The Shape: The Knights Of Medieval Europe

By the time of the Crusades in Medieval Europe, Knights were nothing out of the ordinary. A knight's training began at around four or five. It involved them learning how to ride a pony. Around the age of eight, the young trainee would be sent to be a page for a lord or a relative with influence. At this point, they would refine their swordsmanship, improve their horse skills, and would be taught more about their religion. At the age of 14, pages were eligible to become a squire, where they continued their sword fighting skills. They would accompany a knight into a battle, care for him, care for his horses, and would simply hope to be chosen to

Young boys, usually age seven, were sent to castles or to wealthy people’s houses. There, they would start their training. The ranks of a knight-in-training showed how long he had been working towards knighthood. The ranks are from least to greatest: page, squire, and knight. From age seven to fourteen, the boys trained as medieval pages. From age fourteen to twenty-one, they were squires. Squires were like servants to knights; they would put their armor on, polish the armor, hand the knight weapons in tournaments, etc. The older the boys got and the more training they had, the closer they got to becoming a knight. At about age twenty-one, if the squire’s master believed he was ready to become a knight, he would be knighted. When a squire was knighted, he was tapped on the shoulder with a sword by the king, queen, his lord, or the knight he was squire to. Not all squires became knights, though. If a squire became too mature or was not capable of being a knight, he would be an “Arma Patrina”. When a squire did become a knight, he earned the title “Sir”. As well as learning basic combat, A

At first knights and soldiers in the armies were of little social status. “Many knights in fact possessed little more than peasants” (Spielvogel 244). War was looked as kind of a barbaric act in the beginning and many knights could be found fighting each other. While some of this was tolerated, as they were seen as “defenders of society”, the Catholic Church decided that there should be some ground rules. At the start of the eleventh century, the church urged knights to take an oath to protect churches, and to not harm noncombatants. These rules allowed for battles to follow a civil path and to be carried out in a noble way.

In the movie, William, the main character was first a page then was became a squire when his knight thought he was old and wise enough to become one. He wasn’t dubbed a knight until he went to the jousting championships, only knights are allowed to joust with other knights and William was still a Squire. The only reason he became a knight was when he jousted against the prince of England, and beat him. This made the prince respect William and dubbed him a knight.

In warfare today weapons have improved in accuracy and ease of use. With the simple pull of a trigger a soldier can take down his/her intended target. Rather than knights trying disarm their objective with a sword. With the ability to shoot long range it removes the necessity to ride horses, while in battle, to move quicker and more efficiently. However, the way one trains to defend for the common good is similar. Comparatively both knights and soldiers have to go through some degree of training to reach their rank. Although, to be a knight the men must have been born into nobility and women could not fight. While anyone over the age 18 can fight in current day. However, to be knight a young boy would start learning at the age of seven and would continue learning up to the age of 21. Where a soldier today will start training and only train for a couple months to possibly a year.

Before they could wield swords and fight battles they must start their training early in boyhood. First starting to care for horses and play the harp. Next they became a Paige. They learn archery skills and improve on other skills. Then a Squire who finally practice sword play and improve on horse riding. Last after being dubbed a knight by their king or queen they become a knight. They can now lead armies into battle and joust for the king, queen, lords, ladies, and rich nobles. They had many weapons including a battle ax, a lance, a crossbow, a longbow, a shield a sword and many more interesting weapons. There were also many pieces that made up their armor, but the biggest thing was chain mail. It was a brilliant invention that stopped warriors from getting stabbed but they could still feel the momentum of the blow. A few knights belonged to the king, but mostly the knights and armies belonged to the lords and ladies. Once they find out the king is out numbered by thousands they decide to rebuttal throwing the whole feudal system

Knights are one of the most mistaken figures of the medieval era due to fairytales and over exaggerated fiction novels. When medieval knights roamed the earth, it was known that they were only human and, like humans, had faults. These knights did not always live up to the standards designated by society. However, in The Canterbury Tales, the knight is revealed as a character that would now be considered a knight in shining armor, a perfect role model in how he acts and what he does. Modern day people see them as chivalrous figures instead of their actual role as mounted cavalry soldiers. As time passes, the idea of what a knight is changes from a simple cavalry soldier to a specific type of behavior.

