Medieval Knights
Medieval Knights
Knights in the Middle Ages fought for their lords in battle. They even had to protect the castle before the year 900 AD. Before you become a knight, you must go through these stages: page, squire, then armiger. The sons of the nobles were sent to a lord's house at the age of seven to serve him as a page. As a page he is taught manners, skills in serving food, and he also learns how to read and write. When the page turns thirteen he will be named a squire. At the stage of a squire he will learn how to ride horses and how to handle weapons. Once the lord thought that you were skilled enough to go with him into battle, he turned you into an armiger. After the armiger stage it's time for the youth to become a real knight. At the granting ceremony, the lord who trained him will dub him with the flat surface of his sword and he is now officially a knight.
There were a lot of weapons that the knights used. The one most often used were the sword and the lance. A lance can have many different heads. For example, a jousting head is not as sharp as the one you use in battle. The lances were used in wars by throwing them at the opponent. The long bows were longer than the regular bow and were much more powerful. These long bows can pierce through thin chain mail, which was the strongest armor the knights had in the early Middle Ages. Because of this weapon, the knight had to make their armors stronger. That's when they decided to wear heavy and thick metal armor.
The tournaments that were held in the Middle Ages were to keep the knights in shape while there was no war. As time passed, the event gradually became an entertainment for the people. The most famous event in the tournament was the jousting event. In this event each knight tried to knock the other off the horse. Even though the sharp pointed lances were prohibited, blood shed was still possible. Some of the jousters even became professionals!
The Coat of Arms is a very important part of a knight's banner. Every knight has a different design that showed everyone who they were and what part of the family he was in. Basically it just makes the identification much easier. Only seven colors are used in the Coat of Arms. The designs of the Coat of Arms may be animals, stripes, crosses, or even stars. If a knight has a father who was a knight, he had to use the same design but could add a symbol would show tell he is the son of a certain knight.