Meister der Manessischen Liederhandschrift 001

Chivalry, or the chivalric language, is an informal and varying

code of conduct A code of conduct is a set of rules outlining the social norm, norms, rules, and responsibilities or proper practices of an individual party or an organization. Companies' codes of conduct A company code of conduct is a set of rules which is comm ...

that developed in Europe between 1170 and 1220. It is associated with the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

institution of

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

hood, with knights being members of various

chivalric order An order of chivalry, order of knighthood, chivalric order, or equestrian order is a society, fellowship and college of knights, typically founded during or inspired by the original Catholic military orders of the Crusades ( 1099–1291) and pai ...

s, and with knights' and gentlemen's behaviours which were governed by chivalrous social codes. The ideals of chivalry were popularized in

medieval literature Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages (that is, the one thousand years from the fall of the Western Roman Empire ca. AD 500 to the beginning of t ...

, particularly the literary cycles known as the

Matter of France The Matter of France (), also known as the Carolingian cycle, is a body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with the history of France, in particular involving Charlemagne and the Paladins. The cycle springs from the Old Fr ...

, relating to the legendary companions of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

and his

men-at-arms A man-at-arms was a soldier of the High Medieval to Renaissance periods who was typically well-versed in the use of arms and served as a fully-armoured heavy cavalryman. A man-at-arms could be a knight, or other nobleman, a member of a kni ...

, the

paladins The Paladins, also called the Twelve Peers (), are twelve legendary knights, the foremost members of Charlemagne's court in the 8th century. They first appear in the medieval (12th century) ''chanson de geste'' cycle of the Matter of France, wh ...

, and the

Matter of Britain The Matter of Britain (; ; ; ) is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the list of legendary kings of Britain, legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Art ...

, informed by

Geoffrey of Monmouth Geoffrey of Monmouth (; ; ) was a Catholic cleric from Monmouth, Wales, and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur. He is best known for his chronicle '' The History of ...

's , written in the 1130s, which popularized the legend of

King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...

and his

knights of the Round Table The Knights of the Round Table (, , ) are the legendary knights of the fellowship of King Arthur that first appeared in the Matter of Britain literature in the mid-12th century. The Knights are a chivalric order dedicated to ensuring the peace ...

. The code of chivalry that developed in medieval Europe had its roots in earlier centuries. It arose in the

Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–887) was a Franks, Frankish-dominated empire in Western and Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as List of Frankish kings, kings of the Franks since ...

from the idealisation of the

cavalryman Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...

—involving military bravery, individual training, and service to others—especially in

Francia The Kingdom of the Franks (), also known as the Frankish Kingdom, or just Francia, was the largest History of the Roman Empire, post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks, Frankish Merovingian dynasty, Merovingi ...

, among horse soldiers in

's cavalry. Over time, the meaning of chivalry in Europe has been refined to emphasize more general social and moral virtues. The code of chivalry, as it stood by the

Late Middle Ages The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...

, was a moral system which combined a warrior ethos,

knightly piety Knightly Piety refers to a specific strand of Christian belief espoused by knights during the Middle Ages. The term comes from ''Ritterfrömmigkeit'', coined by Adolf Waas in his book ''Geschichte der Kreuzzüge''. Many scholars debate the importanc ...

, and courtly manners, all combining to establish a notion of

honour Honour (Commonwealth English) or honor (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is a quality of a person that is of both social teaching and personal ethos, that manifests itself ...

and

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

Terminology and definitions

The term "chivalry" derives from the

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th horse soldiery". Originally, the term referred only to horse-mounted men, from the French word for horse, , but later it became associated with knightly ideals. The French word originally meant "a man of aristocratic standing, and probably of noble ancestry, who is capable, if called upon, of equipping himself with a war horse and the arms of heavy cavalryman and who has been through certain rituals that make him what he is." Therefore, during the Middle Ages, the plural (transformed in English into the word "chivalry") originally denoted the body of heavy cavalry upon formation in the field. In English, the term appears from 1292 (note that ''cavalry'' is from the Italian form of the same word). The meaning of the term evolved over time into a broader sense, because in the Middle Ages the meaning of changed from the original concrete military meaning "status or fee associated with a military follower owning a

war horse The first evidence of horses in warfare dates from Eurasia between 4000 and 3000 BC. A Sumerian illustration of warfare from 2500 BC depicts some type of equine pulling wagons. By 1600 BC, improved harness and chariot design ...

