Knight Errant

From HammerWiki

The Knights Errant (Singular: Knight Errant) are among the lowest of Bretonnian knights. When a young male bretonnian noble reaches his late teens he will be sent out on his Errantry Tour. The Tour is a way for the young knight to gain some genuine experience for later in his career. During the Tour he is expected to seek out perilous situations and then somehow beat them, earning his spurs and running of some of the enthusiasm so commonly seen in young knights.

To finish a Errantry Tour some incredible feat will have to be done. A storytime classic includes killing a dragon, a demon or something like it, although the deed is rarely that incredible. Commonly Knights Errant group together into regiments and join a bretonnian army, where they are almost expected to charge headlong into the most suicidal situation. While this kills of a good bunch of the young knights, the rest will (hopefully) defeat the elite troops of the enemy thus winning the battle and proving themselves.

However, proving yourself in your battle is only theoretically what is needed. To leave the position as a knight errant some bretonnian lord has to grant you a position as a noble. This can either be a fief to tend to or a position as one of his household knights, that join him on the battlefields. Some fathers dish these out to their sons barely a week after their tour started, while others have to spend years trying to do some deed and gain the attention of a noble who will then grant them their position.

If the young knight doesn't feel he has proven himself sufficiently and would like to continue his tour, it is perfectly acceptable to refuse the position granted to you from a noble. There is however one exception to this, when The King offers a position it is not possible to refuse as it is seen as a great honour. This has led some knights to go on refusing any positions offered until they are offered a royal blessing.

This system has led to an endless line of young knights trying to earn their spurs and gain a position. This can of course be used by the king, who can declare a "Errantry War". An Errantry War is essentially the king recommending young knights to do their Tour in a specific area fighting a specific enemy, thus allowing the king to channel hundreds, if not thousand of eager young knights needing to outlet their youthful enthusiasm in battle.