expect to participate directly in siege situations. This could occur when a castle was under attack and crossbows were available for use by pages among the defenders. The mechanical and long-range nature of these devices made them almost the only medieval weapon which could be employed effectively by a youth. At age fourteen, the young noble could graduate to become a squire, and by age 21, perhaps a knight himself. These boys were often the scions of other great families who were sent to learn the ways of the manorial system by observation. Their residence in the house served as a goodwill gesture between the two families involved and helped them gain social and political contacts for their adult lives. A reference to this kind of page is found in the Christmas carol Good King Wenceslaus: "Hither, page, and stand by me, if thou know'st it, telling..." A page may also have shared the broad designation of quistroun with various lower-status kitchen servants such as scullions or knaves. The household page Until the early 20th century, boys of humble background might gain a similar place in a great house. According to the International Butler Academy, these pages were apprentice footmen. Unlike the hall boys, who did heavy work, these pages performed light odd-jobs and stood in attendance wearing livery when guests were being received. The decorative page During and following the Renaissance, it became fashionable for black boys and young men to be decorative pages, placed into fancy costumes and attending fashionable ladies and lords. This custom lasted for several centuries and the "African page" became a staple accoutrement of baroque and rococo style. The character is frequently illustrated in literature and film, particularly periodwork: In the Grace Kelly film To Catch a Thief, an undercover detective wears the costume of her "African page" to a costume ball. Valentine Nwanze played an "African page" attending James Graham, Marquess of Montrose in the film Rob Roy. "Koko", the fictional manservant of an opera diva, is cast as her African page in A Nut at the Opera by Maurice Vellekoop. Decorative pages feature in a drawing room scene in Persuasion. In the 2012 historical drama film A Royal Affair, Christian VII has an African page boy named Moranti. Similarly, Oriental pages were periodically in fashion, e.g. in Napoleonic France since Bonaparte's conquest of Ottoman Egypt. Modern pages While the traditional pages are