Training to become a knight began at age 8 when boys were sent to live at neighboring castles. They were taught skills like horseback riding and fighting with weapons. At 15 or 16, they became squires and assisted knights by caring for their armor and horses. At around age 20, squires could undergo a dubbing ceremony to become knights if a lord deemed them worthy. This involved rituals like fasting and being tapped on the shoulders with a sword. Men could also become knights for displaying valor in combat.

1. Becoming a Knight:
There were only a few ways in which a person could become a knight.
The first way was the normal course of action for the son of a noble:
Training: When a boy was eight years old, he was sent to the
neighboring castle where he was trained as a page. The boy was usually
the son of a knight 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 spear and a sword. The young man was also
taught more civilized topics. He would be taught to read and write by a
schoolmaster. 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
king’s court.
Apprenticeship: At the age of fifteen or sixteen, a boy became a squire in
service to a knight. 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 assisted
his lord on the battlefield. A squire also prepared himself by learning how to
handle a sword and lance while wearing forty pounds of armor and riding a
horse.

2. The Dubbing Ceremony: 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 fast and pray all night for the
purification of his soul. The chaplain would bless the
future knight's sword and then lay it on the chapel or
church's 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
man's confession, a Catholic contrition rite. The squire
would then eat breakfast.
Soon the dubbing ceremony began. The outdoor ceremony
took place in front of family, friends, and nobility. The squire
knelt in front of the lord, who tapped the squire lightly on each
shoulder with his sword and proclaimed him a knight. This was
symbolic of what occurred in earlier times. In the earlier middle
ages, the person doing the dubbing would actually hit the
squire forcefully, knocking him over. After the dubbing, a great
feast followed with music and dancing.
A young man could also become a knight for valor in combat
after a battle or sometimes before a battle to help him gain
courage.

3. The Medieval Lady
Girlhood - Girls were educated very differently from boys. They usually lived away
from home, in a monastery or another castle. There they were taught how to sew,
read and write Latin, to sing, and to do many other "feminine" practices. Girlhood did
not last long. Some young girls were engaged to men when they were as young as
six or seven years old. Usually girls were married by the time they were fourteen.
Duties- The important function of the
medieval lady was child rearing. Usually a
woman had all her children by the time she
was twenty. Giving birth was very dangerous
and many women did not survive the process.
Besides caring for the children, the medieval
lady also had many other duties. Ladies also
generally were in charge of the castle's
kitchen and meals. Additionally, she was
often put in charge of the castle in the lord's
absence. Ladies generally proved quite adept
at managing the castle's affairs when the lord
was gone. Sometimes they defended their
castles against sieges or led armies on the
battlefield.

4. The Medieval Lady
The Lady The lady was not considered a very
important person during the Middle Ages. According
to St. Jerome, a Latin father of the Christian church,
woman is the gate of the devil, the path of
wickedness, the sting of the serpent, in a word, a
perilous object. A woman didn't get to decide much
on her own. An unmarried daughter was a burden to
her family. They were often sent to become nuns. By
sending her away, families thought they had solved
their problem. Usually woman were sent away
because they had fallen in love with a man her family
disapproved of.
Marriage - Young noblewomen had little say in who they were
married to or when they were married. Marriage was used to seal
political ties and obtain greater wealth by most people in the upper
classes. In exchange for a dowry, which usually consisted of a set
amount of land, the medieval lady got one third of her husband's
estate when he died. However, marriage was not always good for a
woman. When she was married, she was said "to come under the
rod". This meant that she had virtually no rights. She could not sue,
appear in court, make a will, or do many other things that women
today take for granted. Before she could do these things she had to
get the consent of her husband. Once her husband died, she
regained most of these rights.

5. Men of God
There were many different kinds of clergymen during the Middle ages. Each one had his own duties and power.
Some had vast amounts of power politically. Of course, they all shared one trait, they were the mediators of God.
They were the bridge between God and the other people.
The Bishop
Bishops were the leaders of the church. The leader of the bishops, of
course, was the pope. Bishops were often very wealthy. They dressed
lavishly, wearing many of the same clothes as a feudal lord. Of course, they
had their own religious garments to wear also. Bishops often had their own
castles from which to conduct business. In this way, they were firmly
entrenched in the feudal society. They were accepted in royal courts and
dallied in politics. They also had many duties. They levied taxes and settled
on issues such as annulments of marriages. An annulment is an alternative
to divorce (which was not allowed by the Church). If a marriage was
annulled, the union between the man and woman was removed by the
Church.
Parish and Castle Priest
These priests said Mass for the town in the town church and
also said Mass in the castle. This was done in its chapel. They
also were responsible for the collection of church taxes and the
spreading of alms among the poor. Often these priests were
the only people who could write and read in the village. Thus,
they were sometimes responsible for village and castle record
keeping.

