In a joust, two armored knights spurred their horses into a headlong charge, trying to knock each other from the saddle with their heavy lances.
MEDIEVAL EUROPE KNIGHTS SERIES
By the 12th century the mass battle of the knights, which came to be called the melee, was preceded by a series of more controlled single combats, called jousts, or tilts. Church officials, who looked at the tournaments as homicides being committed for sport, forced the knights to modify the tournaments. Captured knights had to pay ransom to secure their freedom.ĭespite the safety measures, men were often killed in tournaments. Blunted weapons were used and safety zones were roped off where knights could put on or repair their armor. The knights would form into two groups and charge each other in a free-for-all combat. Tournaments at first differed little from actual battles. The earliest ones were arranged by knights during times of peace as a means of keeping war-ready and of fending off boredom. When a squire showed unusual valor on the field his lord could hit him lightly with his sword or the palm of his hand and dub him knight.Ī tournament, or tourney, was a competition in the use of battle skills. Knighthood could be conferred also on the battlefield. At the stroke, the master would declare, In the name of God I dub thee knight. In the morning he dressed in his armor and, in the ceremony, received a symbolic blow from his master, who would strike him lightly on the neck or shoulder with the flat of a sword. The squire then fasted for 24 hours, followed by an all-night vigil in which he prayed before an altar. The ceremony was preceded by a series of solemn rituals, beginning with the bath of purification, symbolic of bathing away sin and worldly pleasures. If a squire was deemed qualified by his master, at the age of 20 or 21 he became a knight in a ceremony of investiture.
A squire serves his master before becoming a knight. A squire might also learn to train falcons for falconry, a favorite medieval sport, and on winter days might learn the popular court games of chess, checkers, and backgammon. The master would train the squire in the arts of warfare. The squire would wait on and serve his master and fight alongside him in battle. For five or six years he acted as valet to his lord or knight, whom he called master. A page recieves his education.Īt the age of 15 or 16 the boy became a squire (from Old French escuier, shield bearer). To learn humility and obedience, he ran errands for the ladies and served at meals. From the chaplain he took lessons in religion. The ladies in the castle instructed him in music and dancing. He learned to ride and hunt, and was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. For seven or eight years he served in a castle as a page. When a boy selected to be trained as a knight was seven or eight his father sent him to live in a castle of a lord, usually a noble to whom the father owned fealty, or allegiance.
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