What was the role of religion in a knight's life during the Middle Ages?

A knight was expected to practice Christian principles, such as defending the weak and not rampaging about destroying property, violating women, and killing the innocent. The formal ceremony of attaining knighthood included a vigil in a church or chapel, during which the candidate was expected to meditate on these ideals and consecrate himself to upholding them. In fact, his armor was even placed on the altar, symbolic of the holiness he was expected to maintain.

Some knights actually lived up to such standards. The majority of them, unfortunately, more often breached them. Their much-vaunted chivalry toward women extended only to those of their own class and above, and many thought little of wholesale murder, destruction of churches, or killing people whose sole 'crime' was being in their way.

So, I suppose, it depended pretty much on the individual's own level of piety to begin with. I suspect that the knights who went through the formal ceremony tried harder to practice the ideals, whereas those who achieved knighthood in battle were somewhat less likely to do so.

Religion in Middle Age Europe is ALMOST the end-all-be-all !! The Church (there was ONE, the Holy Roman Church of Rome) ruled EVERYDAY life... they crowned kings, held almost all knowledge (almost no one could read, write, or count past their fingers other than Priests and Monks), and guided the LIFE of nobility, merchant and peasant/ serf.

A priest could threaten a knight with excommunication and eternal damnation if the knight was out of line... OR simply acting outside the desires of the priest. PEOPLE took that DAMNED seriously back then (forgive the pun).

A great book to READ if you'd like would be "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillars_of_the_Earth