Trained to Kill!

          For a really long time during the earlier Middle Ages only the sons of knights could be knights when they got older. But later in the middle ages any little boy could train to be a knight. Little boys who chose to become knights began training early. When they were about seven years old, at this age the boy’s dad started to teach him what he knew about being a knight. Things like horse back riding; Probably how to hold a sword so that the boy wouldn’t start flailing it around and possibly kill someone while training.

Young boy becoming a knight

          When the young boy turned about eight years old, his father would send him to live and train with a well respected knight. There was usually more then one boy living and training with the knight at one time. The younger boys would work as pages (messengers), servants, grooms (brushing horses), or stable hands (cleaning up after the horses, eww). The older boys would usually work as squires (a personal assistant who usually helped the knight with things like helping the knight put on all of his heavy, complicated armor). When training, the boys did not use real swords (especially not the younger boys). Instead they had to use heavy, blunt, wooden swords. These helped the boy to grow strong enough to lift and fight with a real sword.