M* 



king hii ton a 



CHIVALRY. 



knight, till that son had attained this 



'Every person who wi a knight could confer the ho- 

 nour* of knighthood. Some aut!i->M maintain, that pre- 

 late* and ladies had alto the privilege of knighting, 

 butthuof founded. It hat been already no- 



ticed, that military investiture was originally conferred 

 .-.land and on the continent by the hands of the 

 priests ; and lhi ceremony having been confounded with 

 . ha given rite to this idea. In the 

 fame manner, the initiation of the page into the rank 

 of esquire, admitting of the presence and participation 

 either of Ins father ur his mother, it has been erroneous- 

 ly supposed that ladies could confer knighthood. There 

 i, however, one instance of knighthood having been 

 conferred by a hd)-, though, from the singularity of the 

 circumstance, it must be regarded as of doubtful au- 

 thority. Mi-Lird, in hi* Lift: of the Constable Du GIHS- 

 .at his widow girt Andrew de la Val, 

 afterwards Marshal of France, with the sword of her 

 hutband, and made him a knight. 



\Vhocver appeared to receive the honours of knight- 

 hood, was to be of conspicuous merit, of sufficient 

 estate to support the dignity, and, according to the re- 

 gulations of chivalry in Germany, of three noble de- 

 scents by the father's side, f No person who was lame, 

 or who laboured under any disorder which disqualified 

 him for warfare, however rich or noble he might be, 

 could be made a knight. 



Such were the general regulations with respect to those 

 whom it was lawful to admit to the full honours of chi- 

 valry ; but there were exceptions. Monsieur de Quer- 

 lon, in his Memoire sur la Chanson, gives many instan- 

 ces of trombadours, who followed their masters to the 

 wars, having been knighted ; and we have the testimony 

 of Glanville, that in England, during the reign of Hen- 

 ry II. enfranchised villains, born in servitude, were some- 

 times knighted. 



Esquires were raised to the rank of knights cither in 

 time of peace or war ; the ceremonies usual during the 

 latter were comparatively simple and short ; those em- 

 ployed in times of peace were minute, solemn, splendid, 

 and magnificent. The occasions on which knighthood 

 was most commonly conferred, during peace, were the 

 high feasts of the church, especially Pentecost ; the pro- 

 claiming of peace, or a truce ; the coronation of kings ; 

 the birth and baptisms of the royal family; the days 

 when princes themselves were made knights ; on their 

 marriages ; and at tournaments. 

 Oerrroonici The esquire prepared himself for the honour he was 



employed 



n r..^ : . 

 a knight. 



about to receive, by rigid fasting, and passing the night 

 in prayers, along with the priest and his sponsors, in a 

 church, where his arms were hung up. Asa type of the 

 purity of manners which would be required of him, he 

 clothed himself in white, after having performed his ablu- 

 tions in a bath. 'A full and solemn confession of his sins, 

 a serious attention to a discourse, in which the duties of 

 chivalry, and the articles of his religious faith, were de- 



tailed and enforced, completed the preliminary part > 

 the ceremony. When this was performed, he again en- "~ """ 

 tered the church with hi* sword slung on his shoulder; 

 taking it off, he presented it to the priest, who consecrat- 

 ed it, and returned it to him ; immediately after this the 

 novice received the communion ; then with clasped hands 

 he threw himself on his knees before the person, who 

 was to confer the honour of knighthood, and delivered 

 him his sword. A number of questions were put to him : 

 he was asked, Whai were his views and motives in enter- 

 ing on the order of chivalry ? Whether he had any object 

 but the maintenance of its honour, and the support of 

 religion ? If his replies were satisfactory, the efficient 

 and final ceremonies began. The novice received from 

 the hands of the knights sometimes from those of the 

 ladies all the insignia of chivalry. One approached 

 him, and put on his spurs ; in ancient times putting on 

 ihe left spur first ; afterwards the custom was changed, 

 and the right spur was put on first. After his spurs 

 were put on, another knight or lady clothed him in his 

 coat of mail, his cuirass, and the other parts of his ar- 

 mour. The last thing that was given him, was his sword ; 

 this was deemed the most essential part of the ceremony. 

 He was dubbed (adoubc)\. in this manner, still continu- 

 ing on his knees. The person who confirmed the order, 

 then rose from bis seat, approached the novice, and be- 

 stowed on him the accnlade ; this consisted, generally, 

 of three blows with the flat side of the naked sword on 

 the shoulder, or on the neck of the novice ; sometimes it 

 was bestowed by a blow with the palm of the hand on 

 the cheek. The meaning of the accolade has been dif- 

 ferently interpreted ; some regard it " as an emblem of 

 the last affront which it was lawful for him to endure ;" 

 others as borrowed from the jfode which the^Romans 

 practised, when they manumitted iheir slaves ; and others 

 as a warning of the difficulties and dangers, to which, in 

 the discharge of the duties he had undertaken, he would 

 necessarily be exposed. When the accolade was bestow- 

 ed, the person conferring the order pronounced him a 

 knight in the name of God, of St George, and of St 

 Michael the archangel ; sometimes counselling him to 

 be brave, undaunted, and loyal. When he leaves the 

 church, or the place where the ceremony has been per- 

 formed, a horse is brought him, which lie mounts, and 

 with drawn sword and brandished lance, exhibits himself 

 fully equipped, in the most frequented and public part 

 of the village. As soon as he is recognised by the po- 

 pulace, they shout and dance around him, thus proclaim- 

 ing their joy at having acquired a new protector. When 

 several were made kmghu at the same time, it was usual 

 for them to make their horses prance, and wheel in time 

 with the dances of the populace. This M. de St Palaye 

 supposes to have been the origin of the fetes or ballets ri 

 cht-"til, which were common at the French court, even 

 in the time of Brantome. 



There was some variation in these ceremonies at dif- 

 ferent periods, and in different countries. On occasions 

 of simple military investiture, and probably aloo in the 



* There wrc four cases, in which a sovereign or knight could raise the aids of chivalry on his subjects or vassals ; that men 

 id in the text, the mnrriuge of his daughters, the payment of his own ransom, anil the cxpcn.se of any cntcrpi JM' Ix'yond sea. 



f By an old law of France, if any man, not noble by his father, though he was by his mother':, hide, h.ul been made a knight, 

 be might be degraded, by having In- uptirs cut off on a dunghill. (Scldcn's Titles of Ifunovr, Part II. c. iii.) 



It would appear, from Damage In Vrolnart. where he mentions the knights that were made iiy the King of England in IS.i: 

 tfc* atUrk on lie paHmtoi of Parin, that a helmet was necessary piece of armour in the creating of a knight, MIICC the King, 

 ho wuhed to include hii enquire of honour in the promotion, could not do it, because the esquire could not lin.i his helmet. 



J Thi word it evidently derived from the Teutonic dou/ien, to dip, und must have been borrowed from the ceremony of bathing. 



| The rejoicing* and amutemenU, which took place when the order of chivalry wa conferred, and which, in the old historians, ate 

 ryrcciiuY, lasted many tUji} where the person admitted was of high rank, tournaments were held. 



