Which statement about knights in Norman England is accurate?

• A. They were granted small amounts of land - Similar to a peasant.
• B. They were powerful and nobles trained their sons to become knights from a young age.
• C. 6000 knights in England.
• D. The role was to guard their land and provide 40 days of knight service to the king.

Answer: (D)

In Norman England, knights were part of the feudal system: they held land in exchange for military service to their lord, up the chain to the king. The core idea is that a knight’s duty was to defend the lord’s land and, when needed, fight for the king. The statement captures this by describing a knight’s role as guarding land and performing a defined amount of military service to the king—often described as about 40 days of knight service. This reflects how feudal obligations worked: a knight wasn’t living as a full-time soldier year-round, but was a landholder whose primary military obligation was to serve for a portion of the year, sustaining the realm and the lord’s territory.

The other options aren’t as representative of the typical knight’s position. Knights did not usually hold only peasants’-land-sized plots; they were landholders of substantial estates and noble status. The exact number of knights in England isn’t fixed at 6,000, and while nobles did train their sons to become knights, that practice describes social preparation rather than the essential duty of knights in the feudal system.