ARCHAEOLOGY TODAY
THE LIFE OF MEDIEVAL NOBLE CHILDREN
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KNIGHTHOOD AND CHILHOOD IN THE MIDDLE AGES MEDIEVAL CHILD TOYS, WEAPONS, AND ARMOR
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DECEMBER 2017 - Vol.1
CONTENTS December 2017
4 7 8 12
From Noble to Knighthood Growing up under watchful eyes in pursuit of glory
Heraldy
A quick look at the complexity and impotance of medieval coat of ams
Trappings, Toys and Training
The introduction of boys into knighthood found in Material Culture
Conclusion
Final thoughts, and ideas for future research
On the cover. 1. http://art.thewalters.org/detail/3417/childs-suit-of-armor/ 2. https://pixabay.com/en/knight-armor-middle-ages-2466314/ 2 | DESIGN MGZ 6
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/32.75.225/
A NOTE FROM THE EDITORS ing Arthur, Richard the Lionheart, and Edward the Black Prince were all great knights of the Middle Ages. Though there is debate as to whether these men were myth or fact, their legends have lived on throughout time, perhaps inspiring young minds of the past to follow in their footsteps. The life of a knight, as portrayed through these stories, seems to have been one of glory and riches. This led us to wonder, what did it take for a man to be inducted into knighthood? Could anybody be a knight, or was the position reserved for certain lineages? What kind of social status did these knights in training carry, and was this status visible though material culture? To answer these questions we focused on the childhood of aspiring knights, focusing on textual resources for understand their family life, and status of the young boys who were allowed such opportunities. We also used material culture to further depict an image of who these boys were, and the type of training they underwent. Our research helped us understand the young knights and their almost lifelong service and dedication to their title.
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http://art.thewalters.org/detail/3417/childs-suit-of-armor/
Noble Life
From Noble to Knighthood Young nobles sent off by their parents to pursue a life of
honour and glory.
Carmen Hjermstad
uring the Middle Ages, knighthood was a prestigious status reserved for those of noble birth (vanSteensel, 2014). In textual sources preserved from this time period, finding record of nobility in some medieval European cities can prove difficult as the variation within the category of nobility could be vast, but often one’s status as a knight would be recorded because of the prestige such a title carried (Damen, 2017). Besides boys of noble decent who made the Church their calling, knighthood was a sought after profession (De La Bère, 1964) However, earning the title of a knight was no easy feat, and the path to prestige commenced early in life. The beginnings of a knight in training were poorly recorded, but from the sources that survived we can understand that it was a long, strenuous journey. Parents would send their sons away from home as young as seven-ten to live with either a prominent family relative, or in the court of another noble (De La Bère, 1964). With only a minor education, a sense of basic etiquette, and knowledge of manners (Orme, 55) these boys were expected to serve and obey their Lord and his entire noble court (De La Bère, 1964). At their new homes boys took on the role of a page, which required them to 4 | DESIGN MGZ 6
wait on their Lord’s table, assist them in manners such as dressing, and act as a servant for all those who lived at the court at which they resided (De La Bère,1964). As a page the young children were made to work alongside servants (Orme, 31). This was seen as part of their education; “to become accustom to other people (Orme, 31)”. Vincent of Beauvis, who was a 13th Century educationist, said that a boy benefitted from the company of those who ranked below themselves, and above themselves, for then they would “strive to imitate the better and keep ahead of the worse (Orme, 30)”. Alongside serving the noble court, a page would be educated on religion, etiquette, and strategy (De La Bère, 1964), as well as more military related training such as equestrianism, and weapon use. These young boys would spend years developing their military skills and their rather basic formal education, before they would move up in ranks. Several years after entering a noble household, a page could gain the new title of squire (De La Bère, 1964). The role of a squire commenced around the age of 14 or so (De La Bère, 1964) and involved tasks and training more closely related to the role of knighthood. These young men became the personal assistance of a knight, and would ride