A knight’s role and the impact heavy cavalry had on warfare have greatly varied throughout the period of the Middle Ages. Although knight’s dominated the battlefield and had a huge cultural value in society you cannot ignore the impact that technology has had on their role. These technological advances such as the longbow, the introduction of light cavalry and developments such as gunpowder and artillery, the tactical developments such as sieges and the general organisation surrounding warfare resulted in knights declining in social value, status and affectability as well as a more dramatic yet gradual metamorphosis into the heavily armoured tank divisions in today’s modern armies. It has always been a greatly contested debate as to when the Middle

There are many similarities between the knights of medieval Europe samurai of medieval Japan, especially considering their training, armor, and codes of conduct. For example documents A and B to be able to be a samurai you have to start practicing when you're 4 to 5 years old. at age seven or eight, he would be sent to serve as a page to his father’s overlord or to a powerful relative. When your training to become a samurai you need to began on a pony and when you become more advanced you ride a horse. about 14 the trainees officially became samurai in a ceremony called genpuku. Samurai school was a unique combination of physical training, poetry and spiritual discipline. In documents C and D samurai's armor was very heavy and strong. You start

Not all men were assured to be knights. There were only two ways a man can become a knight. If a knights had a son, then his son is assured to have a position to becoming a knight. Those who their fathers were not knights had to prove there capability through bravery and courage. If they were qualified then they were able to be a knight. For those boys who were born from a royal family since they were more likely to become a knight they were sent off at the age of 8 to the local lord court to become a page (). There they learned everything on the topic of knighthood, other things like the rules of court, weapons, chivalry, writing, and music (). As the boy becomes older, around 13 years of age he then would be a squire because he is starting to develop into their manhood. His training would focus more on horsemanship, weapons, and mainly combat fundamentals (). As combat training advanced for the boy, they focus much more on horse mounted combat where he learns to fight on horses. This type of combat is more typical and essential aspect for a knight

Becoming a knight was a long and difficult process. a person to become a knight would start training as a child somewhere near 7 years of age. Knights in training had to learn things like sword techniques, protection and bravery. The first rules taught in early childhood where things such as rules and basic education which were usually taught at home. Then from 7 to 14 they would be given the role of Medieval page, this page was the duty of waiting at a table, care for the kings clothes and help them when dressing. The page also meant they would act like servants of the castle and being given or recognised as receiving the page meant getting a uniform which would vary in coulor and pattern due to age. A medieval squire was like a servant to a knight. The role of being a squire was the next step to becoming a true knight and was very important. The purpose/duties of becoming a squire were to learn from the knights, for example they learned things such as Chivalry, the rules of Heraldry, horsemanship and proper use of weapons and skills of a knight. They also had to become involved in other castle trainings such as jousting and music. Finally after a long period of time through the teaching and practices of becoming a Knight, there training would be complete and celebrated at a ceremony. The ceremony consisted of the now coming knight being dubbed with these words “Arise, sir Knight” This marked their final step to KnightHood.

To be a knight, his fitness level had to be exceptional enough to last through a long, intense battle. Knights had to face a variety of challenges and were expected to handle them as any knight would. For example, some battles would last long periods of times, so these knights were expected to handle different weather changes, tiredness, and hungriness. The most important qualification that a knight had to have was modeling bravery due to the extreme battles that would be fought. Through these long battles, knights had to stay positive and not give up for what they are fighting for.

There were five steps to knighthood, “becoming a knight took years of training, during which a young man learned how to fight, ride, and behave in proper, knightley manner” (Corrick 29). The first step to becoming a knight was having the right connections because it was very expensive to buy all the equipment necessary in protecting himself on the battlefield. That being said a knight usually came from a noble or wealthy family. The upbringing is the second step, if a boy came from the right family and had the ambition to be a knight by the age of seven he would have to learn all basic manners and what the role of a

on the backs of warhorses. They trained from age seven and had jousting tournaments regularly to practice war techniques.

A knight was born into knighthood and throughout his life he was trained to be a knight. The training a knight goes through is learning to fight, ride, plan, tend to his horse and gear, and he must be a Second for an actual knight. The names of his different stages of training are: page, squire, and then a knight. A page is a boy At about age 7, the sons were taken to a different castle to be trained as a page. They spent their time becoming strong, riding horses and mastering the use of weapons. They learned how to read, write and speak Latin and French. At about age 16, a page becomes a Squire. A squire is