Knights and Chivalry

Norman Rules for being a knight...


1. Go to church often.
2. Choose his friends carefully
3. Be brave in battle
4. Always be ready for battle
5. Spend his money wisely
6. Not go hunting too often
7. Take revenge if his is insulted
8. Take revenge if his sister is insulted
9. Do brave deeds for his lady
10. Die for his lady


How did someone become a knight?





Becoming a knight could take up to 14 years to accomplish. This is what you had to do...


1. Age 7 - Work as a page to a knight (sort of a cheap servant)
2. Age 14 - Become a squire, and a knight teaches you how to ride and kill.
3. Clean the knight's armor because it was always going rusty.
4. Help the knight dress and undress himself, down to the smelly socks.
5. Protect your lord sometimes by sleeping in front of the door, on the floor.
6. Help the knight during tournaments and battles by handing him weapons and fresh horses.
7. Go with your master into battle and fight at his side.
8. Bandage your lord's wounds.
9. Sometimes move your knight away from danger.
10. Make sure he gets a good funeral.




**This is an excerpt from the fun book, Knights (Horrible Histories Handbooks) by Terry Deary.


Enrichment Activity


Make a coat-of-arms.  I ordered blank coat-of-arms from Oriental Trading. They come in packets of twelve and are a good size. Then I used decals from the book The Big Book of Medieval Activities.  They designed their own coat-of-arms.