Clashing swords, beautiful damsels in distress and flaming dragon’s breath, the stuff dreams are made of. Nothing quite as romantic as the idea of a handsome knight in gleaming armour riding in to save the day! No wonder kids love to dress in children's medieval knight fancy dress costumes and mimic these heroic men. Swordplay fighting is a favorite of many young children today and dressing up as a knight to slay the dragon is great fun!

The truth of a knight’s life varied considerably from the romantic imaginings of today. The chain mail worn by these fierce warriors weighed nearly forty pounds by itself, and this did not include the armor, sword, and shield! Can you imagine the strength it would have taken to carry a load like that even for a few minutes? Moreover, these men would walk and ride for days in such attire.

Knights and the Church

Early knights were employed by the Catholic Church many years ago. You see in these times the church was well known for gold ornamentation as well as artifacts from many of the saints. All this wealth made them prime targets for raiders and barbarians. To stem the tide, the church came up with the idea of the knight who would take on a code that stated they would, “protect the weak, defenseless, and helpless, and fight for the general welfare of all”. A noble pursuit that many were happy to risk their lives for but the promise of land and war booty was an even bigger motivation.

Progression of a Knight

Knights were not usually wealthy men in fact many were little more than peasants. The position of knight afforded them the small chance of fighting their way into landowners. Noblemen would gather young fighting men around them to protect their lands from marauders and in turn, the men were rewarded with whatever they could confiscate from the people they defeated. It soon became regular practice to endow them with tracts of land, thus the position of knight gained importance and increasing status as they moved into a “landed” class. The land would then become a hereditary right given to the first-born.

Training for knighthood began at a very early age when young boys would be sent to live with a wealthy relative or lord in order to be trained. As time progressed this became more and more expensive until only the wealthiest could knight someone. Once they were knighted, they must swear an oath of fealty to the lord responsible, in which they promised to render at least 40 days of service per year in peacetime, more in wartime.

By the early part of the 1300’s groups like the Knight Templar were under fire from political and religious leaders. This led to the disbanding of the organization and accusations of heresy. These accusations were apparently unfounded and in 2004 a document was uncovered that stated the knights were absolved of any such charges.

The tale of the knight will nonetheless live on in the hearts and minds of young and old alike, as we marvel at the thought of knightly codes and daring young men. We will continue in our fascination of medieval times, and the men and women who made it colourful.

This is an original news article © The Kids Window

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