Knights in Training
The most common definition of 'squire' is that to which refers to the medieval times. A squire would be a teenage boy, in his training to become a knight. A boy became a squire at the age of 14. This was the second stage to becoming a knight, after serving first as a page. As part of his development to that end, he served an existing knight as an attendant or shield carrier, doing simple but important tasks like saddling a horse or caring for the knight's weapons and armour. The squire would sometimes carry the knight's flag to battle with his master. But a squire did not stay a squire forever. A knight would take his squires (a knight could have multiple squires but a squire could only have one knight) into battle with him and that was a squire's chance to prove himself. If he proved his loyalty and skill in battle, he would have a dubbing, an official ceremony to become a knight. However, during the Middle Ages the rank of the squire came to be recognized in its own right, and once knighthood ceased to be conferred by any but the monarch, it was no longer to be assumed that a squire would in due course progress to be a knight. The connection between a squire and any particular knight also ceased to exist, as did any shield-carrying duties.
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Famous quotes containing the words knights and/or training:
“The threadbare trees, so poor and thin,
They are no wealthier than I;
But with as brave a core within
They rear their boughs to the October sky.
Poor knights they are which bravely wait
The charge of Winter’s cavalry,
Keeping a simple Roman state,
Discumbered of their Persian luxury.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The area [of toilet training] is one where a child really does possess the power to defy. Strong pressure leads to a powerful struggle. The issue then is not toilet training but who holds the reins—mother or child? And the child has most of the ammunition!”
—Dorothy Corkville Briggs (20th century)