Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Chivaley,
foot soldier , and ranked next to the knight . The esquire having satisfactorily performed his duties , in due time was a candidate for the higher rank in Chivalry , and usually received the honour of Knighthood from the baron or Knight in whose castle he bad been educated .
We may here observe that the term miles , which at this period was used to designate persons who held the rank we are speaking of , is derived fron ^ the verb militare , which signified "to serve / ' whether the service was of a military or a civil nature ; and we find it frequently employed in speaking of the household of the early kings , and the offices which their companions held about their
persons . A . change in the social state caused the term miles to resume its exclusivly warlike character , and denoted the companion faithful to the service of his superior ; and among the Germanic and Gaulish tribes the tenant was bound to serve his lord in all wars , even against their mutual sovereign . "When William the Norman completed the conquest of England , he introduced in this country a clause in the vassal ' s oath , expressly reserving his allegiance to his
sovereign . In this , the feudal system , we think , may be seen the true origin of Chivalry , or the prominent form it assumed during the Crusades ; but in the course--of time , whenthe feudal society had acquired some degree of stability and what may be called self-confidence , all the feelings and circumstances which attended the youth's admission came under two influences , which gave impressions of a novel
character . Eeligion and imagination , poetry and the Church , laid hold on Chivalry , and used it as a powerful means of attaining the object they had in view , —of meeting the moral wants which it was their business to provide for . We have a very succinct account of the reception into the order , as practised in the twelfth century , which shows how powerfully the Church had laid its grasp on every particular of that solemn act .
The young man aspiring to Knighthood was first stripped of all his garments and put into a bath , as the symbol of purification . On his coming out of the bath , they clad him with a white tunic , the symbol of purity ; a red robe , an emblem of the blood he was to shed in the cause of the faith ; and a black doublet , in token of the dissolution which awaited him and all mankind . Thus purified and
clothed the novice kept a fast for twenty-four hours . When evening came he entered the church , and passed the night in prayer , sometimes alone , sometimes with a priest and sponsors , who prayed in company with him . The next morning his first act was confession ; after which the priest administered to him the sacrament of communion ; and after the communion he heard a mass , and sometimes a
sermon or lecture on the duties of the Chevalier , and the new course of life which he was about to enter . When all this was over , the novice advanced to the altar , with the sword of Knighthood suspended from his neck . The priest took it off , blessed it , and attached it to his neck again . The novice then went and knelt before the lord
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Chivaley,
foot soldier , and ranked next to the knight . The esquire having satisfactorily performed his duties , in due time was a candidate for the higher rank in Chivalry , and usually received the honour of Knighthood from the baron or Knight in whose castle he bad been educated .
We may here observe that the term miles , which at this period was used to designate persons who held the rank we are speaking of , is derived fron ^ the verb militare , which signified "to serve / ' whether the service was of a military or a civil nature ; and we find it frequently employed in speaking of the household of the early kings , and the offices which their companions held about their
persons . A . change in the social state caused the term miles to resume its exclusivly warlike character , and denoted the companion faithful to the service of his superior ; and among the Germanic and Gaulish tribes the tenant was bound to serve his lord in all wars , even against their mutual sovereign . "When William the Norman completed the conquest of England , he introduced in this country a clause in the vassal ' s oath , expressly reserving his allegiance to his
sovereign . In this , the feudal system , we think , may be seen the true origin of Chivalry , or the prominent form it assumed during the Crusades ; but in the course--of time , whenthe feudal society had acquired some degree of stability and what may be called self-confidence , all the feelings and circumstances which attended the youth's admission came under two influences , which gave impressions of a novel
character . Eeligion and imagination , poetry and the Church , laid hold on Chivalry , and used it as a powerful means of attaining the object they had in view , —of meeting the moral wants which it was their business to provide for . We have a very succinct account of the reception into the order , as practised in the twelfth century , which shows how powerfully the Church had laid its grasp on every particular of that solemn act .
The young man aspiring to Knighthood was first stripped of all his garments and put into a bath , as the symbol of purification . On his coming out of the bath , they clad him with a white tunic , the symbol of purity ; a red robe , an emblem of the blood he was to shed in the cause of the faith ; and a black doublet , in token of the dissolution which awaited him and all mankind . Thus purified and
clothed the novice kept a fast for twenty-four hours . When evening came he entered the church , and passed the night in prayer , sometimes alone , sometimes with a priest and sponsors , who prayed in company with him . The next morning his first act was confession ; after which the priest administered to him the sacrament of communion ; and after the communion he heard a mass , and sometimes a
sermon or lecture on the duties of the Chevalier , and the new course of life which he was about to enter . When all this was over , the novice advanced to the altar , with the sword of Knighthood suspended from his neck . The priest took it off , blessed it , and attached it to his neck again . The novice then went and knelt before the lord