The evolutionary of the Institution of Knighthood

Knighthood is an institution, which gradually developed in history and whose existence is based on the military activity of a soldier on
horseback. The mount and the man appear together as an inseparable and militarily successful pair acquiring their properties, mode of operation and efficiency among various nations, cultures and civilization forms of human history.

Their common as well as individual development - the evolutionary development of the horse and its properties on the one hand and the development of the strategy and military equipment of the rider on the other hand - led to the most efficient modes and means of fighting.

The contact between the soldiers of opposing nations resulted in a careful observation of good qualities, removal of faults and taking over the best military solutions, whereby the soldier improved constantly. With the Germanic cavalry a young man only became a full-fledged adult when he joined the cavalry ranks.

The Carolingian era took over the complete heritage of Latin terminology, Germanic symbolic initiation character and the primary role of the mounted soldier because the knight with all above-mentioned qualities and additionally capable of the expensive upkeep of the horse
and armour was the only one capable of winning a victory.

In peacetime the natural rudeness and brutality of the knights turned into ugly violence with Christianity trying its utmost to prevent it (Truce of God movement, the lofty ideals of Christian knights, excommunications etc.). Gradually, Christianity changed the earlier ideals of the knighthood and led it to the path of "chivalric perfection" by serving God and the people.

Therefore it introduced the investiture (the knighting) and the preparations for knighthood comprised three seven-year periods (domestic education, pagehood, squirehood) aided by troubadour poetry, legends and chivalric romances of the time.

When in the second half of the 15th century the golden age of knighthood with its jousts and tournaments came to an end, it was due to the new image of a Christian knight that different forms of knighthood at a much more spiritual and symbolic level were preserved for centuries to come and can be encountered also nowadays.