" or "a group of mounted knights" to the ideal of the Christian warrior ethos propagated in the

romance Romance may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings ** Romantic orientation, the classification of the sex or gender with which a pers ...

genre, which was becoming popular during the 12th century, and the ideal of

courtly love Courtly love ( ; ) was a medieval European literary conception of love that emphasized nobility and chivalry. Medieval literature is filled with examples of knights setting out on adventures and performing various deeds or services for ladies b ...

propagated in the contemporary

Minnesang (; "love song") was a tradition of German lyric- and song-writing that flourished in the Middle High German period (12th to 14th centuries). The name derives from '' minne'', the Middle High German word for love, as that was ''Minnesangs m ...

and related genres. The ideas of chivalry are summarized in three medieval works: the anonymous poem '' Ordene de chevalerie'', which tells the story of how Hugh II of Tiberias was captured and released upon his agreement to show

Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...

(1138–1193) the ritual of Christian

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

; the ''Libre del ordre de cavayleria'', written by

Ramon Llull Ramon Llull (; ; – 1316), sometimes anglicized as ''Raymond Lully'', was a philosopher, theologian, poet, missionary, Christian apologist and former knight from the Kingdom of Majorca. He invented a philosophical system known as the ''Art ...

(1232–1315), from

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

, whose subject is knighthood; and the Livre de Chevalerie of

Geoffroi de Charny Geoffroi de Charny ({{circa, 1306 – 19 September 1356) was the third son of Jean de Charny, the lord of Charny (then a major Burgundian fortress), and Marguerite de Joinville, daughter of Jean de Joinville, the biographer and close friend of Fran ...

(1300–1356), which examines the qualities of knighthood, emphasizing ''prowess''. None of the authors of these three texts knew the other two texts, and the three combine to depict a general concept of chivalry which is not precisely in harmony with any of them. To different degrees and with different details, they speak of chivalry as a way of life in which the military, the nobility, and religion combine. The "code of chivalry" is thus a product of the

, evolving after the end of the

crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

partly from an idealization of the historical knights fighting in the Holy Land and from ideals of courtly love.

Ten Commandments of Chivalry

Pioneering French literary historian

Léon Gautier Léon Gautier is the name of: *Léon Gautier (historian) (1832–1897), French literary historian *Léon Gautier (soldier) (1922–2023), French soldier, D-day veteran {{hndis, Gautier, Leon ...

compiled what he called the medieval Ten Commandments of chivalry in his book ''La Chevalerie'' (1884): # Thou shalt believe all that the Church teaches and thou shalt observe all its directions. # Thou shalt defend the Church. # Thou shalt respect all weaknesses, and shalt constitute thyself the defender of them. # Thou shalt love the country in which thou wast born. # Thou shalt not

recoil Recoil (often called knockback, kickback or simply kick) is the rearward thrust generated when a gun is being discharged. In technical terms, the recoil is a result of conservation of momentum, for according to Newton's third law the force requ ...

before thine enemy. # Thou shalt make war against the infidel without cessation and without mercy. # Thou shalt perform scrupulously thy feudal duties, if they be not contrary to the laws of God. # Thou shalt never lie, and shalt remain faithful to thy pledged word. # Thou shalt be generous, and give largesse to everyone. # Thou shalt be everywhere and always the champion of the Right and the Good against Injustice and Evil. In fact, there is no such medieval list. Gautier's effort was a series of moral bullet points he abstracted from his broad reading of 12th and 13th century romances.

Literary chivalry and historical reality

Supporters of chivalry have assumed since the late medieval period that there was a time in the past when chivalry was a living institution, when men acted chivalrously, the imitation of which period would much improve the present. However, with the birth of modern historical and literary research, scholars have found that however far back in time "The Age of Chivalry" is searched for, it is always further in the past, even back to the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. From

Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi, also known as Jean Charles Leonard Simonde de Sismondi (; 9 May 1773 – 25 June 1842), whose real surname was Simonde, was a Swiss historian and political economist, who is best known for his works on French ...

We must not confound chivalry with the
feudal system Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structuring socie ...
. The feudal system may be called the real life of the period of which we are treating, possessing its advantages and inconveniences, its virtues and its vices. Chivalry, on the contrary, is the ideal world, such as it existed in the imaginations of the
romance Romance may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings ** Romantic orientation, the classification of the sex or gender with which a pers ...
writers. Its essential character is devotion to woman and to honour.