with him into war, and when ordered take position in front of him, carrying his knights sword and shield, while leading the spare horse (Bennett, 1986). The squire was responsible for the care of the horses, and with matters such as donning his knight’s armour (De La Bère, 1964), fetching water, and collecting firewood (Bennett, 1986). Squire’s did not participate in battle, as this would have been seen as cowardly on the part of the knights. A squire would spend several more years learning about the finer details of being a knight, and would continue their training in equestrianism and weaponry (De La Bère, 1964). Squires were expected to continue to serve their household, but also enter into more of a social role, and take on new training in areas such as jousting, music, and dance (De La Bère, 1964). These boys, who had left their families as young as seven, would not be dubbed a knight until around the age of 21(De La Bère, 1964). An upbringing in a noble court gave
Fig 1 - A depiction of young squires serving dinner to the Lords and Ladies of their noble court. The Marriage Feast of Renaud of Montauban and Clarisse (Loyset Liedet. ca XV.) From http://www.medievalchronicles.com/medieval-knights/becoming-a-knight/medieval-squires-served-food-at-medieval-banquet/
young boys an environment to learn the “appropriate noble mentality and modes of conduct (vanSteensel, 289, 2014)”, with their training being practical in nature (vanSteensel, 2014). There are records of some of the most well-known men of the Middle Ages who were brought up this way, such as Henry II who spent the years 1142-1147, ages 7-14, living with Robert earl of Glouscester at Bristol Castle (Orme, 2017). Henry duke of Lancaster took in boys to be trained in the art of knighthood, taking them from England to France and Spain “to be doctrined, learned and brought up in his noble court in school of arms and for to see noblesse, courtesy and worship (Orme, 55, 2017).” While today it may be hard to fathom sending children away to receive a military education, the practice of child exchange amongst nobles was immensely popular in the Middle
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Fig 2 - Image from a surviving medieval manuscript called Ipomadon, composed sometime between the 14th-15th C. Knight with squire and horse.
Fig. 3 -Prince, squire. 15th century (1882-1884). A print from La France et les Français à Travers les Siècles, Volume II, F Roy editor, A Challamel, Saint-Antoine, 1882-1884. January 01, 1882
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipomadon
Ages, and socially expected (Karl, 2005). For a father to have his son grow up at home would have been implied that he could not find, or afford, a noble to take his young boy (Karl, 2005). Some scholars believe that the tradition of sending children off for an education, whether it was religious, military, or an apprenticeship of sorts, directly affected the spread of material culture over Europe because of the agency of children, and their ability to make stylistic choices (art, weapons, armour etc.) that were influenced by their home towns (Karl, 2005). Knighthood was seen as an obligatory path for boys of some noble families, and was occasionally enforced because of the status it carried on for their family and for their lineage and we can only image how these young boys might have felt. Overwhelming feelings of excitement, fear, and homesickness might have been present as they were sent off to serve, and be educated, 6 | DESIGN MGZ 6
in the court of a Lord or nobleman (Orme, 2017). Many years of training were dedicated to these boys to become knights, much of which has only been preserved in textual sources, and scarce archaeological remains. Nonetheless the lives of these knights in training are important factors in understanding the middle ages. These children were active agents who would have impacted the houses in which they were raised, leaving behind traces of their stories on their rise to glory, honour, and knighthood. Sources Cited Bennett, M. (1986). The Ideals and practice of medieval knighthood. Wood bridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press. Damen, M. (2017). The knighthood in and around late medieval Brussels. Jour nal of Medieval History, 43(3), pp.255-284. De la Bère, I. (1964). The Queen’s orders of chivalry. London, Spring Books. Karl, R. (2005). Master and Apprentice, Knight and Squire: Education in the ‘Celtic’ Iron Age. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 24(3), pp. 255-271. Orme, N. (2017). From Childhood to Chivalry. London: Taylor and Francis. vanSteensel, A. (2014). Noble Identity and Culture. Recent Historiography on on the Nobility in the Medieval Low Countries III. History Compass, 12(3), 287-299. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/hic3.12135
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From Polish Infantry battalion (XV century).
