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... a lot of responsibilities. The main duty was to be ready in the case that their lord or superior needs them. They did however had other responsibilities. A knights other responsibilities are to fight in his lords army, guard his castle, give him financial aid, act as a messenger or an ambassador, and serve on his council.
However, beyond their responsibilities there was a code of conduct called chivalry. Chivalry is defined as qualities of bravery and courtesy, of an ideal knight. Examples of this are, speaking nobly and courteously. How they dressed, kept a good and clean house, and had clean and splendid equipment also was a sign of understanding the concept chivalry (p. 115, Jones).
These were not rules that were written out but were common knowledge. One of the most elaborate forms of chivalry is the ceremony of knighting. Knighting was a way of showing a coming of age in adolescents. In the twelfth century, it is said that the knightly class was officially the class by birth. At this time, knights were the leading figures in politics, literature and law (p. 4, Bumke). Many well-known leaders of this early age were knighted in ceremonies.
Some examples were Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne and Otto I (p. 25, Barber). By the thirteenth century the cost of living was so high that the only people that could afford to be knight were the wealthy. For the serf or peasants, knighthood was not something that they didnt want or could have but it was just a burden on them. It was a hard time and they need to work on their lands to grow enough for his family to survive. It was not a surprise that some began to avoid their feudal obligation. It is said that about half the people that could serve do (p. 5.
Jones). The question comes up asking, is the knight genetic? Genetic comes from the Latin word, gentiles, which means of the same stock or belonging to a good family. But in medieval Europe, genetic came to mean, of noble rank or birth, belonging to the gentry. I guess at this point in time, most people thought that this was the case (p. 115, Jones). There were two types of knights during these times.
One was the more traditional one and the other was a mercenary. The traditional knights had a code of conduct that they tried to uphold. The mercenaries were hired help. The more traditional knights thought of the mercenaries offering their services for monetary gains was despicable.
This system of hired help was called the Indentured System. The reason that mercenaries were preferred was because they were cheaper than regular knights were. Also they only worked when they were need, usually at a time of war. The more traditional knights were full time knights (p. 7, Jones). After the knight serves his military service he retires. Because the lord owns the land that was given to him, the lord has the right to do anything that he wants with land.
But usually the knight keeps it and passes it down to his son. It is expected that his son becomes a knight to serve in the lords army. There has always been a myth about knights. For example, were they really in shining armor, or any armor at all, did they rescue ladies in distress, or did they fight dragons. I have read books, seen pictures and seen movies about knights and some of the things that I read for this paper were in those movies. I guess that everything that you see in the movies are not always true but some things are.
I would have to say the same about pictures and books that I read and seen. But not in a single book that I read for this paper did I read about a knight fighting a dragon. I also know that dragons are not real. But what about rescuing the ladies in distress?
From the reading I did, I can pretty much assume that there were very few kidnappings in Medieval History, so those were probably a myth. The issue about armor is probably a myth too. I know that there was armor in the Early Middle Ages, but I doubt that they were all shining. And some of the movies I saw there were knights that were not wearing armor. But from the books I read all the knights had some kind of armor. From this paper and doing the research I was surprised to read and learn about some of the different aspects of being knight.
What I found interesting was how the word knight originated. I did not know that it came from the time of the Roman Empire. I also found interesting was that these knights had a code of conduct, which told how they were suppose to act and behave. While doing my research, I found out that the word chivalry came from the French word cheval, which means horse. What struck me the most interesting was that there were more than one type of knights?
There were the indentured and the traditional types of knights. The indentured being the mercenaries, I thought were more interesting being that they would go around looking for monetary gains. How they were hired only to fight battles and wars and not to run a fief. But then the traditional knights were also interesting. They tried to follow a code of conduct, how they were given fiefs, and some of the responsibilities that come with being a knight. It was hard to believe that these vassals were a small piece of land to them, but it seems like to me that it was a very large piece.
And the word they use to measure out the lands, hides, I thought was different. What I enjoyed reading the most was the parts on the weapons and the innovations that were used during these times. When I thought of knights of the Middle Ages, I thought that they already had stirrups. I was surprised to hear that they did not have them already and that the stirrups came from the Chinese. What I thought was a small but important invention was the crosspiece near the end of the lance.
Its purpose was to stop the victim from staying on the lance so it could be used again and again. This research project has taught me a lot about knights and how the came to be, from the origin of the word knight to when this feudal system ended. Bibliography: Work Cited: Barber, Richard. The Knight & Chivalry. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1970.
Bumke, Joachim. The Concept of Knighthood in the Middle Ages. New York: AMS PRESS, INC. 1977. Hilton, R. H. Peasants, Knights and Heretics.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976. Jones, Terry. Chaucer's Knight. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1980.
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