To qualify for knighthood, a knight's son would spend about half his life studying the arts of war. At the age of seven the candidate was sent off to serve as a page in a great lord's castle. There he and other pages took lessons in riding and swordsmanship and did various chores. Around the age of 14 he was attached as a squire to an individual knight. Now his training was intensified. To his old chores new duties were added: he dressed his master, cared for the knight's horse and weapons. At about 21 he was dubbed a knight.
In early times, knighthood was conferred on the candidate in a brief, bone-jarring ceremony—the new warrior received a brisk, open-handed blow to his neck, followed by an admonition to conduct himself with bravery, loyalty and skill. But by the 11th Century, the spreading influence of the Church had planted among the knights the seeds of religious chivalry. Soon the act of dubbing grew into a formal rite (above) which required of knights a pledge to fight for the Faith and to uphold its moral precepts.
WILY INFIDELS, approaching a Crusaders' camp in 1270, gain entry by asking to be baptized. Their plot failed, but so did the Crusade.
SAVAGE CRUSADERS, battling their way to Jerusalem, use human heads as ammunition for a catapult in besieging Nicaea in 1097.
DEVOUT KNIGHTS, led by King Louis IX (wearing crown), set sail for Africa, intent on invading the Holy Land by way of Egypt.
World History
