Training should always begin at an early age. A boy should begin at the age of thirteen. And for those rare occasions when there is found a girl who wishes to train to be a knight then she should start at the age of twelve. Why these ages? Because it is at these ages that they stop being children. At these ages they should be afforded the right to speak in the company of adults and have a voice to be heard, yet always remembering that they are not adults and show the proper respect. In the beginning they shall be given the title of page to a knight, lord or lady. If they are not already schooled in reading, writing and arithmetic, they should be at once. If they are well versed in these then they should be taught everything they can in the means of survival. The majority of their recreational time should be devoted to games of skill both physical and mental in order to strengthen both mind and body. This recreational time should include the use of more primitive survival tools and weapons such as slings, bows and staffs. Where pages are servants, to their lord or lady, they should never be assigned menial chores (meaning chores which do not teach a skill or strengthen the body. A prime example of menial would be washing dishes except as disciplinary action.) This training as a page should continue until the age of sixteen. Upon the arrival of the sixteenth birthday, providing they have been honorable, they shall be promoted to the rank of squire. Thus they become the constant companion to the lord or lady. And their weapons training should not be attempted until proficiency is obtained with more primitive weapons. During all this time survival training must be continued, to the point where the squire if left in the wilderness completely naked, and nothing in the way . of tools, he/she would know how to construct the needed items and survive. During this age of squire, training can be turned to finer studies, such as languages, the sciences, including horsemanship, animal training, falconry, etc. Again as always the majority of the recreational time should involve games of skill and honing the reflexes. And as for those who are chosen of show themselves to have a gift, training in arcane sciences may be undertaken. This training shall continue until the age of knighthood is reached. At which time in order to become a true knight with all the rank and privileges, one must swear his allegiance to a lord. The age of knighthood falls on the birthday of the beginning of the twentieth year of age. Back to White Knight #10 Table of Contents Back to White Knight List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by Pegasus-Unicorn Productions This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com