Sismondi alludes to the fictitious

Arthurian romance The Matter of Britain (; ; ; ) is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. The 12th-century writer Geoffr ...

s about the imaginary Court of King Arthur when taken as factual presentations of a historical age of chivalry. He continues:

The more closely we look into history, the more clearly shall we perceive that the system of chivalry is an invention almost entirely poetical. It is impossible to distinguish the countries in which it is said to have prevailed. It is always represented as distant from us both in time and place, and whilst the contemporary historians give us a clear, detailed, and complete account of the vices of the court and the great, of the ferocity or corruption of the nobles, and of the servility of the people, we are astonished to find the poets, after a long lapse of time, adorning the very same ages with the most splendid fictions of grace, virtue, and loyalty. The romance writers of the twelfth century placed the age of chivalry in the time of Charlemagne. The period when these writers existed, is the time pointed out by Francis I. At the present day bout 1810 we imagine we can still see chivalry flourishing in the persons of Du Guesclin and
Bayard Bayard may refer to: People *Bayard (given name) * Bayard (surname) *Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard (1473–1524) French knight Places Antarctica * Bayard Islands, off the coast of Graham Land, Antarctica Canada * Bayard, Saskatch ...
, under
Charles V Charles V may refer to: Kings and Emperors * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise Others * Charles V, Duke ...
and Francis I. But when we come to examine either the one period or the other, although we find in each some heroic spirits, we are forced to confess that it is necessary to antedate the age of chivalry, at least three or four centuries before any period of authentic history.

History

Europe before 1170: Courtliness and the noble ''habitus''

Prior to codified chivalry, there was the uncodified code of noble conduct that focused on the , which can be translated as a wise, honest, and sensible man. This uncodified code—referred to as the noble —is a term for the environment of behavioural and material expectations generated by all societies and classes. As a modern idea, it was pioneered by the French philosopher/sociologists

Pierre Bourdieu Pierre Bourdieu (, ; ; ; 1 August 1930 – 23 January 2002) was a French sociologist and public intellectual. Bourdieu's contributions to the sociology of education, the theory of sociology, and sociology of aesthetics have achieved wide influ ...

and

Maurice Merleau-Ponty Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty. ( ; ; 14 March 1908 – 3 May 1961) was a French phenomenological philosopher, strongly influenced by Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. The constitution of meaning in human experience was his main interes ...

, even though a precedent exists for the concept as far back as the works of Aristotle. Crouch in 2019 argued that the on which "the superstructure of chivalry" was built and the was a part, were recognised by contemporaries as components of ''courtoisie'' (from Latin ''curialitas'') which was defined as superior conduct appropriate to the aristocratic hall (''court'' or ''curia''). He saw it as being taught within the confines of the hall by its senior figures to youths confided to the lord and his household for their social upbringing. Crouch suggested courtliness had existed long before 1100 and preceded the codified medieval noble conduct we call chivalry, which he sees as beginning between 1170 and 1220. The pre-chivalric noble as discovered by Mills and Gautier and elaborated by Stephen Jaeger and David Crouch are as follows: # Loyalty: It is a practical utility in a warrior nobility. Richard Kaeuper associates loyalty with ''prowess''. The importance of reputation for loyalty in noble conduct is demonstrated in . # Forbearance: knights' self-control towards other warriors and at the courts of their lords was a part of the early noble as shown in the of Hugh de Lusignan in the 1020s. The nobility of mercy and forbearance was well established by the second half of the 12th century long before there was any code of chivalry. # Hardiness: Historians and social anthropologists documented that in the early stages of 'proto-chivalry,' physical resilience and prowess in warfare were almost prerequisites for chivalry-associated knighthood. For warriors, regardless of origin, displaying exceptional physical prowess on the battlefield often led to attaining noble-knightly status or immediate nobilitation. To deliver a powerful blow in Arthurian literature almost always certifies the warrior's nobility. This view was supported by formal chivalric authorities and commentators: the anonymous author of ''La vraye noblesse'' states that a person of 'low degree' with martial bearing should be elevated to nobility by the prince or civic authority, "even though he be not rich or of noble lineage". Scholastic analyst Richard Kaeuper summarizes the matter: "A knight's nobility or worth is proved by his hearty strokes in battle". The virtue of hardiness, aligned with forbearance and loyalty, was a key military virtue of the . According to Philip de Navarra, a mature nobleman should possess hardiness as part of his moral virtues. Geoffrey de Charny also underscored the importance of hardiness as a masculine virtue tied to religious sentiments of . # Largesse or Liberality: generosity was part of a noble quantity. According to

Alan of Lille Alain de Lille (Alan of Lille; Latin: ''Alanus ab Insulis''; 11281202/1203) was a French theologian and poet. He was born in Lille some time before 1128. His exact date of death remains unclear as well, with most research pointing toward it bein ...

