Knights, Guilds, and the Code of Chivalry PDF

# Wk 21 Knights, Guilds, and the Code of Chivalry ### Wednesday, July 31, 2024 10:12 AM ## Knights, Guilds and the Code of Chivalry ### Knighthood - Knights had a unique role in the feudal system - They weren't royalty, but they weren't peasants either - Knights were technically a class of noble-...

# Wk 21 Knights, Guilds, and the Code of Chivalry ### Wednesday, July 31, 2024 10:12 AM ## Knights, Guilds and the Code of Chivalry ### Knighthood - Knights had a unique role in the feudal system - They weren't royalty, but they weren't peasants either - Knights were technically a class of noble-born men that had chosen to train for knighthood - At the top of the feudal system was the king and below him were the nobles that he chose to help him rule his kingdom - Nobles were given land in exchange for loyalty - Knights were also given land by the king - Knights had to pledge that they would fight for the king as needed by swearing an oath called the Oath of Fealty - The king also bestowed knighthood upon them, officially setting them apart as his private mounted cavalrymen - When there were military issues in the kingdom, or wars to be fought, the knights were called into service - Knights were expected to fight at least 40-90 days out of every year - The rest of the year they could go back and care for the land they had been given - Below the knights in rank were squires and pages, who typically had the end goal of working their way up the ladder to become a knight - Through service, diligence and duty, a knight could become wealthy enough to move up into the ranks of nobility - To become a knight, a man had to go through years of extensive, difficult training - Swordplay was practiced using wooden swords and shields - Fighting on piggyback introduced the young knights to the balance and skills required in mounted combat - Knighthood Training in other physical skills included climbing, swimming, throwing stones, javelins, archery and wrestling - Knights were expected to live their lives according to the Code of Chivalry, a set of rules for behavior - Knights to always demonstrate positive qualities like bravery, loyalty, generosity and good manners towards women - This code and way of life led to a positive view of knights, and many legends were written about them and their adventures ### The Legend of King Arthur - The stories of King Arthur and his knights are legendary, told and retold around the world in different forms: books, movies and TV shows - Stories of King Arthur have been around since before the 11th century. - King Arthur had knights that served him, and they would go into battle against their foes - There's a romance in the story of the knight Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere - Arthur had become king by drawing a magic sword, called Excalibur, from a stone when no one else could - The origin story of King Arthur comes with stories that involve Merlin, the wizard who served the king. - Part of the legend includes the Round Table, where King Arthur would assemble all of his knights together for meetings - The code of chivalry required knights to be brave, fearless, strong, loyal, honest, generous and charming. - These ideas seeped into the legends, creating larger-than-life men who were heroic and who never backed down. ## The Code of Chivalry - Knights were expected to be heroes - They were under the charge of the king and were representing royalty - The code of chivalry wasn't necessarily a written down list of expectations, but it was a way of life for these men - It was first described in the Song of Roland, the story of a knight - In it, there were 17 things that were expected of a knight - Examples include fighting for all, respecting women, never refusing a challenge, staying faithful and always being honest - They had to live with honor, obey the king and protect the weak - Everything they did was for the greater good and the benefit of all, not for themselves. - They had to swear oaths and vows to uphold these values and serve others - They were also expected to respect, follow and protect the Church. - Their Christian faith was incredibly important to them - If knights fought in the Crusades, the pope would absolve (or excuse) the sin they were committing by killing another person - Because these men were so heroic, people loved to read, write and sing about them - Epic poems were written along with ballads - The legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table are incredibly successful stories because of how magnanimous these men seemed - There have been many books, movies, songs and television shows based on knight stories - It tells of the knights, their adventures and the women they loved - Romantic stories about knights are plentiful, due to their being so trustworthy and kind - What happened if a knight didn't live the way he was expected to live or was dishonest or cruel? - Knights who didn't conform were punished, given "mock funerals," shamed publicly and no longer allowed to be a knight - They lost their land and their status - Because knights were portrayed so positively and everyone loved knights (or what they thought a knight should be), some knights took advantage of their positions of power - Luckily, though, most knights followed their code and did what was right! - What started out as a way for warriors to behave themselves eventually changed over time to a social way of life for the knights who served their king, which continued throughout the Middle Ages and into what we call the Renaissance - Even after there weren't conflicts and knights weren't really as necessary as they used to be, they still continued to show off their military skills and strength - They would compete in jousts and tournaments to demonstrate who was the best knight, with the queen or whichever highest ranked lady was present presenting the winner with his prize - What ended the code of chivalry and the age of the knights? - As the times changed and the people of the Renaissance became more focused on what they could do for themselves as opposed to what they could do for others, knights were phased out and left for the history books ### Knight School - It took a long time to become a knight - At the age of seven, boys were chosen and sent away from their homes to