Knight

A knight - by ©Igor Levchenko

A knight is a member of a warrior tradition that is heavily interwoven in the feudal cultures of Tamriel as well as the Church of Alaxon and its branching religions. Knights occupy a social standing between that of lords and commoners. In contrast to nobility, this rank is not hereditary. Knights are generally referred to with the title "Sir" for men, or "Dame" for women.

History

Knighthood likely has its roots in Aldmeri culture due to its association with the Church of Alaxon, which was brought to Tamriel with the voyages of Topal the Pilot and the subsequent coming of the Aldmer. Legends of Hammerfell claim chivalry was brought by the first knight, Haeen the Stalwart, however. The military success of mounted knights and their steel armament proved vital to the Aldmeri conquest of most of Tamriel. Knighthood holds less cultural significance in areas of Tamriel that hold fewer remnants of Aldmeri culture, such as Skyrim and Elsweyr, though there are knights from these regions.

Social Status

Anyone can be knighted, no matter their birth. Social pressure keeps knighthood from being exploited by unscrupulous knights who might give the accolade for money. Knighthood is seen as primarily a martial position, so even the children of powerful lords are not necessarily knighted if they are incapable of fulfilling the requirements. Doing otherwise would lose honour rather than gain it, and would make a lord and his family be held up to ridicule. Regardless, at times, a lord's child is knighted without fulfilling the requirements. Further, a young knight's repute partially derives from the honour of the person who conferred knighthood on them. Receiving your knighthood from a king, prince, or legendary knight holds great prestige.

Although lords hold certain legal rights (e.g., the right of gallows) which knights do not have, and outrank knights at tourneys and feasts, certain landed knights can be lord in all but name. It is mostly the title which sets the two apart, as the title of lord is generally considered to be more prestigious than the title “sir” or "dame". However, the title of a knight has its own prestige, as it cannot be inherited. And although knights are often ranked below lords, certain landed knights might actually be more powerful than lesser lords. It is certainly possible that a landed knight has more lands and wealth than a small lord. Especially landed knights who come from ancient houses, and who have extensive lands and a large, strong castle may actually be more powerful than many smaller lordlings. Such a peculiar status can often be reflected by taking a style that incorporates the name of their castle.

Lordly Houses can be reduced to landed knights as punishment from the crown. Knighthood can also be stripped from individuals.

According to Sir Lyonel Reis, three hundred gold pieces is a fair ransom for a captured knight.

Appearance

A fully armoured Bretonic knight - by ©Max Yenin

Armour worn by Tamrielic knights and warriors does not correspond one to one with any single period in European history, but rather is reflective of their individual cultures. Altmeri knights will not bear the same armours as a knight from Hammerfell, and their equipment will vary largely in quality due to how advanced one culture is compared to the other.

Especially in High Rock, earning knighthood is also called ‘earning spurs’. Wealthier knights sometimes wear gilded spurs.

Knights display a coat of arms on their shield and surcoat to identify themselves. Those who are nobly born often wear the arms of their House. Some might chose to use variations of their House's sigil, however. A knight can also chose a completely new coat of arms as their personal coat of arms. Many knights wear large crests on their helms that embellish the theme of their arms.

Becoming a Knight

Pages and Squires

Although not an absolute requirement for becoming a knight, children, often nobly born, can serve as pages and later squires. Children can become pages at several different ages. It appears to be normal to become a page from the ages of six or seven onward.

After several years of serving as a page, a child can become a squire. Children are not required to serve as a page before becoming a squire, so the age of squiring can range widely.

Pages and squires train at arms. Squires run errands for their masters, tend to their master's animals, clean their armour, and help them into it whenever required. In times of war, they ride beside their masters, assisting them and fighting by their sides. During tourneys, squires will provide their masters with new lances, or with a sword. A child who is being fostered but who is not training for knighthood (e.g., because he does not follow a compatible religion, such as the Argonian faith), can perform the duties of a page and squire without strictly being one.

Age at Knighthood

Most knights have already come of age when they receive their knighthoods. Depending on the culture, this could be at different ages. Altmer, who live for upwards of 300 years, come of age at 18. Men, who live upwards of 90 years, come of age at 16.

Exceptional fighters can be knighted at a younger age, however. Some knights on Tamriel have been known to receive their knighthoods as early as 15 years old.

Young squires who have proven themselves in battle might be promised knighthood when they come of age.

Conditions for Knighthood

Most squires are knighted some time after coming of age. Some are knighted before then, by demonstrating their prowess in tourneys or in battle. Underage squires might be knighted on the battlefield as they lay dying. Nobles can also ask for knighthood before being executed.

The motivation for receiving knighthood can be political, such as being knighted so as to legitimise a marriage between yourself and someone of higher status.

Knighthood can also be acquired in less honourable ways. Tales are told of knights who gained their knighthoods with favours, coin, and threats.

Conditions Preventing Knighthood

Those with physical disabilities that prevent them from taking on the expected duties of a knight cannot gain knighthood. Other physical conditions that hinder a knight's duties, such as obesity and disinclination to martial training, would be another reason men do not become knights. Mental disabilities also preclude knighthood.

