The making of a Knight

[Van Canna]

The preparatory education of candidates for knighthood was long and
arduous. At seven years of age the noble children were usually removed
from their father's house to the court or castle of their future patron,
and placed under the care of a governor, who taught them the first
articles of religion, and respect and reverence for their lords and
superiors, and initiated them in the ceremonies of a court, They were
called pages, valets or varlets, and their office was to carve, to wait
at table, and to perform other menial services which were not then
considered humiliating.

In their leisure hours they learned to dance and
play on the harp, were instructed in the mysteries of woods and rivers,
that is, in hunting, falconry, and fishing, and in wrestling, tilting
with spears, and performing other military exercises on horseback. At
fourteen the page became an esquire, and began a course of severer and
more laborious exercises.

To vault on a horse in heavy armor; to run, to
scale walls, and spring over ditches, under the same encumbrance; to
wrestle, to wield the battle-axe for a length of time, without raising the visor or taking breath; to perform with grace all the evolutions of
horsemanship,- were necessary preliminaries to the reception of
knighthood, which was usually conferred at twenty-one years of age, when
the young man's education was supposed to be completed.

In the meantime,
the esquires were no less assiduously engaged in acquiring all those
refinements of civility which formed what was in that age called
courtesy. The same castle in which they received their education was
usually thronged with young persons of the other sex, and the page was
encouraged, at a very early age, to select some lady of the court as the
mistress of his heart, to whom he was taught to refer all his sentiments,
words, and actions.

The service of his mistress was the glory and
occupation of a knight, and her smiles, bestowed at once by affection and
gratitude, were held out as the recompense of his well-directed valor.

Religion united its influence with those of loyalty and love, and the
order of knighthood, endowed with all the sanctity and religious awe that
attended the priesthood, became an object of ambition to the greatest
sovereigns.

The ceremonies of initiation were peculiarly solemn. After undergoing a
severe fast, and spending whole nights in prayer, the candidate
confessed, and received the sacrament. He then clothed himself in
snow-white garments, and repaired to the church, or the hall, where the
ceremony was to take place, bearing a knightly sword suspended from his
neck, which the officiating priest took and blessed, and then returned to
him.

The candidate then, with folded arms, knelt before the presiding
knight, who, after some questions about his motives and purposes in
requesting admission, administered to him the oaths, and granted his
request.

Some of the knights present, sometimes even ladies and damsels,
handed to him in succession the spurs, the coat of mail, the hauberk, the
armlet and gauntlet, and lastly he girded on the sword.

He then knelt
again before the president, who, rising from his seat, gave him the
"accolade," which consisted of three strokes, with the flat of a sword,
on the shoulder or neck of the candidate, accompanied by the words: "In the name of God, of St. Michael, and St. George, I make thee a knight; be
valiant, courteous, and loyal!" Then he received his helmet, his shield,
and spear; and thus the investiture ended.

[Lori]

And so the coming of age and maturity for a man is heralded in glory and honor.

A woman is relegated to domestic duties - confined to the definitions and strictures of a male dominated society (and martial art!) and our little "forays" into the sacred and holy world of men are barely tolerated as long as we remember our place... (even on these forums at times!)

The honorable estate of womanhood is too often obscured by the ethocentricities of manhood.

The double standard is alive and well - not even struggling I am sure - and women can choose to rail against it and tear their hair in hopeless frustration, or they can accept it as a fact of life and seek to co-exist with it.

History is rife with references of honoring men, written by men, recorded and taught by men. Where are the histories in such proliferation of the value of womanhood?

There are a few stories - to be sure - but you have to think about it for a minute - they do not come as readily to mind.

We need to move beyond an "us or them" mentality - stop seeking to neutralize genders - and honor and respect our differences. They are both beautiful and add meaning to life. Neither is born to serve the other as chattel - but side by side - unique and different and two sides of the same coin - two separate manifestations of the same force. One moves forward in a quest - one is receiving. The same force - yet different effects at first glance.

Celebrate the knights - and knighthood. There are too few in this world today!

And celebrate the woman he honors!

[Van Canna]

Lori,

Well...

" Men are rewarded for learning the practice of violence in virtually any sphere of activity by money, admiration, recognition, respect, and the genuflection of others honoring their sacred and proven masculinity. In male culture, police are heroic and so are outlaws; males who enforce standards are heroic and so are those who violate them.

Andrea Dworkin " Why is that I wonder!

And:

" The Ideal Man should talk to us as if we were goddesses, and treat us as if we were children. He should refuse all our serious requests, and gratify every one of our whims. He should encourage us to have caprices, and forbid us to have missions. He should always say much more than he means, and always mean much more than he says.

Oscar Wilde " No ?


Okay, would you be happy with this?


" Sometimes I have a notion that what might improve the situation is to have women take over the occupations of government and trade and to give men their freedom. Let them do what they are best at. While we scrawl interoffice memos and direct national or extranational affairs, men could spend all their time inventing wheels, peering at stars, composing poems, carving statues, exploring continents—discovering, reforming, or crying out in a sacramental wilderness. Efficiency would probably increase, and no one would have to worry so much about the Gaza Strip or an election.

Phyllis McGinley (1905–78), U.S. poet, author. The Province of the Heart,“__




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Van Canna

[Lori]

So how about this one then:

<blockquote>Women's virtue is man's greatest invention.</blockquote>

-Cornelia Otis Skinner

[Van Canna]

Lori,

Maybe there is a method to man's madness:

" Most virtue is a demand for greater seduction."

[Natalie Clifford Barney (1876–1972), U.S.-born French author. Quoted in: “My Country ‘tis of Thee”]



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Van Canna