Knights In Feudalism

Knights played a compelling role in the feudal system, and without them, the feudal system would not run as smoothly as it should. Knights required crucial training to fulfill many responsibilities. Feudalism was a system based on each level giving and receiving from other levels. Knights not only provided people with military aid, but they helped complete the feudal pyramid. Feudalism allowed each level to give and receive different things that contributed to their survival. The role of the knight was essential, and contributed to the proper function and overall success of the feudal system.

While playing an important role in the feudal system, knights used advanced weapons that greatly contributed to their success. Knights contributed to

There were many steps that took years of training to become a knight. The first step to becoming a knight was starting off as a page. A page could start training at seven years old. While training he would use and learn to work weapons, learn how to ride a horse, how to behave towards liege lords and ladies, and learn music and arts. The teachers were squires, and once the students got to a certain point in training, they would be appointed as a squire. As a page, you would learn the basics of knighthood. Once a man completed training as a page, he would become a squire. A squire, who was usually a teenager, had many duties. They taught pages, and were assigned to wait on the knights. They continued training, but were assigned to a specific knight and fought at his side. Once a squire proved their ability, there would be a special ceremony (Donn). This ceremony was very honorable, because this sent the squire onto a new level of their life, knighthood. Once a man became a knight, many new responsibilities were brought on. A knight would have more dues to pay than just military service. During times of peace, it was common for the knight to serve about forty days a year. When the knight was not on duty, they would usually live in the castle they guarded. During wartime, a knight usually had to serve sixty or more days and provide horses, arms, and supplies at their own expense (Nardo 32). One

The key to the feudal system was land, and luckily for the king, he owned almost all of it. Land was the currency of the Middle Ages, "Those who owned land [also] owned the possibility of building up military and political power, for on the land men could grow food, and men could be settled to serve and fight for their overlords. During these [medieval] centuries, free men... commended themselves in great numbers of their own free will to the power, service and protection of a strong lord [who owned vast amounts of land]" (Nardo 14,15). If you had land, you were worth a lot more to the people. Land meant food, peasants, and power. People with power were treated with respect because they had control over the people below them. Ownership and exploitation of land was the driving force behind feudalism (Nardo 14,15). The king controlled the feudal system, and the land. The control of this land, enabled the king to subdivide the land between the social classes. Kings gave land to the classes below him, which resulted in a domino effect. Once the king would receive the fealty of a vassal, the king was expected to pay. In most cases, the king would return the vassal with a fief, which was an estate or manor. The fief would include, a house, or a small castle. The fief would also come with peasants. Although the vassal did not own the peasants, he owned the land on which their houses were built, so they answered