Ok, it happened in my campaign:

One of my players is getting rich enough to desire some household knights...

I know these will cost him 4L per year each, but now what are the initial costs and who knights them?
Year is 536, so I expect only Earls and Arthur can knight a person.

If he wants to knight an old squire or family member, I suspect he needs to cough up the money himself and to have them knighted by the Earl (who will likely require some favor for the honour of knighting).
Or could he take the armor/horse he won at a tournament, along with some spare horses he plundered and give it to a family member, skip the whole celebration, do the fast pre-battle knighting (by the earl) and thus avoid paying the 'Equiping a new knight'?

Or could he take an errant knight in (without lord), thus skipping the whole equiping knight deal and just start paying the yearly maintenance? How difficult is it to find an errant knight? Like retinue, just pay 1L?

Or could he take one of his family knights (which I declared all household knights, to keep players vassal knights as most powerful in the family) into his household, thus transfering the allegiance these knights have. I suspect this would upset their original lord who paid large amounts to have them knighted. Could this upsetting be avoided by reimbursing the knighting cost or returning the equipment?

fg,
Thijs

I can't remember the knighting rules in terms of who does it at that date.

I would certainly allow the cost of knighting to be offset by any equipment the 'banneret' provides.

I think you could also just hire random household knights who are floating around. Landless knights would always be looking for employment. In reality, you would probably take on people with whom you were in some way connected. It really comes down to how much detail you want to go through or how much you want to worry about the $$. If the knights are rich and you want to burn some money, make them pay for the knighting ceremonies. If not, just let them take on existing bachelor knights.

NT

Or could he take one of his family knights (which I declared all household knights, to keep players vassal knights as most powerful in the family) into his household, thus transfering the allegiance these knights have. I suspect this would upset their original lord who paid large amounts to have them knighted. Could this upsetting be avoided by reimbursing the knighting cost or returning the equipment?


If the knights already have a liege, they can't transfer their allegiance to him, even if they are his family. They have pledged their service to that liege - it would be the height of betrayal, extremely dishonourable, to walk away from that. Bye bye Honour score.

Bear in mind, once a knight has a bunch of household knights, he is obligated to keep them. He can't knight them for a few years, dismiss them when he is short of cash, then raise new knights when he comes back into money for a few years. Previous supplements have handled this by applying an honour penalty to a liege when he dismisses knights.

To your other questions: In theory, any knight can knight someone. It would be politic to seek approval from your liege first, especially if you are knighting a bunch of knights (the liege might think you are raising an army). Though this would typically be accompanied by an increase in the knights knightly obligations (if he can afford to support more knights, he clearly isn't giving enough to his liege who ultimately owns the land). Typically, pendragon games gloss over that, and the player simply pays the cost to knight who he wants and adds the household knights to his household.

The initial costs of knighting vary with period - I think in your period it's about £30. (It's listed in the manor book.)
Who pays - it's the family of the person to be knighted who pays. This is why only the eldest son usually gets knighted - most families can't afford to knight other members.
That said, generous lieges and kings occasionally pay the cost - there is precedence in pendragon supplements for grand lords occasionally paying the cost for their subjects, in grand knighting ceremonies. It's probably the kind of thing Arthur does regularly (assuming the squires impress him with their worthiness to be knighted).

You can knight someone on the spot, without ceremony, but normally this is done only when there is pressing need: you have someone worthy of knighthood, and a a horde of saxons are at your door, for instance. At other times, going without the ceremony is being disrespectful to the person being knighted, and also disrepsectful to your own station: such ceremonies are opportunities to display your noble character through largesse, and others will lose respect for you if you skip it. If the person can't afford to be knighted, you have to pay the cost to equip them and the ceremony.

Regarding old squires/family members: not all will be competent or capable of being knighted. That said, many families have people who qualify, but can't afford it. If your group is into politics, this is an opportunity to build alliances. You can knight the brother of another knight. Of course, since they can't afford it, you'll have to pay - but that family will be in your debt.

That said, some families can afford the initial cost of knighting a family member or two - but they don't know any lieges who are willing to take on the cost of supporting extra knights. In this case, you could get some extra knights without needing to pay that initial cost. That depends on how generous your GM is - but in my experience, this is the most common approach (or the GM ignores the cost of knighting and just lets the PC add the knights to his household - same effect).

Errant knights: if you can find them, sure you can knight them. I can't see there being more than one or two of these available, who don't already have lieges. Or if they do, they might tehd to roll low loyalty scores and have personality flaws (here's probably a reason they haven't found a liege!) - good stuff for roleplaying.

So, in brief:
Most of the people available to become knights can't afford it, so you'll have to pay the cost. There are also political alliance opportunities.
Alternatively, If the GM is generous, you can get however many knights you need without paying the cost. I'd expect though that the new liege would still pay something to mark the occasion - spending a few librum on a feast, for instance, or a tournament.