In the Middle Ages one was not born a knight: one became one through a rite called dubbing, in Old French adouber, "to arm", "to equip". Over the centuries this gesture, at first almost purely practical, was enriched with religious and symbolic meanings until it became a genuine initiation into a state of life.
From arms to rite
In the Germanic societies of the early Middle Ages, giving arms to a young man was already a sign of his entry into adulthood and the community of warriors. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, with the spread of knighthood, the handing over took on a more definite form. The oldest sources describe simple gestures:
- the sword belt, the cingulum militiae, girded around the new knight's waist;
- spurs fastened to his heels;
- sometimes a blow, called in French colée or paumée, struck with the hand on the neck or nape.
The blow is one of the most debated elements: some interpret it as a test, others as a sign to be remembered for life, the last blow received without being able to return it.
A twelfth-century example
One of the most detailed accounts concerns Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, knighted at Rouen in 1128. The chronicler John of Marmoutier describes the bath, the garments of linen and silk, the gift of precious arms and a horse, and the celebrations that followed. Here already appear elements that would become characteristic: purification, new clothing, arms, feasting.
The rite becomes liturgy
During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the Church became ever more involved in the rite. Formulas for blessing the sword spread, then a true liturgical rite for blessing the new knight, included in bishops' books. The knight was no longer only an armed warrior, but a man called to protect the Church, widows, orphans and the weak.
Ramon Llull's description
The text that best expresses the symbolic meaning of dubbing is the Book of the Order of Chivalry by the Catalan philosopher Ramon Llull, written in the second half of the thirteenth century. Llull describes a rite in several stages.
- Fasting and confession. The squire who is to receive knighthood fasts and confesses.
- The vigil. The night before, he remains in church in prayer and contemplation: this is the famous vigil of arms.
- Mass and sermon. In the morning he attends Mass; a sermon is preached on the articles of faith and the duties of a knight.
- The handing over. The knight who arms him girds on his sword and kisses him; the arms are delivered to him.
- The feast. A public celebration follows, with banquets and tournaments.
Llull also gives a moral meaning to each weapon. The sword, shaped like a cross, reminds the knight that he must defend justice; the lance represents truth; the helmet the sense of shame that holds one back from base deeds; the shield the office of protecting one's lord and the weak.
The bath
The purifying bath, attested in some sources, was interpreted in later centuries as a true moral cleansing. The memory of this element survived curiously in England: the Order of the Bath, established in 1725, took its name precisely from the ritual bath that, according to tradition, knights took before investiture.
Collective dubbings
Knights were often armed in groups, on great religious feasts such as Pentecost, at princely weddings or before a battle. In these cases dubbing was also a political act: the lord who armed many young men bound a new generation of men-at-arms to himself.
The structure of the passage
| Stage | Gestures |
|---|---|
| Separation | Fasting, confession, bath, new clothes |
| Margin | Night vigil in church before the arms |
| Aggregation | Handing over of sword and spurs, blow, feast |
The vigil of arms is the liminal moment par excellence: the young man is no longer a squire and not yet a knight. He stays alone, at night, in silence, before the arms laid on the altar.
From rite to ideal
With the decline of knighthood as a military force, dubbing survived in orders of chivalry and honours. Its symbolic language, made of vigil, purification, the handing over of an object and an oath, deeply influenced many modern initiatory associations, which saw in it a model of inner transformation.
In short
- Dubbing was the rite by which a young man was made a knight.
- The oldest forms included the sword belt, the spurs and sometimes a blow on the neck.
- In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the rite was enriched with bath, vigil and liturgical blessings.
- Ramon Llull gave a moral meaning to each of the knight's weapons.
- The vigil of arms represents the liminal moment between the condition of squire and that of knight.
