 4: Become a page.
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Step 5: Become a squire.
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Step 6: Be invested as a knight.
Detailed Guide
In the feudal era, the opportunity to become a knight was, in practice, restricted to the nobility, as it was they who usually had the wealth necessary to own and maintain the horse, armor, and weapons that knights needed to defend their lords’ lands.A family could be made a member of the nobility (ennobled) by the king if one of its members performed an outstanding service worthy of a knight.
While in modern times, both men and women can be knighted, historically only men were knighted as a matter of course.
In fact, the word “knight” derives from the Anglo-Saxon word “cniht,” meaning “boy.” There were exceptions, however.
In 1149, the Order of the Hatchet was created to honor the women of the town of Tortosa in Catalonia (Spain), who dressed as men to repel the Moors who had invaded their town.
They were made the equivalent of knights.The legends of Charlemagne do note the adventures of a female knight named Bradamante (Bradamant), who was Charlemagne’s niece.
However, Bradamante initially posed as a male until meeting and falling in love with Rogero (Ruggiero)., For the first seven years of his life, a boy would learn the manners required of a knight from his parents, who told him stories of chivalrous deeds and took him to tournaments.
Play time involved taking up a wooden sword and shield against imagined enemies of the liege lord. , At age 7, a boy would become a page (also called a varlet, meaning “little vassal”) in the service of a noble and any ladies of the court who resided under the noble’s roof.
He would be dressed in the lord’s colors and placed under the older pages in the lord’s service.
As a page, his service would be divided among household duties, physical activities, and education.
Household duties included serving as waiter and busboy at the lord’s table, maintaining the lord’s clothes and helping him dress.
This included helping the lord into and out of his armor at jousting tournaments.
Physical activities included learning to ride and hunt, both with arms and with a hawk or falcon.
The swordplay he practiced under his parents’ roof would become more formalized, and the page would also learn how to joust by holding a lance while riding a wheeled hobby horse pulled by two other pages toward a target.
Education built on the manners training the page received from his parents, and also included religious training and developing thinking skills through games such as chess and backgammon.
The more wealthy the noble, the greater the prestige associated with serving as a page to him.
However, the more wealthy the noble, the more pages he had and the greater the competition among the pages for status within the noble’s house. , Usually at age 14, but sometimes as young as age 10,, a page would be apprenticed to a specific knight as his armiger or squire, from the French “escuyer” for “shield bearer.” In this role, the knight-in-training was regarded as a young man and so had greater duties, responsibilities, and expectations than when he was a page.
The household duties of waiting at table on the lord of the manor were now transferred to assisting his knight in similar fashion.
The squire also helped his knight into his armor and maintained it, assisting him both at tournaments and in battle, and saw to the care of the knight’s horse.
A squire who assisted the lord of the manor in this fashion was known as the “squire of the body” and was considered the highest ranking of all the squires of the manor.Swordplay with wooden swords and lance-play on a hobby horse were now replaced with real weapons.
Squires also had to learn to swim and climb to be able to storm a castle.
Manners lessons included learning the code of chivalry (conduct in battle and regard for those the knight served to protect)as well as music and dancing.
Squires also learned the art of heraldry, the symbols for their own and other noble houses so they could tell friend from foe on the field. , Assuming the squire showed himself worthy of his lessons, at age 21, he would be dubbed a knight. (In some cases, such as particular valor in combat, he might receive the honor sooner, much as battlefield promotions are accorded today, and with only a brief ritual dubbing.)The formal knighting ceremony was highly ritualized and involved the following steps:
A night vigil in the chapel of the castle whose lord the knight-to-be would represent, including a ritual bath to symbolically purify the candidate.
The candidate was clad in a white vestment to represent purity, covered with a red robe to represent nobility.
On his feet and legs were black shoes and stockings to represent that he would give his life in the service of his lord and chivalry if need be.
The sword and shield the knight would wield would be placed on the chapel altar, while the candidate knelt or stood before it in silent prayer for a period of 10 hours.
In the morning, a Mass was held with a sermon on the duties of the knight.
At this point, the knight-to-be’s friends and family were in attendance.
The priest then blessed the sword and shield and handed them to the knight’s sponsor, who then passed them to the lord who would conduct the ceremony.
This might be the lord of the manor, a greater noble, or even the king. .(By the time of Henry VIII, only the reigning monarch conferred knighthood.)Two sponsors presented the knight to the presiding lord, in whose presence the knight swore an oath of allegiance and vows to shun traitors, to treat women with the greatest respect, and to observe all the rituals of the Church.
The presiding lord then presented the knight with the sword and shield and touched him on the shoulder with either the flat of the sword or the flat of his hand, saying, “I dub thee Sir <the knight’s name>.” The sponsors then put the sword and its scabbard around the knight’s waist and spurs on his heels, at which time the knight could use the title “Sir” himself.Becoming a knight required being able to afford the expenses associated with the honor.
Those squires who could not afford it were called “arma patrina” and were allowed to carry a lance and shield, but did not have any of the other accoutrement of knighthood.The "Squire of the Body" often accompanied the knight onto the field of battle, where he would, at a distance, hold and maintain the knights spare accoutrement.
If the knight fell in battle, the Squire of the Body would take up a weapon and protect his knight's body.
Should the squire prevail over an assailing knight, he had the right to take the horse, shield, armor and sword from the knight he defeated.
That would then become his armorial, and he would automatically assume the knighthood of his vanquished.
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