The Early Knight

The knight as a mounted warrior made his first major appearance around the 8th century, and his reputation at this early stage was far from a respectable one. By the tenth century he was, as Frances Gies puts it, a "crude and violent figure, virtually uncurbed by a society that had lost control over its military class." (1). The Roman historian Tacitus had written about their German predecessors that their only virtues were strength, courage and loyalty to their war-chief, and a young man earned his reputation through the art of war, in what was an "age of blood and ignorance" (2). The only religious element discernible in his vocation was the vow of loyalty which was taken over holy relics. The early knight was, on the whole, a barbarian who had no qualms about exploiting the poor and preying on the weak: the opposite of our ideal knight. Understandably, the Church despised the lifestyle of these early knights, but it was powerless to intervene and eradicate a natural human flaw. All the Church could hope to do was tame and Christianise the knight. It was this Christianisation of knighthood which created the code of conduct we know today as 'chivalry'.

The clergy condemned attacks on the weak and defenceless, and aristocrats backed the Church up — they were eager to redress the economic problems which marauding knights could cause (3). So, in the eleventh and tenth centuries, the Church tried to limit the times during which fighting was permitted. These closed seasons were set down in 'The Peace of God' or Pax Dei and 'The Truce of God' or Truga Dei. Fighting was ( theoretically ) banned on the following days:

Thursday, because of the Ascension
Friday, because of the Passion
Saturday, because of the Adoration
Sunday, because of the Resurrection,
and . . . Advent to Epiphany, and Septuagisima to Easter.


Not surprisingly, these prohibitions were largely ignored, but it was a start. It was through the ceremony of Dubbing that the Church finally managed to 'adopt' knighthood and stamp the profession with a new badge of respectability (4).

Dubbing