The Medieval Knight

By the time of the Crusades in Medieval Europe, Knights were nothing out of the ordinary. A knight's training began at around four or five. It involved them learning how to ride a pony. Around the age of eight, the young trainee would be sent to be a page for a lord or a relative with influence. At this point, they would refine their swordsmanship, improve their horse skills, and would be taught more about their religion. At the age of 14, pages were eligible to become a squire, where they continued their sword fighting skills. They would accompany a knight into a battle, care for him, care for his horses, and would simply hope to be chosen to

To be a knight, his fitness level had to be exceptional enough to last through a long, intense battle. Knights had to face a variety of challenges and were expected to handle them as any knight would. For example, some battles would last long periods of times, so these knights were expected to handle different weather changes, tiredness, and hungriness. The most important qualification that a knight had to have was modeling bravery due to the extreme battles that would be fought. Through these long battles, knights had to stay positive and not give up for what they are fighting for.

Prior to the plague the entire legal system relied on the church, the church made all of the decisions. The general population stopped backing the church because they believed that god would never do that to them so god must not be real. There was always the priests who said it was a punishment for sin but nothing added up for the people surrounded by death and loss. Since this abundance people stopped believing the church lost power, ”...the Church’s reputation never quite recovered, as the new priests who were quickly brought in to fill the void were not as scholarly or thoroughly trained as the old. It became more acceptable to malign the clergy in the years that followed…” (“Priests and the Black Plague”

At first knights and soldiers in the armies were of little social status. “Many knights in fact possessed little more than peasants” (Spielvogel 244). War was looked as kind of a barbaric act in the beginning and many knights could be found fighting each other. While some of this was tolerated, as they were seen as “defenders of society”, the Catholic Church decided that there should be some ground rules. At the start of the eleventh century, the church urged knights to take an oath to protect churches, and to not harm noncombatants. These rules allowed for battles to follow a civil path and to be carried out in a noble way.

One of the many Economic benefits the Black Plague brought, was a new power for peasants. This meant they were granted higher pay, better working conditions and sometimes more land out in the fields. Prior to the initial outbreak of the Black Death, the people of Europe followed a social hierarchy system called the ‘feudal system’. Under its reign, there were only two main social categories; the rich, wealthy nobles and the poor, powerless peasants. Most of these peasants earned very little, if any pay, for their hard work. Following the Black Death, there were two ways these peasants could become prosperous, either by gaining more vacant land, or demanding higher wages. The Black Death is thought to have wiped out around one-third of Europe’s population of the time, and therefore many blocks of land were left unattended. It didn’t take long

In warfare today weapons have improved in accuracy and ease of use. With the simple pull of a trigger a soldier can take down his/her intended target. Rather than knights trying disarm their objective with a sword. With the ability to shoot long range it removes the necessity to ride horses, while in battle, to move quicker and more efficiently. However, the way one trains to defend for the common good is similar. Comparatively both knights and soldiers have to go through some degree of training to reach their rank. Although, to be a knight the men must have been born into nobility and women could not fight. While anyone over the age 18 can fight in current day. However, to be knight a young boy would start learning at the age of seven and would continue learning up to the age of 21. Where a soldier today will start training and only train for a couple months to possibly a year.

The Black Death speeded up the changes in medieval society that were already under way. The most immediate effect of the Black Death was a shortage of labor. Much land could no longer be cultivated. In response, the nobles refused to continue the long common practice of gradually eliminating serfdom by allowing the serfs to buy their freedom. Over the centuries it had been realized by some that free tenants were more productive than serfs, and this had led to a gradual breakdown in the use

After the Black Death the peasant’s wages and work changed due to the deaths caused by the bubonic plague. The Black Death killed many people of all classes meaning a huge population decrease. The decrease in population caused a lack of workers. ‘Peasants could demand higher wages as they knew that the lord was desperate to get in his harvest’ (Trueman, 2015)explains that demand of workers grew meaning the lords would be desperate and try to provide to meet the peasants needs in order to find themselves a laborer to work their crops and land. This allowed peasants to have freedom of choice in their work and wages as they could choose who they worked for and were able to leave lords to find a nicer lord. The peasants were able to demand pay

Becoming a knight in medieval times required lots of training and responsibility to provide protection to the manor. A knight goes through many years of training before he fights in battle. The first stage is a page.

The Middle Ages or Dark Ages were a time of kings, queens, princes and princesses, and last but not least knights. Knights were the army, they were the warriors of the Middle Ages. They fought with swords and knives, wore shining suits of armor and fought and played for their king. These knights lived in castles and manor houses and had huge strong warhorses to carry them wherever they wanted. A knights life wasn't bad, but how did they become a knight, and was it all good? No it wasn't. Training to be a knight is very long, and tough work, and the daily life is full of danger and action. The knights were tasked with many things like battle surviving camps and protecting land. They used many different weapons and wear shining suits

Needless to say, just like the structure of everything else changed, so did the power of the church. Due to the mortality of the Black Death, people who were not educated served as clergy, reducing the intellectual strength of the church. Dissatisfaction within the Medieval people eventually diminished the unity of the catholic church. Many commons blamed the Jewish for causing the Black Death, therefore, causing some Jewish to be treated badly and their communities destroyed. The black death has a huge impact on the church structure because, as Pope Gregory X writes in the "Papal Protection of the Jews" "“...furthermore no one shall presume, except by judicial action of the authorities of the country, to change the good customs in the land where they live for the purpose of taking their money or good from them or from others” (Gregory X 171) Many of the previous structures, rules, and laws were ignored because the Black Death brought within itself great

The Black Plague, perhaps one of the worst epidemics in history, swept its evil across Europe in the middle of the 14th century, killing an estimated 20 million people. This major population shift, along with other disasters occurring at the time, such as famine and an already existing economic recession, plunged Europe into a dark period of complete turmoil. Anarchy, psychological breakdowns, and the dissipation of church power were some of the results. As time passed, however, society managed to find new ground and began its long path of recovery. The plague, as catastrophic as it was to medieval Europe, had just as many positive effects that came with this recovery as it did negative effects prior. An end to feudalism, increased wages

The Black Death took one-third of the population. Before the Black Death people lived for the afterlife, a future in heaven; however, after the plague that took so many lives, the citizens began to appreciate and celebrate life. They lived life to the fullest, taking the Latin proverb Carpe Diem- “seize the day” to heart with their daily actions. The lower end but the base of the Feudal System- the peasants- began to flee the crops and seek for a better life in the city. Many of the knights that protected the peasants -in exchange for food and other products- already had their numbers diminished by war. The Black Plague then broke the class of knights and peasants by killing them relentlessly, shattering the feudal system.

King Arthur has provided chance for knight to progress therefore this created a style of becoming a knight during medieveal time.

The broad-shouldered and muscular knight stood before his king, ready to take fealty. His sword glistened from being wiped clean of battle. The knight was well-known and honored throughout the kingdom. These males made different vows to protect their country. There were ceremonies for these oaths. They had special clothing for battle and everyday living. Part of this was do to the codes of chivalry. Chivalry has been around for centuries. Knights like those of the middle ages had many responsibilities and made vows to ensure their commitment to the codes of chivalry.