The main factor in the formation of the knights was a good education. Education began at an early age and boys from a noble family were left under charge of their mothers until seven. When they turned seven, it became customary to send them to receive a knightly upbringing amongst the squires and pages that would serve a nobleman or churchman.

At the foundation of medieval institutions, personal service was a custom of chivalry. It was no derogatory backset of a Prince Elector’s dignity to bear the cup or wait at the stirrups of the Emperor. The Emperor would hold the bridle of the horse of the Pope. The house and land of a feudal man of high rank and the religious horses would be ordered in the same meticulous manner as the courts of a grandly important prince. The head of monastery (The Abbot) and the next ranking person of the church (A Prior) would be served by knights and gentlemen who held lands through fee or fief, or maintained as paid soldiers (mercenaries were bound to their employers by motives through profit not loyalty). For example, The Abbot of Saint Denis (France) would never depart from his Abbey alone; he would leave with a Chamberlain and a Marshal, who had offices which were held as fiefs (fees), but could be changed, transferred and conveyed like any other property.

Personal service also became a symbol of the obligations to automatically serve during war. This was the main occupation of knights. Throughout the middle Ages, it became the principle characteristic of the act of holding land obtained through a fee. A vassal was a person who would hold land from a feudal lord in order to receive protection for homage and allegiance with that lord. He would be bound to serve the lord in both his field and possibly called to serve at home. In return for domestic service, the dependant would receive board, lodging and the benefits of sharing in his lord’s opportunities of distinction in the military and royal/princely favor. The lord’s attendants were also entitled to share their lords winnings (land, possessions obtained through war) in either public or private war.

The future knight was known as a page or henchman during his apprenticeship service with the nobleman. He would also be under the orders and instruction of a squire known as the Master of the henchman. The apprenticeship would last for seven years, in which time, the future knight would learn the business of a squire in stables, the armoury, the kennels and the hall. When he turned 14, the boy would be old enough to be entitled to be called squire.

Noble youths sent by their parents would serve under Bishops and Abbots. In England, Sir Thomas Moore was one of Cardinal Morton’s pages. In France, Bishop of Grenoble had his nephew, chevalier (a nobleman of low rank) Bayard as his page. He also served as his cup bearer as he dined with the Duke of Savoy.

Literature was an important education for boys in establishments such as the schools attached to cathedrals, religious houses and the palaces of bishops/abbots. It was not neglected by lords who received boys into their homes either. A knights’ accomplishments in education would be to read, write, play the harp and sing. The ladies of the castle would also teach them letter writing, games like chess tables, the rules with good manners and the fundamentals elements of chivalrous bravery and nobility.

The main part of education of young knights was outdoors. A knights outdoor activities consisted of a variety of exercise and games, such as wrestling, boxing, running, riding, tilting at the ring and the quiltain (an object would be secured on a post or mounted on a movable cross bar on a post, to be used as a target in the sport of tilting).

Once a man had become a knight, the young noble’s main duty was military service. The best way to achieve the highest level of combat skills was to compete during tournaments. A most common pastime of knights. Throughout the middle Ages, tournaments held a principle part of the knights lives and the laws of the tournaments were undeniably the same as the laws from their lady’s love. Alongside religion, these were the knight’s main duties and rules of service.

The gentler rules of chivalry were seen to be the beautiful institution of brotherhood in arms; two knights may vow faith to one another. The two knights would wear the same arms and clothes, mingled their blood in a cup, for example, to show unity. Also, both knights would receive the Sacrament together. They would vow to support one another during battle or disagreements, and would normally have the same friends and enemies.

One of the most powerful institutions in a knights life would be the brotherhood in arms. During the Middle Ages, it would precede all other duties, even to women. All accept the duties for the King. After Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Here fore had dethroned Richard II, Louis Duke of Orleans annulled the treaty of the brotherhood, which he and Bolingbroke had agreed to some time ago, and challenged him to combat anywhere he chose in France. There would be a hundred knights and squires on either side. Du Guesclin was brother in arms with Olivier de Clisson. They had agreed to support one another against the whole world, excepting the King of Rome and his brothers. the Viscount of Rohan, and their liege lords. They would share all of the ransoms of the prisoners and lands, would acquaint one another of any developments and would guard one another as brothers would.

As a show of good sportsmanship, the knights must first ride horseback and touch the shield of the opponent (a common example would be a shaking of hands before commencing). Some knights would offer themselves to any opponent, whereas other would reserve themselves to jousting against chosen opponents.

An array of armour would be used, therefore identifying knights would sometimes be impossible. However, some knights would choose to wear an identifying item in honor of their ladies, i.e. a red embroidered sleeve perhaps. Alternatively, other knights sometimes preferred to remain anonymous, therefore would not wear anything recognizable or just wear arms of all one certain colour. A knight would wear and use armour and weapons commonly used in battle, e.g. swords, battle-axes or lances. Although the earliest of tournaments were fought with primarily blunt objects, the desire for sharper, more dangerous weapons came into battle. This was a sign of the times changing as the knights would want to show a greater bravery and determination by opposing a deadly weapon. They began to be seen as a more worthy way of gaining honour and respect as a knight. This, therefore, changed the tournaments into a real life version of war, instead of friendly competition. The stakes were high in gaining respect, which meant winning.