6. Men of God
Monks
A monk is a man who is a member of a brotherhood. He devotes his life
to a discipline prescribed by his order. Monks and nuns live in a
monastery. A monastery is a kind of half church half hospital. They take
care of people there and they pray and meditate. It can also be like a
school for kids. They would teach them how to read and write.
They usually wore brown
robes with hoods around
their heads. They were
also well educated and
could usually read and
write Latin. Many monks
devoted themselves to
learning. Some of the first
encyclopedias and
histories were written by
monks and then copied
over by hand.
Monks were often the only source of Bibles in medieval
times. Bibles were also copied by hand because the
printing press was not yet developed.
Medieval Monastery

7. The Peasants Life
The average peasant in the feudal structure could be grouped into two main
professions: farmer or craftsmen. The farmers worked the fields daily, planting,
harvesting, and fertilizing the plants. They paid for their rights to use the land
directly in the form of their harvest, and keep the excess to be sold or for their own
family use. Most farmers were not free and were bound to their land.
The craftsmen were usually trained in the home by a
parent who was in the profession, or by going into an
apprenticeship with another skilled craftsmen in the town.
The craftsmen built their goods to sell, and paid a tax to
the lord for their right to use the land. Their life mainly
consisted of making their goods and services available to
the public of the town, coming to help when the town or
castle needed repairs, or training the younger generation
with their craft. Their profit from the sales was used to
buy food from the farmers, and other items which kept
the cycle of sales and purchases flowing to keep the
medieval economy going.
Guilds The unions of the past were known as guilds. They were one of the most influential organizations of that
time. They flourished because of the main reasons they were formed: to protect the business from the merchants,
to ensure high standards and a high quality of work, and to look after the old and sick members of the guild. The
regular town merchants needed protection from the merchants who came in a provided cheap labor. The people of
the town always wanted the job to be done right the first time, with as little money spent as possible. The guilds
helped ensure that the job would be done right by having training requirements for their workers. When workers
became ill, or too old to work any longer, the guild supported them and their families.

8. The Peasants Life
Religion: Religion was an important part of the life for the peasants, and it
was taken very seriously. In fact, before the strong, tyrannical government
emerged in the tenth to thirteenth with the king as its ruling figure, the church
could also be considered a contending force with the king, sometimes
overthrowing the king and placing a puppet of the church in command. The
church had strict laws which were carefully followed, and a severe
punishment was usually guaranteed if they were broken.
Festivals and Famine: Famines were frequent and plagues depleted the livestock. Crops were destroyed by
frosts, floods, and droughts. Fields and harvests were burned when the lords had bursts of warfare across the
countryside. Thus, the peasants life was a hard one. However, peasants of the middle ages enjoyed many
holidays, both religious and non-religious, which meant that the peasant worked for about 260 days a year.
The life of the peasant was extremely difficult, but enjoying holidays kept spirits high.

9. Life in a Castle
A castle in the middle ages was essentially
a fort, albeit a very big one. It served as a weapon of
both offense and defense. If a king wanted to gain
control of certain lands, he could order a castle built
there. Additionally, if lands that a king already had under
his control were invaded or were threatened with
invasion, then a king would also order a castle built
there.
Building: Castles generally took an incredibly long
time to build. Occasionally, they could take centuries to
build. However, sometimes, if the need for a castle was
great enough, they could be built in the relatively small
amount of time of ten years! Castles were built with
defense in mind. They were often built on a hill so that
enemies attempting to attack would have to travel up
often steep inclines. This slowed an attack down and
made it easier to defend the castle. Castles were also
usually surrounded by a large ditch sometimes filled
with water. This was called a moat. It was often filled
with sharp objects like glass or metal. Anyone who fell
in could be killed.

