What Did Medieval Knights Actually Do All Day? (It Wasn't Just Fighting)

By Jack the Good Knight

I was midway through a walk to the village when some of the children ran up to me asking me what I was doing and what was I going to be doing later that day. They asked me if I was about to rescue someone or was heading to go and have a fight. I needed to explain to them exactly what a knight was and thought it would be useful for you too!

First: What was a knight?

We shall start at the beginning. A knight was, in the simplest terms, a professional soldier on a horse.

That sounds straightforward. It was not. Being a knight was less a job and more an entire way of life. It was very expensive, demanding, and complicated. And it started when you were approximately seven years old and didn't really stop until you were too old to lift the armour.

You didn't just decide to be a knight. You were chosen.

The Training

At around seven, a boy destined for knighthood was sent away from his family to serve in the household of a lord. This was called being a page. You learned to ride, to read, to serve at table, and to carry weapons without dropping them. You also cleaned things. A lot of things. Nobody mentions this in the films. I still know seven year olds that don't put their shoes in the shoe cupboard,they would not have been destined for knighthood.

At around fourteen, if you hadn't fallen off your horse too many times in public, you became a squire, attached to a specific knight as his assistant, armour-carrier, and horse-manager.

The armour part alone was a serious business. A full suit of plate armour weighed between 15 and 25 kilograms and had approximately forty-seven separate pieces, each of which needed to go on in exactly the right order. Get it wrong, and your knight went into battle with a vulnerable gap somewhere critical. Squires were very careful. And it should be pointed out that elite, tailored armour could cost up to a whooping US$250,000 in modern terms. It was serious business.

Then, somewhere around eighteen to twenty-one, after fifteen years of relentless training, early mornings, and heavy lifting, you were knighted. A lord or the king himself would touch a sword to each shoulder. You swore an oath.

Hey presto! Just like that, you were a knight.

What did knights do all day?

I am going to let you into a big secret, most knights were not fighting most of the time - I've never seen any of the castle knights fight, they always seem preoccupied with other things! But war happened, but it wasn't constant - not even the 100 Year War!

Which meant knights needed something to do in the considerable gaps between battles.

• They trained. Every single day. Riding, sword practice, fitness - the medieval equivalent of the gym, but with considerably more risk of someone losing a finger.

• They managed land. Most knights held land granted by a lord in return for military service. This meant overseeing farms, resolving disputes, collecting taxes, and dealing with the endless unglamorous business of making sure things worked.

• They went to tournaments. Not just entertainment, the medieval equivalent of professional sport, networking, and a job interview happening simultaneously. Prize money from a successful tournament could be substantial. Some knights made their entire careers on the circuit.

• They went on patrol. A knight was responsible for the safety of the area under his lord's authority. Riding out regularly. Checking on villages. Investigating trouble. Less dramatic than fighting a dragon. Considerably more frequent.

• They sat in councils. Senior knights were expected to advise their lords and, occasionally, the king. A great deal of sitting in large rooms, listening carefully, and saying something useful at the right moment.

And yes, they went to war when called. They fought at Hastings, Crécy, Agincourt. They crossed into the Holy Land. They did the very loud and very dangerous things that made it into the history books.

But mostly? Training, land management, tournaments, and meetings. Not entirely unlike most jobs today. Just with heavier clothing and a bit more risk of death when called to battle.

The Code:

Being a knight wasn't just about what you did. It was about how you did it. Knights were expected to follow a code called chivalry, values that governed not just their behaviour in battle but their behaviour in life. This has been built into THE GOOD KNIGHT series from the outset, but not every knight in the castle is a role model when it comes to chivalry.

The core of it never really changed:

Be brave. Face danger without flinching, not because you aren't afraid, but because you do the right thing anyway.

Be loyal. To your lord, your companions, and the people in your care.

Be honourable. Keep your word. Tell the truth. Don't take shortcuts.

Be merciful. Treat a defeated enemy with dignity. Use your strength to protect, not to punish.

The reality, of course, is that knights were human beings, and human beings don't always live up to their codes. History is full of knights who were brave and loyal and also, on occasion, complete terrors. And they will most certainly be covered in other blogs.

But the ideal mattered. It shaped what people aspired to and that is the type of knight that I try my best to be.

Join Jack's Shield Wall, the free Good Knight community newsletter, at thegoodknightbook.com/shield-wall. This month's new members receive a free Guide to Medieval Insults. Because "stop being a clodpole" deserves to be in your vocabulary.