, largesse was not just a simple matter of giving away what he had, but " in a man caused him to set no store on greed or gifts, and to have nothing but contempt for bribes." # The Davidic ethic: encompasses the noble qualities of derived by clerics from Biblical tradition. This concept aligns with the classical Aristotelian notion of the "magnanimous personality" and the early Germanic and Norse tradition of the war-band leader as a heroic figure. The Christian-Davidic guardian-protector role of warrior-leadership emerged from the Frankish church to legitimize authority based on ethical commitment to safeguarding the vulnerable, ensuring justice for widows and orphans, and firmly opposing cruelty and injustice by those in power. This opposition extended to sub-princely magistrates and even monarchs who violated ethical principles of or . At the heart of the Davidic ethic lies the idea of the strong demonstrating benevolence towards the weak. John of Salisbury imbibed this lineage of philosophico-clerical, chivalric justifications of power, and describes the ideal enforcer of the Davidic ethic in this way: # Honour:

was achieved by living up to the ideal of the and pursuing the qualities and behaviour listed above.

Maurice Keen Maurice Hugh Keen (30 October 1933 – 11 September 2012) was a British historian specializing in the Middle Ages. Life Keen's father had been the Oxford University head of finance ('Keeper of the University Chest') and a fellow of Balliol Col ...

notes the most damning, irreversible mode of "demoting" one's honorific status, again humanly through contemporary eyes, consisted in displaying pusillanimous conduct on the battlefield. The loss of honour is a humiliation to a man's standing and is worse than death.

Bertran de Born Bertran de Born (; 1140s – by 1215) was a baron from the Limousin in France, and one of the major Occitan troubadours of the 12th-13th century. He composed love songs (cansos) but was better known for his political songs (sirventes). He ...

said: "For myself I prefer to hold a little piece of land in ''onor'', than to hold a great empire with dishonor". From the 12th century onward, chivalry came to be understood as a moral, religious, and social code of knightly conduct. The particulars of the code varied, but codes would emphasise the virtues of courage, honour, and service. Chivalry also came to refer to an idealisation of the life and manners of the knight at home in his castle and with his court. The code of chivalry, as it was known during the late medieval age, developed between 1170 and 1220.

The Crisis of Courtliness and Rise of Chivalry

Courtliness remained a recognised form of superior conduct in medieval European society throughout the middle ages. Courtly behaviour was expected of all aristocrats and its norms were integrated into chivalric literature. But as Crouch demonstrated courtliness (unlike chivalry) was not confined to noble society. There are examples of servants, merchants, clergy and free peasants being commended for their 'courtly' behaviour in medieval literature. His explanation for the appearance of chivalry as a recognisable and prescriptive code of behaviour is tied into the more exclusive definition of nobility that appears in the late 12th century. This had a particular impact on the professional horse warrior, the knight. Retained knights were a prominent feature of the households of barons, counts and princes, and were thought to be proper associates of their lords. As such knights adopted the fashions and behaviours of their lords. In many cases knights were often drawn from the younger sons of noble families so they would regard themselves as being noble too, if less noble than their lords. Crouch locates the tipping point of the nobilising of the knight as in the households of the sons of King Henry II of England, and in particular his eldest son, the

Henry the Young King Henry the Young King (28 February 1155 – 11 June 1183) was the eldest son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine to survive childhood. In 1170, he became titular King of England, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Maine. Henry th ...

(died 1183). Young Henry lived a lavish lifestyle of unprecedented expense focussed on the great northern French tourneying society of the 1170s and 1180s. Since Young Henry had no domains to rule, his father was willing to fund the itinerant playboy lifestyle of his son to distract him from meddling in his realms, and also to stake a claim to the cultural high ground over the other European princes of the day. Young Henry was nonetheless heavily criticised for his wasteful and hedonistic life, and Crouch finds it significant that the first known work which used the knight as a moral exemplar and as a definitive nobleman, the ''De Re Militari'' of

Ralph Niger Ralph Niger, Latin Radulphus Niger or Radulfus Niger, anglicized Ralph the Black (c. 1140 – c. 1199), was an Anglo-French theologian and one of the English chroniclers. Little is known about Niger's early life. From around 1160 to 1166, he s ...