nationalmuseum.ch
Swiss Archers Shield, ca. 1450 In the Middle Ages, Coats of Arms were used in battle to distinguish friend from foe. The symbols, which could be reprentative of a specific order, city, or family, were used to decorate the horses, armour, and shields of knight.There are many different coats of arms, made up of many different shapes, letters, colous, and animals both real and mythological. Noble families would also use coats of arms to distinguish themselves, and combined their respective crests after two families were bound by marriage. The combination of coat of arms overtime eventually rendered them difficult to follow, and soon only those trained in the art of Heraldry could decifer the lineage behind the symbols. This is a practice still in use today, with coat of arms still representing many cities, countreis, and cooperations. http://www.internationalheraldry.com/
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Material Culture
Trappings, Toys and Training The induction of boys into knighthood found in Material Culture Rachael Doughty
n order to gain a full perspective of the lived experiences of young nobles and their induction into knighthood, it is essential to examine the material culture associated with the process. Through artifacts such as armour, weapons and toys, the socialization, training, status and practices of young knights is made visible. Children gain knowledge of cultural practices and learn how to use and employ technologies through the process of socialization as they become integrated into society (Romero, 2017). Evidence of boys early introduction to knighthood is found through the analysis of medieval toys. Noble boys were not thrust into knighthood without having been taught of the glory, duty and prestige of war throughout their childhood with toys and miniature weapons in order to learn about war and ease the transition. Archeologists have uncovered the importance of play as an induction into the adult practices of war through the analysis of toys. As early as the 1200’s their is written evidence that children in medieval Europe played with items such as wooden horses, 8 | DESIGN MGZ 6
however physical evidence of children’s toys in relation to the nature of knighthood and war are found to date back to the 1300’s when craftsman began using metal (Omre 1995, 53). Miniature metal soldiers on horses, such as the ones discovered in archeological digs in London were intricately crafted. The detail of the armour of the metal soldiers indicates they were from the reign of Edward I (Omre 1995, 53-54), which shows that toys were manufactured to accurately represent the armour that boys of noble heritage would come to wear themselves. Toys are material evidence that indicate that the induction into knighthood was an ongoing process facilitated by adults. Although official training may not have begun immediately, the ideas and concepts of war were being integrated into their habitus from the time they began to play with these objects. Items used in play that link the socialization of boys and war, unfortunately for archeologists, were not always made of long lasting material such as metal and may have been created by the children themselves. Omre suggests that boys of all social
classes were encouraged by fathers and masters to create weapons out of organic material such as grass and engage in play battles (2008). Today we still see toys as the earliest way in which children begin to acquire knowledge and gain skills that will be practiced throughout their lives by using play to negotiate rules and solve conflicts (Romero 2017); this was no different for the children of the middle ages. Toys are one of the easiest ways to link material culture to children, however items such as swords present questions and debates as to whether they were miniatures, ceremonial display items, or actual weapons specifically created for the training of young knights. Archeological digs have been able to recover a number of child-sized armour and weapons such as swords that indicate that the introduction to military life started from what archeologists estimate to be as young as 10 (Benhow, 2017). Material evidence of young knighthood
Fig 4. - Medieval toy Knight from 1300’s, on display at the Museum of London, one
of the earlist mass-produced medieval metal toys
https://collections.museumoflondon.org.uk/online/object/145021.html
can be found in museums across Europe including The Museum of the Order of St John in Clerkenwell located in London. The museum possess pieces of child armour such as leg armour that would have been worn by a young page. The discussion of Child Armour on the museum’s website by Eliot Benhow gives insight into the status of the young knights of Rhodes. The Order of Saint John, a medieval Catholic order which became increasingly militarized in the 15th and 16th century was fighting to keep its territory of Rhodes during the Ottoman Empire (Benhow, 2017). This therefore called for the induction of young trainees into Knighthood. The order was established as an aristocratic institution by the 14th century and only allowed those of noble birth heritage to join (Benhow, 2017). The child-armour of Rhodes, much like many other pieces of child-armour found in medieval collections, displays the great prestige and wealth that this armour represented when worn. DESIGN MGZ 6 | 9