As the jousting begins, a squire is present to deal with every aspect of the tournament, except the actual participation in the contest: they saw to the horses and their master’s arms would be readily available throughout. After the knights had mounted their horse, they would set their spears in the ‘rest’ (a half ring attached to the saddle-bow). The herald would give the signal to begin charging towards the barrier and each knight would aim to strike either in the head (more effective but needed a good aim) or in the body. Often the sheer force of both knights and their horses would dismount both opponents. Otherwise, both knights would stay sat firm and the lances would quiver or there would be a great possibility that both the knight and the horse would fall. Depending on the type of arms used, ribs or necks could easily be broken in the match.

On the eventuality that both knights remained firm, their lances held steady and aimed directly at the opponent, providing that the horse does not swerve and the lance does not break, mortal wounds would be a probable outcome. If both knights are unhurt and remain seated, the contest will ensue, resulting in another charge with fresh lances, until either or both were dismounted. The combat would then continue on foot with other arms, such as swords.

The jousting contest between two single competitors was seen with less dignity than the proper tournament where knights would meet with swords in the Melee: disorganized forms of close combat, somewhat resembling of war. It was a battle of wills for life or death, closed only by the defeat of one party or by the herals or king giving the word to cease.

At one single tournament, as many as forty-two knights and squires have been reported as being killed at that contest. Edward I on his way from the Holy Land (1274), after stopping in France for some time, was present at the Grand Tournament at Chalons. A knight violently attacked Edward I, but with him being the stronger of the two, retaliated. The other party tried to rescue the knight, but a great fight began, which resulted in many of the knights and their parties present being killed.

Love was one of the main reason and rules of service for knights and jousting being the most romanticized sport of all. The jousting tournament was a way for the knight to show his lady his skills, courage and individual triumphs, all afore her eyes. When the competition ended the victorious knight was rewarded by the lady of the tournament. The rewards varied from a garland of flowers, a war-horse or the love and hand of the Emperor’s daughter. To end the whole contest, a feast would be held where the ladies and their champions; the music of minstrels playing in the background and the songs and tricks of jongleurs. I.e. a wandering minstel, poet or entertainer.

Jousts were sometimes held separately at different times from the tournaments, although, towards the end of the 14th century, the jousting event became the main attraction of a tournament.

Amongst medieval knights, jousting became highly popular. The sporting event was kept alive through royal patronage, increasing in luxury and resplendence. Through the 15th Century, the joust contest continued to be a great sport of the courts and nobility. As the grand display increased, the dangers lessened.

Further on in the century, the object of a jouster would be to splinter the lance and not unhorse the opponent, making the weight of the lance decrease significantly. The joust armour also loses the symmetry it once had, as the side toward the opponent would have a heavier protection than the other. The tilter must be protected, for tilting was the daily exercise. The sport of jousting became just a sport and grew gradually into a past time or a ‘manly exercise’. If a noble was evidently influential, he would put his tilt outside his home in the street.

The final era of jousting was during the Tudor period. A national festival still automatically included a tourney and jousts. The pagaents normally succeeded after events such as : the birth of a prince, a royal ceremony i.e. marriage, the recption of an embass or the agreement of a peace or treaty.

The Tudor period was the century where perfect knights reigned, such as Maximilian I (the german emperor), Henry VIII (King of England) and Francois Ier (King of France). They jousted in superb armours and brought a sense of extravagance and display of colour and attraction to the contests. They threw an illustrious lustre onto the tournaments of that era.

Henry VIII was considered the keenest supporter of the sport of the tournament. As he rose to the English throne in 1509, at the age of 19, few could joust better than him. The medieval knights, jousts and tournaments were very much still around and he continued to make jousting one of his main amusements of his courts. He had his permanent tilts at Westminster, Greenwich and Hampton Court.

One of the most valuable sources in the establishment of what was considered to be the standard amour of the period was The Bayeux Tapestry. The garments worn by the knights were a tunic, a gambeson and the hauberk. The gambeson was a defense mechanism consisting of stuffed and quilted cloth within the garment. The surcoat was hardly seen throughout the 12th Century (Although found in rare instances), but during the 13th Century, it became a staple part of the knightly equipment.

The chief part of the amour was the hauberk, which reached the knees. Sometimes the skirt opened at the front, possibly at the side also. The sleeves would usually end at the elbows, but occasionally extended to reach the wrist. generally, the hauberk would continued above the neck in a coif like stature, so as only the face of the knight would be exposed, but occasionally it would finish at the neck. The sword could sometimes be carried partially underneath the hauberk. The defense would be continued over the head as a coif. The feature would be known as a ‘continuous coif’ and is surmounted by the iconic conical nasal helmet.

