Knighthood: Serious Training, Serious Weapons
             The old adage goes "work, before play," but as a medieval knight, the young knight was required to "play" before he was able to "work." Tournaments were a major component of a knight's training and were used as a means by which young knights could acquire and refine the skills necessary for war ("The Knight and Chivalry" 159). The tournaments provided a social gathering place for all citizens, but the original main purpose of the tournament was for the knight to practice warfare while being mounted on his horse. The prevalent weapons used during the Medieval Ages gradually changed from sword and armor to a newfound focus on projectile weapons (200). However, knights rebuffed the progressiveness of these weapons and preferred to hold on to their time-honored traditions. The extensive and demanding training of knights, coupled with the quality of their weapons helped cement them as the prominent leaders and warriors of medieval history.
             The anonymous author of Beowulf writes "a thane, they declared, with the strength of thirty in the grip of each hand" ("Beowulf" 40). Beowulf's abilities and strengths may have been more profound than other knights, but the training knights endured was geared to prepare them physically and mentally for the responsibilities of knighthood. In the early medieval times, the requirements of becoming a knight depended on one's proficiency of warfare. As centuries passed, the requirement shifted from being solely based on skills, to a requirement of noble birth and proficiency of warfare ("The Knight and Chivalry" 33). At the beginning of a knight's training, usually around age 6, the boy would leave the care of his mother and become a page. After progressing as a page, the adolescent boy would enter service as a squire for a noble man. The squire would act as the nob...