Some do not become knights for lack of interest, although they are physically qualified. Followers of the old gods do not tend to be knighted, as knighthood is a tradition of the Church of Alaxon and its children religions, such as the Faith of the Eight, usually requiring standing a vigil in a temple and vows to the Eight (however, there are exceptions). Some reject knighthood for personal reasons. In some places of the world, such as Hammerfell, certain warriors cannot be knighted on grounds of their gender, as women do not take up such roles in those cultures.

Some squires choose to never become a knight, and live the rest of their lives as squires. This may be because the individual does not have the inclination to live a knight's martial lifestyle, or does not have the funds to properly equip themselves.

Ceremony

A man being knighted - by Jason Engle; ©Fantasy Flight Games

Any knight can make a knight. However, monarchs can make knights as well, even if they were never knighted themselves. On the other hand, lords cannot dub someone a knight if they have not previously been knighted themselves.

Knighthood is partially a religious matter, as it is usually open only to followers of religions which have their roots in the Church of Alaxon. There are several variations of ceremonies. It is customary to stand vigil in a temple the night before one receives knighthood. At times, the knights-to-be might walk barefoot from the temple to the location where they are to receive their knighthood, to prove their humble hearts. Before taking a knight’s vows, a priest might anoint the knight-to-be with the blessed oils. In Altmeri culture, being anointed by the High Aldarch is considered to be a great honour. However, people can also be dubbed a knight without exercising these customs, for example on the battlefield, possibly as they lay dying. Witnesses might be present at the moment of receiving knighthood, although this is not a requirement.

The knighting itself varies from culture to culture, though swords play a role in most if not all knighting ceremonies in Tamriel. In the Faith of the Eight the ceremony is as follows:

When knighting someone in a formal manner, the dubber speaks the knight-to-be's name and House, if they have one. The dubber touches the subject on the right shoulder with their sword, and while placing the sword on the other shoulder following every sentence says:

In the name of the Warrior I charge you to be brave. In the name of the Father I charge you to be just. In the name of the Mother I charge you to defend the young and innocent. In the name of the Maid I charge you to protect all women...

In a less formal knighting ceremony, the dubber lays their sword upon the knight-to-be's right shoulder, and says:

[Name of knight-to-be], do you swear before the eyes of gods and men to defend those who cannot defend themselves, to protect all innocent, to obey your captains, your liege lord, and your emperor, to fight bravely when needed and do such other tasks as are laid upon you, however hard or humble or dangerous they may be?

After the subject who is being knighted confirms that they will do as asked, the sword is moved to the left shoulder, and the dubber will say that the newly-made knight can rise.

Practices

A mourning knight - by ©Carlos Palma Cruchaga

Knights are supposed to be honourable and follow the chivalric codes, the specifics of which vary culture to culture. They are expected to be brave and just, and to defend the innocent and the weak.

Knights preferably have multiple horses, including one to travel on and another to ride in tourneys and in battle. Some knights refuse to name their horses so they are less likely to feel attached to them, as horses are likely to die in battle.

The host of a tourney decides whether only knights, or also sellswords, squires, and freeriders are allowed to compete. The Summerset Archipelago, the heart of the chivalric tradition in Tamriel, is the most likely place to encounter a tourney only for knights. During the joust, the person who loses the tilt usually has to give up their armour and horse. For a poor knight, this might represent a danger. So long as a knight is armed and horsed, they remains a knight of sorts, but without, they are little more than a beggar.

Types of Knights

Several different types of knights can be identified:

• Landed knights are knights with a keep and lands of their own. Although members of nobility, and wealthier landed knights might hold more land than the poorest lords do, they do not have the authority to deliver law and justice.
• Hedge knights are so called because they "sleep in the hedges as often as not". They are nearer to common servants than noble knights in the eyes of most lords. They spend their lives riding from keep to keep, taking service with different lords until the lords have no more need for them and sent them off. Hedge knights have an unsavoury reputation, and merchants are notoriously mistrustful of them. Hedge knights gone rogue are referred to as robber knights.
• Household knights are landless knights who have been taken into the service of a lord.
• Knights inquisitor (or Divine Prosecution in Alinor) are agents of the throne tasked with investigating and punishing threats.
• The term true knight refers to an ideal knight who upholds all qualities for which knighthood stands for. Each knight, no matter which kind of knight, should ideally aspire to live up to these standards.

As knighthood is associated with religions that have their roots in the Church of Alaxon, there are fewer knights in Skyrim and Elsweyr than in the rest of Tamriel, as Nordic Houses still retain their older tradition of thanehood. Nordic thanes are just as fierce, loyal, and honourable as knights are. However, despite being the Nordic equivalent of knights, it is not quite the same as being a knight on account of the prestige that a knighthood contains. Most Nordic knights live in the southern regions of Skyrim closer to the borders of Cyrodiil.

Because most Khajiit follow [Khajiiti religion], knighthood is also a rarity in Elsweyr.

Quotes

They strut around like roosters down here, even the ones who've never seen an arrow come their way.

—A Nord about Tamrielic knights