wealthy families for training - Until the age of 14, they were a page - Pages didn't start out with the real weapons of a knight though; they had wooden weapons and fake wooden horses to ride, their focus was strength training and agility - After they completed their page training, they moved up to a squire, about age 21 - Squires would still have wooden weapons to practice "fighting" wooden dummies and one another - Squires were trained in horseback riding, archery, sword fighting, hand-to-hand combat - It was pretty common for squires to receive injuries during this stage of their training - When ready, they moved into knighthood where they received instruction in warfare strategies, the best ways to defeat an enemy, how to think critically in battle and how to attack and conquer castles - They were also trained in ways to withstand the pain and struggles of battle because it was difficult to be brave and strong when you were tired, hungry and cold - During this time, they were usually under the tutelage of successful knights possessing years of experience ### Medieval Military Technology - Medieval warfare could be very violent - A wide variety of weapons were available to the fighting soldiers and the knights - Some of those weapons were the bow and arrow, the battle ax and the mace - The bow and arrow allowed soldiers to fight from a distance, hitting their targets from afar - The battle ax and the mace were used to fight up close and didn't require much skill or precision - There were also siege weapons that were used to attack castles - Catapults, such as the trebuchet and the ballista, were used to throw giant stones at and damage a castle sufficient to allow entry by enemy troops - Battering rams, made from the trunks of trees, were also used to break down massive castle doors, also allowing entry by enemy troops - Every medieval weapon had a specific purpose; many of them required training to use them properly ### Archery - An important member of the medieval military was the archer or bowman, a person skilled in the use of a bow and arrow (either longbow or crossbow) - Archers had to train for an incredibly long amount of time to become expert marksmen - They only had so many arrows with which to hit their target and their targets were usually moving swiftly on a horse or ensheathed in armor - Archery wasn't just a skill for military men though; many women were skilled at it, as well - All men were expected to learn how to shoot a bow and arrow; it was required by law in the 1200s - Archers were incredibly important during a battle - In the 1300s, for example, in the Battle of Crecy, about 2,000 French soldiers were killed by archers ### A Suit of Armor - Being a knight was dangerous - People would fight and jab at them with swords and lances, or they could have arrows fired at them - How did they protect themselves? - The best solution was a suit of armor - Before that, knights used padded clothing and chainmail - After armor was developed, knights would wear the padded clothing and chainmail under the armor - It was very, very expensive to make a suit of armor - If it didn't fit perfectly, the knight was in danger of being badly injured or killed - The armor included plates to cover the knights from head to toe - For example, greaves protected their ankles and calves, a breastplate protected their chest, and a helmet with visors protected their face and eyes - A knight's horse even had its own armor called a chamfron to protect the horse's face! ### Jousting - Tournaments of jousting events were common during the time of the knights - Not only were they a way for knights to practice their combat skills, but they were entertaining for the other citizens. - Knights could win prize money for successful tournaments, and if they lost they might have to give their armor or their horse to the winner - The crowd watching was usually filled with all manner of people - From the poorest peasants to the highest royalty, jousting was entertaining for everyone - In a joust, a knight would ride a horse and carry a long spear-like object called a lance, which was not sharpened - The first knight to knock the other knight off his horse was the winner. - After the tournament, there would be large celebrations with feasting and wine. ## Feudal Societies Compare and Contrast - Medieval Europe and Medieval Japan both created and lived under a feudal system, even though neither society had much to do with one another. - In a feudal system, there are the people at the top of the system - the royalty and people at the bottom of the system - the peasants. In between, you had the warriors. - In Europe, warriors were known as knights; in Japan, warriors were known as the shogun. - Both Europe and Japan relied on a hereditary system, for the most part, to determine what a person's station in life would be. - This meant that nobles gave birth to nobles and peasants gave birth to peasants. - The warriors in Japan and Europe both relied on horses for their fighting - Japanese feudalism was based on Chinese philosophy and Confucianism, while European feudalism was a mix of Roman customs, German customs and the Catholic Church - Land ownership was different between the two systems: in Europe, knights owned their land in exchange for their loyalty; in Japan, samurai received a salary but no land ## Heraldry - What is heraldry? - It's the use of symbols, colors and pictures to show who you are or where you're from. - Knights would wear their symbols on their shields or helmets to show what families they were representing - It was a way to show who was who, especially during tournaments - Bright colors would be used, such as red, green, blue and yellow - Red was usually only allowed for royalty - Blue represented the clear sky, while green was for youth and beauty - The symbols could have ordinaries in them (lines or shapes in the shield that would divide it into sections) like a horizontal line from side to side, or a diagonal from corner to corner - They could also use geometric shapes or have smaller symbols like stars, rings or diamonds - Animals could also be included such as dogs, eagles or lions - Dogs represented reliability; eagles represented power and nobility; lions represented bravery - Mythical animals like dragons were sometimes used - A dragon would symbolize bravery