10. Under Siege: Castles were primarily structures of war and Tactics:
were built in strife ridden lands. Thus, it was almost •The most effective offensive weapon was hunger and
inevitable that they would come under attack. Because demoralization. Besieging forces would attempt to
castles were made with such massive defense completely surround a castle and cut it off from the
fortifications, it was extremely hard to destroy them. Thus, outside world. The situation often got very grim inside
the goal of a siege army was not to destroy a castle, but to the castle. Even though large quantities of supplies
penetrate it. However, this task was also extremely hard. were stored inside, they sometimes ran out.
Sieges often lasted for months and could even last for •Attackers also often tried to trick the castle defenders
years! to gain admittance to the castle. For example, the
besieging army could take their weapons and march
out of sight. Then, they could wait a couple days and
send several soldiers disguised as peasants to the
castle. These soldiers could then knife the castle
guards in secret and open the main gate. The enemy
army could then enter the gate and take the castle.
•The battering ram was another way of getting through
a castle wall. During the night a shed was erected
quickly next to the gate, or a weak point in the wall. If
a moat was there, it was filled most of the way with
dirt, rocks, and logs. Then, a large tree trunk was
hung from the shed's ceiling by chains. It was
sometimes capped with iron. Teams of soldiers then
rocked the trunk back and forth, knocking against the
wall. This could eventually cause a weakness in the
wall, possibly tumbling it.

11. The Age of Chivalry
During medieval times knighthood was a class culture,
cherished and jealousy guarded by the knightly caste. Knight
had the honor of defending the king as well as their country.
On the bloody fields of battle a code of chivalry evolved that
tempered anger and fury with mercy. It created ways of turning
the grim business of fighting into something tolerable, perhaps
even acceptable. Knights believed strongly in the code of
chivalry. Chivalry as we know it denotes the ideals and
practices considered suitable to be a noble. They promised to
defend the weak, be courteous to all women, be loyal to their
king, and serve God at all times. Knights were expected to be
humble before others, especially their superiors. They were
also expected to not "talk too much". In other words, they
shouldn't boast. Chivalry was not only looked upon as a code
for war; it was looked upon as a setting for stories of love and
romance. Chivalry meant a higher social status as well as
recognition.
True Chivalry? The code of chivalry demanded that a knight give mercy to a vanquished enemy. However, the
very fact that knights were trained as men of war belied this code. Even though they came from rich families,
many knights were not their families' firstborn. They did not receive an inheritance. Thus they were little more
than mercenaries. They plundered villages or cities that they captured, often defiling and destroying churches
and other property. Also the code of chivalry did not extend to the peasants. The "weak" was widely interpreted
as "noble women and children". They were often brutal to common folk.

12. A Code Of Chivalry
The following is an example of a code of
chivalry.
I. Thou shalt believe all that the Church teaches, and shalt
observe all its directions.
II. Thou shalt defend the Church.
III. Thou shalt respect all weaknesses, and shalt constitute
thyself the defender of them.
IV. Thou shalt love the country in the which thou wast born.
V. Thou shalt not recoil before thine enemy.
VI. Thou shalt make war against the Infidel without
cessation, and without mercy.
VII. Thou shalt perform scrupulously thy feudal duties, if
they be not contrary to the laws of God.
VIII. Thou shalt never lie, and shall remain faithful to thy
pledged word.
IX. Thou shalt be generous, and give largess to everyone.
X. Thou shalt be everywhere and always the champion of
the Right and the Good against Injustice and Evil.

13. Becoming a Knight The Medieval Lady Men of God
Explain the training a boy would go through to How was a girl’s life different from a boy’s? Describe the life and duties of each of the
become a knight? following:
Bishops:
How were marriage practices of the Middle Ages Priests:
Describe the duties of a squire: compare to today?
Monks:
Daily Life in the Middle Ages
The Peasant’s Life Life in a Castle The Age of Chivalry
Describe daily life for a farmer/craftsman: How was the castle a weapon of both offense and According to the code of chivalry, what did knights
defense? promise to do?
Describe the role religion played in a peasant’s life:
According to the code of chivalry, why shouldn’t
What role did holiday’s play in the life of a peasant? knights “talk too much?”
Why would castles usually be built on a hill?