The ceremonial of dubbing varied considerably: it might be highly elaborate on a great feast day or on a royal occasion or it could be simply performed on the battlefield and the dubbing knight might use any appropriate formula that he liked. When he was adjudged proficient and the money was forthcoming for the purchase of his knightly equipment, he would be dubbed knight. During this period of his apprenticeship he would be known as a damoiseau (literally “lordling”), or varlet, or valet (German: Knappe), until he followed his patron on a campaign as his shield bearer, écuyer, or esquire, or as the bearer of his weapons (armiger). A youth destined for the profession of arms might from the age of 7 or so serve his father as a page before joining the household of his father’s suzerain, perhaps at the age of 12, for more advanced instruction not only in military subjects but also in the ways of the world.

( See also knight service.) The process of entering knighthood often became formalized. The first medieval knights were professional cavalry warriors, some of whom were vassals holding lands as fiefs from the lords in whose armies they served, while others were not enfeoffed with land.

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Knight & Stay by Kitty French