Knights as a Part of Medieval Chivalry Era

During my childhood I had very little access to the internet so I had mostly spent my time away from the farm watching TV and reading books, and I had grown an interest in knights but I had never been able to actually do research on them until this assignment. Knights had existed between the 15th and 17th century as a high ranked soldier, much like a roman officer. A trait among knights is how they are bound to their castle and represented them during tournaments and battles, however, knights in the current era now represent chivalry and are a title given by the king or queen but serve little to no purpose in battle. In this assessment I will be talking about what roles knights had played in society and battle, how did people obtain the title of a knight, how they fought in battle and what type of weapons they used and I will like to show there roles and what made them so respected yet so deadly

Knights, during medieval times, were considered a low-class noble among the community and are commonly seen as protectors of the people and represent honour and chivalry. Knights were formed to serve as a tool for the king to fight in wars and as propaganda to encourage people to fight in the ongoing battles. A popular activity among knights were participating in knight tournaments. Tournaments were a festival of sorts, were knights competed in melees and jousting. Tournaments were described by Roger of Hoveden, a mediaeval chronicler, as 'military exercises carried out, not in the spirit of hostility but solely for practice and the display of prowess' and was a common way to gain popularity and even be scouted by a king to help in battle. Another thing knights partook in were raids. The goal of a raid was to destroy any and all the enemy’s resources, such as food, weapons and anything that could affect the war, and also burn crops and kill peasants. When the enemy defended itself, they would take all the loot they could grab and run away on horseback. Despite all this, raids was not held at odds with chivalry, as raids were another way to fight the enemy. As shown by this, knights had served as a way of getting people interested in fighting in the wars and served as a crucial piece in war tactics

Today, the title of a knight means you had served a prominent role in society to get the attention the queen and be knighted, but in the past, it has been a lot more complicated do get the prestige title of a knight. Back in mediaeval times there were two ways to become a knight; first and easiest was to simply fight bravely to be acknowledged by king, lord or even a knight. The second way was to first be born into a noble family and if the parents wanted their child to become a knight, they would send them to a way local knights’ household where they learned basic formality’s such as cleaning and cooking, and the code of chivalry, they would also practise combat with wooden swords and shields. Once the page turns fifteen, he will then become a squire where he learned more advanced skills such cleaning the knights armour, weapons and horses, practise with actual weapons and accompany his master to battle. He would learn to master these skills for six years where he must show his prowess and skill in battle until he becomes twenty-one and finally becomes a knight. The final process of becoming a knight was to spend the final night in prayer, and the next morning he will attend his dubbing ceremony where he will be tapped on each shoulder by the king, lord or knight. In conclusion becoming a knight is no easy feat and it explains how the knights back then were so proficient and deadly.

During their time, knights were a rank of nobility and many were very wealthy, but despite this they were always expected to fight in battles, and with great skill. A commonly known trait among knights is that they had often worn big, chunky armour, yet they were formidable in combat, but how did they fight in that armour and what weapons did they use? During a squires training, they are quickly taught how to fight in the heavy armour, learning how to use a multiple weapons, but the weapon that made them so special was there skill in horse riding and lances. Their roles in battle was to be cavalry, which means that they would fight on horseback, commonly using lances to stab slower and weaker enemy’s whilst being able to stay out of reach from most weapons. If a knight was knocked of is horse or had to get off, he would still be able to fight, as they were, as stated before, knights were proficient in swordsmanship and could hold his own in battle, but the weight of the weapons plus the heavy armour could get very exhausting but the armour was a great defence against most weapons.

While knights are very deadly fighters, they were always bound to a code of chivalry. These days chivalry simply means for a man to have good manners and be polite, but it was a lot more complicated in medieval times. Chivalry was known by all but the code itself was changed many times, but the first and most well-known was in the poem “The Song of Roland” which explained the rule 8th century knights, the battles they fought and most importantly, explained the code of chivalry. The code itself was huge, having seventeen rules, and at least five of them were mainly about battle, such as never to turn your back to a foe and to fight for welfare of all. The most common of the entries in modern day is to protect the weak and defenceless and respect the honour of women, and both play a big part of today’s society.

In this essay I stated how I intended to show you what made a knight so deadly and how they were still respected and popular. A main part of this is most likely there upbringing , as they are taught the from an early age the code of chivalry and how to be polite but once they reach teen years, its drilled into their heads how to master a vast array of weapons and horse riding. The two other things that made the them so well known in society was there knight tournaments, where people across the land had came and watched the knights show off their skill and honour in combat, and their deadly fighting capability’s in battle.