File:Military and religious life in the Middle Ages and at the period of the Renaissance (1870) (14598329090).jpg

Identifier: gri_33125008050011 (find matches)
Title: Military and religious life in the Middle Ages and at the period of the Renaissance
Year: 1870 (1870s)
Authors: Jacob, P. L., 1806-1884
Subjects: Middle Ages Civilization, Medieval Civilization, Renaissance Costume Military art and science Christian life
Publisher: London : Bickers & Son
Contributing Library: Getty Research Institute
Digitizing Sponsor: Getty Research Institute

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nstinctof imitation peculiar to the young, the pages habitually played at doingeverything they saw done by the knights. They practised wielding thelance and the sword; they played at combats, attacks, and duels betweenthemselves. Excited by emulation, they coveted the honour of being con-sidered brave, hoping if they attained their wish, that it would lead to theirbeing attached to the service of some person of mark, or to their beingpromoted to the rank of esquire. CHIVALRY. H5 When the young men abandoned the position of pages in order to be madeesquires, an event that never took place before their fourteenth year, theirchange of social condition was celebrated by a religious ceremony, which theChurch appointed for the purpose of consecrating their knightly vocation,and of hallowing the use of the arms they were henceforward destined tocarry. Standing at the altar and surrounded by his nearest relations, theyouthful novice received the consecrated sword from the hands of the priest,
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Fig. 120.—The Game of Quintain: tilting at a quintain (revolving effigy of a knight).—Fac-simile of a Miniature in the Chroniques de Charlemagne (Fifteenth Century). BurgundianLibrary, Brussels. promising always to wield it in the interests of religion and honour. Ahigher position in the household of his lord or lady was then assigned tothe new esquire. He was admitted to their private gatherings, he took partin all assemblies and state ceremonies, and it was now his duty to superintendthe reception, that is to say, to regulate the laws of etiquette relating to theforeign nobles who visited his masters court. A passage from the history of Boucicaut, a marshal of France in thereign of Charles VI., will give an idea of the laborious and arduous existence V 146 CHIVALRY. of the young esquire who aspired to become a worthy knight: Now cased inarmour, he would practise leaping on to the back of a horse ; anon, to accustomhimself to become long-winded and enduring, he would walk and run

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