Although the armour of pages would only be able to be worn for short periods of time before the child had outgrown it, it was still created with careful craftsmanship and gilded with great ornamentation. This evidence of detail helps to reinforce that armour was used for much more than practical purposes but as a way in which young knights were able to display wealth and prestige as well. Woodsman-Savage’s article “He’s Armed Without That’s Innocent Within. A Short Note on a Newly Acquired Medieval Sword for a Child” discusses how the giving of a sword to a young boy represented his initiation into knighthood and could be seen as a rite of passage for leaving childhood behind (2008). Identifying whether a sword would have been used by an adult or a child comes down to the dimensions. The sword we will discuss for the purpose of our discussion is a 10th-12th century sword found in in the river Seine, near Rouen, France discovered by a french citizen. The sword, which was purchased by the Royal Armouries in 2006 from a private collector is identified by its dimensions to be one of the earliest medieval European sword intended for use by a child (Woosnam-Savage 2008, 84). With an overall length 750 mm (Woosnam-Savage 2008, 85) in comparison with other reFig 5 -The Knight Is Young: Armours of Childhood. 2017. corded swords of its era it has been determined to not fit Royal Armouries Website the dimensions of an adult sword. The swords possessed traces of a leather covering of the blade (Woosnam-Savage September 15. Accessed [November 25, 2017]. https://blog.royalarmouries.org/2017/09/15/the-knight-is-young-armours-of-tudor-child2008, 84) but has no visible marks on the blade giving us hood/ no direct evidence as to weather the sword was used in battle or training or was merely a piece for display. Evidence suggests that children’s possession of swords could be for both symbolic and practical nature. King Henry VI was only nine when he was given as many as eight swords for both play and training purposes (Woosnam-Savage, 2008). It is not just the discovery of swords of small dimensions that shows the association between children and weapons in Medieval Europe. Grave goods, such as the ones
Fig. 7 - Mid 10th–mid 12th century recovered from the River Seine, detail of bird symbol on alloy
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Fig. 6 - Mid 10th–mid 12th C. recovered from the River Seine
found in the burial of a child estimated around 6 years of age under Cologne Cathedral, often included weapons such as swords, although not all weapons found were “child sized” (Woosnam-Savage, 2008). Although the sex of the child in this particular burial was unknown, archeological studies of medieval grave goods reveal that items such as weapons were most predominantly uncovered in adult graves of men (Harke, 2014), therefore it’s very possible that this burial was of a young boy who may have been in the early stages of being inducted into knighthood. The sword recovered from the Seine river gives insight into the immense detail, work and effort put into weapons that were not purposed for adults. The copper alloy at the bottom of sword has the detailing of a bird on it showing that this sword was made with careful craftsmanship and embedded with symbols. Through armour, weapons and toys the lives of of young knights is represented and made visible to us today, however there is still large gaps in the research of these material objects as it difficult to confirm that items such as the sword discussed were made exclusively for the use of children.
Sources Cited Benhow, Elliot. 2014.The Child Armour of Rhodes: Medieval Childhood, Knightly Education and Experiences through the Order of St John, Museum of the Order of St John Website, September 28. Accessed [November 24, 2017]. http://museumstjohn.org.uk/child-armour-rhodes-medieval-child hood-knightly-education-experiences-order-st-john/ Härke, Heinrich. 2014. Grave goods in early medieval burials: messages and meanings, Mortality, 19(1): 41-60, doi: 10.1080/13576275.2013.870544 Orme, Nicholas. 1995. The Culture of Children in Medieval England. Past & Present, 148: 48-88. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/651048 Romero, Margarita Sanchez. 2017. Landscapes of Childhood: Bodies, Places and Material Culture, Childhood in the Past, 10(1): 16-37, doi:10.1080/17585716.2017.1305080 Woosnam-Savage, Robert. 2008. He’s Armed Without That’s Innocent Within. A Short Note on a Newly Acquired Medieval Sword for a Child, Arms & Armour, 5(1): 84-95, DOI: 10.1179/174161208X281595 DESIGN MGZ 6 | 11
In Conclusion Our research on this topic revealed to us that male children had a role in knighthood, but that it wasn’t everyone who afforded such opportunities, as it was only the sons of noble families that were allowed to train for the title. Their status as a child, as a noble, and as a knight could be seen through material culture as we saw with toys, and also the expensive weapons and armour that were fabricated for them, and remade for them as they grew. Many of the textual resources on the topic of knighthood and chivalry did not cover the lived lives of these boys and their everyday training and hardships, which made it difficult to piece together a clear picture of these young knights in training. Though there is some surviving material culture in the archaeological record that makes them visible, it seems that much of the research on medieval knighthood has been focused on knights, and less so on the ranks that precede them. In the future, we believe that more in depth studies should be conducted on the spaces of these boys within their fostering homes, the impact they had on the archaeological record through indirect child related material, and their agency as children, nobles, and knights-to-be.
http://www.oldbookart.com/2012/01/15/middle-ages-medieval-dress/ 12 | DESIGN MGZ 6
http://www.oldbookart.com/2012/01/15/middle-ages-medieval-dress/
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