Knights were rich, important soldiers who rode horses and were protected by heavy armour. Only men were allowed to become knights and that was only if their families were very rich. It took a long time to train to become a knight so only the best managed it.

Boys, at the age of 7, from wealthy families could train to be a knight but they had to start their training by being a page.

Being a Page

Pages learned basic castle skills and how to behave in a castle. They served the lord and lady or the knight in charge of the castle, practised fighting with wooden shields and swords and some learned to read and write.

The next part of the training started at the age of 14. If the page was good enough, he would become a squire.

Being a Squire

Squires looked after the knights horses and armour. Most knights would have had 3 horses: one for fighting, one for travelling and one for carrying his luggage. A squire would also have practised hitting targets with lances ready for when he became a knight, ran around with heavy armour on to get used to it and helped the knight to put on his own armour.

After a few more years if they were good enough then the squire would become a knight.

Becoming a Knight

Becoming a knight was very important to the men and they had a special service to go through before they became a proper knight.

He would have to spend the whole night before the service praying that he would be a good knight.

Then he would be seen by the king who would tap him on the shoulders and head with a sword. The king would also present the knight with a sword of his own and spurs. (spikey pieces of metal word around the ankles to make the horses move) These things were very important to the knights because they had to keep them forever. If anyone took the sword or spurs away from the knight it meant he was no longer a knight.

Being a Knight

Once a man had become a knight he might have built his own castle to be in charge of. Once they had their own castle the knight and his family had the best rooms in the house and he would spend his days giving orders, counting money or hunting.

Knights also held jousting tournaments to test their skills as a knight. These were held during holidays or to entertain visiting lords and other visitors.

Before he could fight a knight would have to put on all of his armour helped by his squire of course.

First he would put on a heavy padded vest, then a chain mail shirt. Chain mail is lots of small rings of metal linked together in the shape of a shirt to help protect the knights from other knight's swords. This rusted very easily so it would have been rolled in sand regularly to keep it in good condition.

Then he would have put on metal plates covering his arms, legs and chest. He would have worn a long tunic over the top showing his coat of arms, big gloves and a heavy metal helmet. He would have carried a wooden shield and a sword made of iron or steel. Some swords were so heavy it took 2 hands to use it. As weapons got better the armour had to get better too to protect the knights.

Knights had a code of chivalry. This was a list of rules that he had to follow when he was a knight. The rules talked about being courteous (polite and well-mannered) to enemies, treating prisoners carrectly and not attacking people who were not knights. They were also meant to be respectful to women and had a duty to protect the church.

Knights also acted as judges in local courts if someone had broken a law. This meant that they decided on the punishments that criminals got. They could also use the courts to punish peasants who had not been doing their work properly.