pease of making his son a knight, till that son had attain ed this age.• Every person who was a knight could confer the ho nours of knighthood. Some authors maintain, that pre lates and ladies had also the privilege of knighting, but this opinion is unfounded. It has been already noticed, that military investiture was originally conferred in Eng land and on the continent by the hands of the priests ; and this ceremony having been confounded with that of knighthood, has given rise to this idea. In the same manner, the initiation of the page into the rank of esquire, admitting of the presence and participation either of his father or his mother, it has been erroneously supposed that ladies could confer knighthood. There is, however, one instance of knighthood having been conferred by a lady, though, from the singularity of the circumstance, it must be regarded as of doubtful authority. Menard, in his Life of the Constable Du Guescelin, relates, that his widow girt Andrew de la Val, afterwards Marshal of France, with the sword of her husband, and made him a knight.
Whoever appeared to receive the honours of knight hood, was to be of conspicuous merit, of sufficient estate to support the dignity, and, according to the regulations of chivalry in Germany, of three noble descents by the father's side.t No person who was lame, or who labour ed under any disorder which disqualified him for warfare, however rich or noble he might be, could be made a knight.
Such were the general regulations with respect to those whom it was lawful to admit to the full honours of chivalry ; but there were exceptions. Monsieur de Quer Ion, in his Memoire sur la Chanson, gives many instances of trombadours, who followed their masters to the wars, having been knighted ; and we have the testimony of Glanville, that in England, during the reign of Henry LI. enfranchised villains, born in servitude, were some times knighted.
Esquires were raised to the rank of knights either in time of peace or war ; the ceremonies usual during the latter were comparatively simple and short ; those em ployed in times of peace were minute, solemn, splendid, and magnificent. The occasions on which knighthood was most commonly conferred, during peace, were the high feasts of the church, especially Pentecost ; the pro claiming of peace, or a truce ; the coronation of kings ; the birth and baptisms of the royal family ; the days when princes themselves were made knights ; on their mar riages; and at tournaments.
The esquire prepared himself for the honour he was about to receive, by rigid fasting, and passing the night in prayers, along with the priest and his sponsors, in a church, where his arms were hung up. As a type of the purity of manners which would be required of him, he clothed himself in white, after having performed his ab lutions in a bath. A full and solemn confession of his sins, a serious attention to a discourse, in which the du tics of chivalry, and the articles of his religious faith, were detailed and enforced, completed the preliminary part of the ceremony. When this was performed, he again entered the church with his sword slung on his shoulder ; taking it off, he presented it to the priest, who consecrated it, and returned it to him ; immediately after this the novice received the communion ; then with clasped hands he threw himself on his knees before the person who was to confer the honour of knighthood, and delivered him his sword. A number of questions were put to him : he was asked, What were his views and motives in entering on the order of chivalry ? \Vhether he had any object but the maintenance of its honour, and the support of religion ? If his replies were satisfactory, the efficient and final ceremonies began. The novice received from the hands of the knights—sometimes from those of the ladies—all the insignia of chivalry. One ap proached him, and put on his spurs ; in ancient times putting on the left spur first ; afterwards the custom was changed, and the right spur was put on first. After his spurs were put on, another knight or lady clothed him in his coat of mail, his cuirass, and the other parts of his armour. The last thing that was given him was his
sword ; this was deemed the most essential part of the ceremony. He was dubbed (adoube)t in this manner, still continuing on his knees. The person who confirmed the order then rose from his seat, approached the novice, and bestowed on him the accolade ; this consisted, generally, of three blows with the flat side of the naked sword on the shoulder, or on the neck of the novice ; sometimes it was bestowed by a blow with the palm of the band on the cheek. The meaning of the accolade has been dif ferently interpreted ; some regard it " as an emblem of the last affront which it was lawful for him to endure ;" others as borrowed from the mode which the Romans practised, when they manumitted their slaves ; and others as a warning of the difficulties and dangers to which, in the discharge of the duties he had undertaken, he would necessarily be exposed. When the accolade was bestow ed, the person conferring the order pronounced him a knight, in the name of God, of St George, and of St Michael the archangel; sometimes counselling him to be brave, undaunted, and loyal. When he leaves the church, or the place where the ceremony has been per formed, a horse is brought him, which he mounts, and with drawn sword and brandished lance, exhibits himself fully equipped, in the most frequented and public part of the village. As soon as he is recognised by the po pulace, they shout and dance around him, thus proclaim ing their joy at having acquired a new protector. When several were made knights at the same time, it was usual for them to make their horses prance, and wheel in time with the dances of the populace. This M. de St Palaye supposes to have been the origin of the fetes or ballets a cheval, which were common at the French court, even in the time of Brantome.§ There was some variation in these ceremonies at dif ferent periods, and in different countries. On occasions of simple military investiture, and probably also in the ruder ages of chivalry, the person who officiated kissed the new knight on the left cheek, when he gave him the belt ; this was called the kiss of peace. Afterwards, an embrace was given instead of the kiss ; and from this cir cumstance, the term accolade is evidently borrowed. In Spain, the kiss and blow were sometimes given, with these words, " Awake, and sleep not in affairs of knight hood," or, " God assist you in the performance of your promise." Sometimes, out of honour to the person knighted, as in the case of the Cid, the blow was omit ted ; and sometimes the blow only was given. In time of war and actual service, the occasions and opportunities for conferring the order of chivalry were very frequent and numerous. When the army entered on hostile terri tory, during their march, and even sometimes during their retreat ; when it was necessary to force the passage of a river or bridge, before an assault or battle, and at their termination, the honour of knighthood was confer red on many esquires. It was a point much discussed among knights, and in books of chivalry, whether it was more proper and more honourable to confer knighthood before battle or after it : if it were conferred before bat tle, it served to rouse and animate the courage of the new knight, who was always placed in the front rank, or in the post of danger, and who considered himself bound to prove that he was worthy of the promotion that he had received. But as it happened, sometimes, that the battle, on the supposed eve of which the knights were made, did not take place, the honour was conferred on those, who neither had distinguished themselves, nor had an opportunity of doing so.* Brantome therefore, and other valiant and experienced chevaliers, were of opinion, that the honour should be conferred after the battle, when the esquire had shewn himself worthy of obtaining it, and when no circumstance could take place, which could make him be regarded by his fellow knights as a person of untried valour and merit.