sword was publicly and ritually fixed to a young warrior’s side with a belt, was by the mid-eleventh century an important public recognition of a fighter’s competence and high status. Aristocrats of the eleventh century were, almost by definition, members of a military caste, and girding with a sword was therefore a major life moment for male members: they were passing out of adolescence, inexperience, and the civilian life into an existence in which commanding troops and fighting would be the norm.
