Knightly Story - Knighthood During The Medieval Period

in #history6 years ago

What's up guys, it has been a rough week and glad to finally manage to pull the strings off. It's a whole new week and new endeavors as well. During the past week, it was all about blogging and business. I felt that it was timely to share those kind of contents. I hope I was able to touched some Steemian soul with those contents.

For this week, it will be a whole new adventure again.

Shall we?


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In the 12th century, with the rise in power of the nobility, knighthood became a military institution that only included wealthy noblemen and the descendants of knights.

Knighthood became a highly professional and social institution until it gradually came to an end in the fifteenth century with the invention of new military technology.

The Emergence of Knighthood

The military trend knighthood has surfaced as early as the 8th century with the invention of the stirrup, which made mounted soldiers much more powerful. The stirrup turned cavalry into the most important element of medieval armies.

Since horses, armor and equipment were expensive, only those soldiers who could afford to maintain heavy capital investment required by mounted warfare were able to become knights.

The boundaries of knighthood was quite fluid in that it included the sons of large land owners, small land owners, free men, craftsmen, and any man who could afford the expenses of mounted warfare.

Knighthood and Nobility

All of this changed in the 12th century with the rise of class distinctions. Some historians says that feudal power and privilege were the prerogatives of a class of noblemen whose rights and status soon became hereditary. So was the status of knight once this too became a recognized order.

The boundaries of knighthood became less fluid and much more rigid, being restricted to only the high nobles or those descendants of knights. Nobility and knighthood gradually became one distinct class after they started to undergo a slow process of merging which began around 1150.


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Knighthood increasingly became a professional estate tied to the exercise of the art of warfare and the official recognition of ritual dubbing. In the thirteenth century, nobles that were descendants of knights inherited the title. However, they did not become knights until they were formerly dubbed.

The ceremonial dubbing of knights, a common practice dated back to the early twelfth century, was more than a ritual. The ceremonial dubbing symbolized a set of attitudes which were related to the status of knighthood. It also marked the official recognition of a special and admirable status of these mounted soldiers.

Knights and Chivalry

In the course of the 12th century, a social and ethical dimension was added to the professional aspect of knighthood. The strong influence of Cluny monks, who tried to give an ethos to justify savage warfare.

This lead to the rise of the definition of the miles Christi, the true soldier who followed a certain code of behavior, which we now call chivalric.


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Romantic literature and poems written in the second half of the 12thcentury provided a model for the knightly community and also glorified knights.

The courts of princes and kings were meeting centers for knights where they were given the opportunity to prove their loyalty, learn the princely behaviour of the king and apply that behaviour to their everyday lives. Self-control, love, kindness, humility and consideration of others were moral conducts that were required of knights.

The End of Knighthood

New and advanced changes in warfare in the late 13th century brought a decline in knighthood as a military institution.

As kings turned to other sources of manpower, they relied less on knights. The development of gunpowder and more powerful archery meant that the use of cavalry to charge enemy lines and gain a swift victory became less possible. Consequently, the use of cavalry came to an end.


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Even though knighthood came to an end, its chivalric ideals continued to endure for many years. The French king Francois I was knighted on the battlefield after his first victory at Marignano in 1515. Tournaments were a favorite entertainment at the French Court for much of the 16th century.

Many soldiers also continued to practice the ethics and live in accordance to a moral code like knights did in the centuries before them.





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