Tag: page

A page or page boy is a traditionally young male servant, but may also have be used for a messenger at the service of a nobleman or an apprentice knight. The origin of the term is uncertain, but may either from the Latin pagius (servant), possibly linked to peasant or an earlier Greek word παῖς (pais = child)
In medieval times, a page was an attendant to a knight; an apprentice squire. A young boy served as a page for about seven years, running messages, serving, cleaning, and even learning the basics of combat, and the lord he was working for would usually treat him fairly but they went through intensive training. The lord sometimes gave the page private combat training from the age of seven until he was fourteen. At age fourteen, he could graduate to become a squire, and by age 21, perhaps a knight himself. Similar pages served in castles and great houses, fetching things and running messages for aristocrats and royalty. These boys were often the scions of other great families who…