Thus was emphasised at birth the parental conviction that Charles of
Burgundy was of different metal than the rest of the world. The great
duke of the Occident made a distinct epoch in the history of chivalry
when he conferred its dignities upon a speechless, unconscious infant.
The theory that knighthood was a personal acquisition had been
maintained up to this period, the Children of France[12] alone being
excepted from the rule, though in his _Lay de Vaillance_ Eustache
Deschamps complains that the degree of knighthood is actually
conferred on those who are only ten or twelve years old, and who do
not know what to do with the honour.[13] That plaint was written not
later than the first years of the fifteenth century, and the poet's
prediction that ruin of the institution was imminent when affected by
such disorders seemed justified if, in 1433, even the years of the
eligible age had shrunk to days. Philip himself had not received the
accolade until he was twenty-five.

How his predecessor in Holland, Count William VI., had acquitted
himself valiantly the moment that he was dubbed knight is told by
Froissart, and the tales of other accolades of the period are too well
known to need reference.

It is said that the baby cavalier was nourished by his own mother.
Having lost her first two infants, Isabella was solicitous for the
welfare of this third child, who also proved her last. He was,
moreover, Philip's sole legal heir, as Michelle of France and Bonne of
Artois, his first wives, had left no offspring. The care and devotion
expended on the boy were repaid. Charles became a sturdy child who
developed into youthful vigour. In person, he strangely resembled
his mother and her Portuguese ancestors, rather than the English
Lancastrians, from whom she was equally descended.