The hood of mail made separate to the hauberk did not appear in history till the 13th Century. At the beginning of this century, the hauberk made from chain mail would be amde with a continuous coif and gloves all as one. The coif would flatten to the top of the head and the gloves were more like mittens with no finger divides. It reached almost to the knees and the face opening left little more than the eyes and nose showing. During the second half of the Century, a rounder topped coif became more common. The sleeves of the hauberk would be secured at the wrist with laces or a strap. In order to free the hands a little from the fingerless gloves, a hole would be left in the centre of the palm.

The amour during the 14th Century would prove to be the most innovative and striking combinations ever seen throughout the middle Ages. There was a combination of chain-mail, glittering plates, embossed leather and rich, noble decorations. It offered a varied field in which to display color and variety of form and shape. The knights became dissatisfied with the old designs of chain-mail and eventually opted for the amour of plate.

The body-amour mainly consisted of a breast-plate which continued below the waist with chain-mail or metal strips covered by cloth or velvet.

The long surcoats from earlier fashion proved to cause a hinderance to the knights as they dismounted their horses to fight on foot. The garment was altered and clipped at the front, but the problem was then only halved. The full skirt now had no meaning, therefore was abandoned in favor of a short, tight surcoat. The legs would be protected by chain-mail chausses. The legs defense evolved slowly but gradually to the complete equipment of plate.

Throughout the 15th Century, The amour consisted entirely of plates. It had shoulder and elbow guards and gauntlets made from wide, overlapping plates. The breast plate, at first was one piece, but evolved to being constructed from two pieces; the lower piece overlapping the upper plate and was held by straps or sliding rivet, to aid flexibility.

Castles would be built in almost every major town and the river vallets, main traffic ways, fords and bridges ended up being guarded by the individual castles. In particular the south-east, the part which ended up being most susceptible to invasion would be the coast, but all convenient landing places were protected. Other castles would keep the main communication lines open throughout the country, whilst in the dangerous areas; each large estate would have a castle built primarily for the tenant, but also as a general defense for the neighborhood. These types of castle were in numbers on the Scottish border and in the Welsh Marches.

There is a widely spread opinion on classifying Medieval Castles. The most common one would be based on the defense system each castle had adopted. According to this classification, the presence or absence of such defense mechanisms would be the distinguishing decider. This would divide the castles into two main types:

• Castles with keeps.
• Keep-less castles.

Castles with keeps may be:
Castles with rectangular keeps.
Castles with shell keeps.
Castles with circular keeps.

The first two groups are normally associated with the castles typical of the Norman period. The third type originated in Norman times but lasted til the days of the Edwards. They may be considered as belonging to the reigns of Richard and John and to the earlier part of Henry VIII’s reign. That would be, to the earlier part of the period, known architecturally as Early English.

Keep-less Castles can also be sub-divided into three categories:

Castles of Enceinte: where the keep was discarded and a main ward taking its place, surrounded by a lofty wall of fortification, flanked by bold mural towers in cylindrical form, containing the state and domestic apartments. These castles primarily belonged to the latter years of the reign of Henry VIII and to his successor.

The Edwardian or Concentric Castles: the main ward would be surrounded by another line of defence, possibly a third also; subordianted and commanded by the inner ward.

The later castles had decided that the idea of defense was basically similar to that of domestic comfort. They were usually quadrangular in plan, built around an inner courtyard, with towers, pretty much rectangular at the corners, and with ahuge gate house at the middle of one side of the castle. This type of castle began to be built during the reign of Richard II, and became the most common in the 15th Century.

Overall, we might say that after starting with the Norman Castle, the subsequent development of the English Medieval Castles was governed by three factors

Altogether, starting with the Norman built castles, the development of English castles succeeding were governed by three main factors:
• The evolution of luxury and the ever increasing idea of comfort.
• The slow, but gradual improvement of methods of attack.
• The introduction of more scientific military architecture from the Byzantine Empire.
The first factor led to the disposal of the keep as a place of residence: it would always be cold, inconvenient and uncomfortable. The cramped accomodation became too much for the growing number of dependants in personal service.

The improvement in the art of seige craft was of at least equal importanct in the developments of the castles. All throughout the medieval period, the art of defense was always more important than the art of attack. Even the gunpowder did not alter the relation.

Throughout the crusades, the soldiers of Western Europe had become acquainted with the art of fortification of the Byzantine Empire. This was introduced before Edward I’s reign. The main ward was girt with a high wall, strengthened by a projection of mural towers encircling it. This was placed
so that the opposing attackers could approach the bottom of the wall without being exposed to an overwhelming strike from them. All wards were completely dominated by the high wall of the inner ward that even if taken, they couldnt be held against it.

A dramatic change took place during Edward III’s long reign in the development of castles. Fortress type castles ceased being a necessity and a few new ones built on the Scottish border. A single defensible castle was founded in Edward’s reign. Many of the existing royal castles fell into disrepair or could be handed over to be used as jails in their counties.

The place of fortress-type castles were superceded by castle-palaces of the last group. Quadrangular groups of buildings were built surrounding a central courtyard, adorned by attractive physical features rather than protected by angle towers, gate-house and moat. Leeds Castle is an epitome of this type of castle. An attempt at defensibility was made by the thickness of the outer walls and the absence of any external openings, but the majority of the castles had large external windows and walls of no major strength.