Knights in the Middle Ages

The lives of young boys, born of noble blood, were full of training. At age seven they were already out of their homes and being trained by a knight. By the age of thirteen, if the boy was ready to proceed with training, he could become a squire. Squire’s handled the knight’s weapons and was appointed to clean them and help the knight in any way he could. Once the Squire reached the age of fifteen, he began wearing a suit of armor to get used to the weight. When the squire turned eighteen he was finally ready to be dubbed a knight.

The dark ages was a time period full of misfortune and poverty due to the fall of the Roman empire. People began to revert back to “survival mode” because they had lost of the progress they had made over time. However, in 900 A.D a system known as the feudal system emerged. This system guaranteed most people something in return for their work. For example, a king would grant land, a fief, to a lord and in return the lord will provide money and knights to fight for the king.

Knights were a significant part of the feudal system because they were granted land and in return provided protection for all the people and military service. As well as doing that, they also watched over the serfs and peasants that were working the lords land. When appointed to do so, the knights would go out to a battle and fight for the lord or king whom they were granted the land from. They wore a exceptionally heavy armor to protect them either in battle or in a joust.

A code that the knights lived off of in that time period was chivalry. It was a set of rules of what was and wasn’t polite or expectable for them to do. Much like the Ten Commandments today, the code was almost common sense. Seeing that the rules said things like “Thou shalt love the country in the which thou wast born” or ” Thou shalt never lie, and shall remain faithful to thy pledged word”. Following those rules along with others they were much appreciated by all the people around them.