Why and How - Knight in 14th Century

Most knights more or less inherited the position. Boys would begin training in things like horsemanship (because a war horse was much different than a normal one) and sword fighting at a relatively young age, typically because their father was also a knight or nobleman. Most often, they would be send out as a page to another nobleman (although sometimes a member of the family would train them) then become a squire. It was more or less impossible for someone to become a knight if they weren't the son of a knight - in addition to the strict class system it was vastly expensive to train and equip a young man.

Young men in training would typically become a squire in their early teens, and a knight somewhere around age 20 (so you're right on the mark). A squire was responsible for handling and maintaining his knight's armor and weapons, including dressing him, and generally assisting the knight with things like taking prisoners, helping him in a fight, etc.

When a squire became a knight, he would generally be dubbed or go through a ceremony called the Accolade. We generally think of knights being tapped on the shoulder with the flat of the sword, but there were other rituals that were used as well. The ceremony was generally presided over by the reigning monarch, since this would be the person that the knight swore fealty to. There would also usually be a religious aspect to the ceremony, since knights were expected to fight for religious ideals as well as their lord. In earlier times this was often done on the battlefield, but by your period it had become much more ceremonial and ritualized.

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"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

ML for Philadelphia

Thanks for the information. It specifically said that he was knighted in 1366. His father was a Baron, if I remember correctly, and his family were aristocracy. I'll have to see if I can find more information about it.

Hi,
Was he a real character, then? The Sinclair family was rising fast during that time. Where's he based?

Apart from being a son of a knight/baron, he could have done some particular service to the monarch, even abroad.

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Steph

http://stephpatterson.wordpress.com

Yes, he was a real person. He is one of my ancestors. This particular Henry Sinclair was the Earl of Orkney. It was his grandson who built Rosslyn Chapel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_I_Sinclair,_Earl_of_Orkney

Some brief information about him.

You seem to know a bit about the Sinclair family, any information regarding Henry that you might know of would be much appreciated!

Try going to youtube and searching for "SCA knighting"

The SCA is a medieval re-creation group if you are not familiar. I won't tell you that all these knighting ceremonies are accurate, but many do include period details. At the very least it will give you the "flavor" of a knighting ceremony.

Knights were the heavy cavalry and primary fighting men of the middle ages- that was their job, they got pay/bed/board and stabling for horses, sometimes arms, or land to support them and provide the necessary tools, in return for serving as soldier vassals for their liege lord.
Any knight could confer knighthood, as could queens, some clergy, noble ladies- depending on their status. The ceremony usually involved a bath, vigil (night of prayer and fasting) and an oath to behave loyally, bravely, in a becoming knightly fashion. ("sois preux "was the command that accompanied the accolade-it means be strong/brave/righteous)
The squire was a knight in training- learning arms, riding, courtesy, etc. from the knight he was "apprenticed" to (like most apprenticeships, the training customarily lasted 7 years) , who would usually arrange for the ceremony. He'd be given spurs, girded with a sword- and he would have to buy armor, weapons and a horse, although his lord might supply those, or he might also win his own in a tournament from other knights he defeated. William Marshal was a typical case, although an extraordinary knight!
http://www.williammarshal.com/

Battlefield knightings happened, if it seemed reasonable due to heavy losses and/or demonstrated qualifications - many soldiers and squires were summarily knighted after some particularly impressive deed in battle.
More info here:)
http://history.howstuffworks.com/middle-ages/knight3.htm http://www.umich.edu/~marcons/Crusades/topics/chivalry/chivalry-article....
http://home.texoma.net/~oops/index.html