The Life and Role of a Knight in The Middle Ages :: essays research papers

The Middle Ages - The Life and Role of a Knight A Knights life was a hard life, you could only become one in a few ways, one being the most common passing a life-time test. Knights were sworn to protect Churches, the weak and battle all evil.When a boy was 8 years old, he was sent to the neighboring castle where he was trained as a page. The boy was usually the son of a buck or of a member of the aristocracy. He spent most of his time strengthening his body, wrestling and riding horses. He also learned how to fight with a gig and a sword. He practiced against a wooden dummy called a quintain. It was essentially a heavy sack or dummy in the produce of a human. It was hung on a wooden pole along with a shield. The young page had to hit the shield in its centre. When hit, the whole structure would twirl around and around. The page had to get away quickly without getting hit. The young man was also taught more civilized topics. He would be taught to read and preserve by a schoolmas ter. He could also be taught some Latin and French. The lady of the castle taught the page to sing and dance and how to behave in the queen mole rat?s court. At the age of fifteen or sixteen, a boy became a squire in service to a horse cavalry. His duties included dressing the knight in the morning, serving all of the knight?s meals, caring for the knight?s horse, and cleaning the knight?s armor and weapons. He followed the knight to tournaments and back up his lord on the battlefield. A squire also prepared himself by learning how to handle a sword and lance while wearing 40 pounds of armor and riding a horse. When he was about twenty, a squire could become a knight after proving himself worthy. A lord would agree to knight him in a dubbing ceremony. The night before the ceremony, the squire would dress in a white tunic and red robes. He would then libertine and pray all night for the purification of his soul. The chaplain would bless the future knights sword and then lay it o n the chapel or churchs altar. Before dawn, he took a bath to show that he was pure, and he dressed in his best clothes. When dawn came, the priest would hear the young mans confession, a Catholic contrition rite.