Ceremonies And Duties Of A Knight Essays - Knight, Jousting, Squire

Ceremonies And Duties Of A Knight Essays - Knight, Jousting, Squire Ceremonies and Duties of a Knight Introduction Knights were a important part in medieval times. They were used as protection on the manors to stop invading enemies. The worst hated were the Vikings. Knights did more than just sit around and wait for someone to attack them.The trained for when there was going to be a battle and also taught soon to be knights. They also had tournaments for practice and entertainment. Probably the most common tournament known today is jousting. Jousting is where two opponents are on horses going as fast as they can with very big and long poles and try to hit there opponent off of their horse which is also moving and the opponent also has a pole. In the tournaments they first used very sharp and pointy jousting sticks but too many people were getting hurt and no one thought it would be fun to enter a tournament where you get hurt so then everyone agreed to use blunt jousting sticks instead of using sharp pointy jousting sticks so that people wouldn?t get hurt as bad. Jousting then lead to a ! game called tilting that became popular back in the 1400?s. Two knights would be on horses heading towards there opponent in narrow lanes so the horses could not hit into the other horse. The knights would carry jousting sticks and try to hit there opponent of of their horse. There was also many other games that took place at the tournaments like sword fighting and many others. * Training Before becoming a page you would learn take care of the woman in his family.Also during this time he learned how to take care of horses and how to ride a pony.To become a knight you would first have to go through many years of hard work. You would first start of at the age of seven as a page until your teens. During this time a page would learn how to fight with swords and play games that helped him learn strategy and skill. He would also learn how to hunt with birds like hawks and falcons. He also learned manners. When you became a squire you were mainly the knight?s servant. A squire would also take care of prisoners in a battle. A squire had to help out his master. If your master went to war you would have to go to war with him. If your master was hurt you would have to dress his wounds. Then if your master died you would have to make sure that your master had the proper burial grounds and funeral. Then i f your were very good and proved it to your master you might become ! a knight. But becoming a knight just didn?t happen over knight. (That was a play on words.) Becoming a knight didn?t happen until you were eighteen and that was only if you were one of the best pages and squires. Most squires were knighted at a time of peace but some squires were knighted on the battlefield i f they had shown great bravery. The first knighting ceremonies were very simple but then later in time the ceremonies were more complex.For example, in early knighting ceremonies all a knight did was buckle the armor on the squire and he was knighted. In later ceremonies one knight would buckle on the armor and another knight would put on the spurs. The squire then knelt before the knight that was going to knight him. Then the knight would give the squire a blow to the back with his hand. Then the knight tapped the squire on the back again with his sword but he did not cut him because he used the side of the sword that wasn?t sharp. After that the knight said ?I dub you! knight? and then he was a knight. When the knight tapped him with the side of the sword it was called the accolade which means neck from the French word col. When Christianity became more popular Christianity was linked in with knighthood. The night before a knight was going to be knighted he would place his armor on the alter and pray all knight. He also would confess,