(c. 1187) was written by the young man's former chaplain, in part as a moral defence of the knightly lifestyle. Crouch suggests another reason why chivalry coalesced as a noble code in the late 12th century in his analysis of conduct literature. He suggests that the courtly habitus underwent a crisis as its moral failure became obvious to writers, particularly in the materialism that motivated courtly society. Crouch sees the ''Roman des Eles'' of the poet-knight Raoul de Houdenc, as a critique of courtliness and its failures. Raoul's solution is to focus moral eminence on the figure of the knight, who is to be the avatar of a new moral nobility, set above all other males. A knight was to eschew materialism (''envie'') and to embrace noble generosity (''largesce'').

Themes of chivalric literature

, chivalry can be classified into three overlapping areas: #Duties to countrymen and fellow Christians: this includes mercy, courage, valour, fairness, protection of the weak and the poor, and the servant-hood of the knight to his lord. This also includes being willing to give one's life for another's; whether for a poor man or his lord. #Duties to God: this includes being faithful to God, protecting the innocent, being faithful to the church, being the champion of good against evil, being generous, and obeying God above the feudal lord. #Duties to women: this is probably the most familiar aspect of chivalry. This includes what is often called courtly love—the idea that the knight is to serve a lady, and after her all other ladies—and a general gentleness and graciousness to all women. Different weight given to different areas produced different strands of chivalry: ;warrior chivalry: in which a knight's chief duty is to his lord, as exemplified by Sir

Gawain Gawain ( ), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Matter of Britain, Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and one of the premier Knights of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned und ...

in ''

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' is a late 14th-century chivalric romance in Middle English alliterative verse. The author is unknown; the title was given centuries later. It is one of the best-known Arthurian stories, with its plot comb ...

'' and '' The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle'' ;religious chivalry: in which a knight's chief duty is to protect the innocent and serve God, as exemplified by Sir

Galahad Galahad (), sometimes referred to as Galeas () or Galath (), among other versions of his name (originally ''Galaad'', ''Galaaz'', or ''Galaaus''), is a knight of King Arthur's Round Table and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Ar ...

or Sir

Percival Perceval (, also written Percival, Parzival, Parsifal), alternatively called Peredur (), is a figure in the legend of King Arthur, often appearing as one of the Knights of the Round Table. First mentioned by the French author Chrétien de Tr ...

in the Grail legends ;courtly love chivalry: in which a knight's chief duty is to his own lady, and after her, all ladies, as exemplified by Sir

Lancelot Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), alternatively written as Launcelot and other variants, is a popular character in the Matter of Britain, Arthurian legend's chivalric romance tradition. He is typically depicted as King Arthu ...

in his love for Queen

Guinevere Guinevere ( ; ; , ), also often written in Modern English as Guenevere or Guenever, was, according to Arthurian legend, an early-medieval queen of Great Britain and the wife of King Arthur. First mentioned in literature in the early 12th cen ...

or Sir

Tristan Tristan (Latin/ Brythonic: ''Drustanus''; ; ), also known as Tristran or Tristram and similar names, is the folk hero of the legend of Tristan and Iseult. While escorting the Irish princess Iseult to wed Tristan's uncle, King Mark of ...

in his love for

Iseult Iseult ( ), alternatively Isolde ( ) and other spellings, is the name of several characters in the legend of Tristan and Iseult. The most prominent is Iseult the Blonde, or Iseult of Ireland, the wife of Mark of Cornwall and the lover of Trista ...

Origins in military ethos

Emerging with the

's character and the chivalric ethos were novel elements: revised social status, innovative military tactics, and fresh literary themes. Chivalric codes encompassed regulations such as pledging loyalty to the overlord and upholding warfare rules. These rules dictated refraining from attacking a defenseless opponent and prioritizing the capture of fellow nobles for later ransom instead of immediate harm, akin to adhering to a perceived codified law. The chivalric ideals are based on those of the early medieval warrior class, and martial exercise and military virtue remain integral parts of chivalry until the end of the medieval period, as the reality on the battlefield changed with the development of

Early Modern warfare Early modern warfare is the era of warfare during early modern period following medieval warfare. It is associated with the start of the widespread use of gunpowder and the development of suitable weapons to use the explosive, including art ...

, and increasingly restricted it to the tournament ground and

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people with matched weapons. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and later the small sword), but beginning in ...

ling culture. The

joust Jousting is a medieval and renaissance martial game or hastilude between two combatants either on horse or on foot. The joust became an iconic characteristic of the knight in Romantic medievalism. The term is derived from Old French , ultim ...

remained the primary example of knightly display of martial skill throughout the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

(the last Elizabethan

Accession Day tilt The Accession Day tilts were a series of elaborate festivities held annually at the court of Elizabeth I of England to celebrate her Accession Day, 17 November, also known as Queene's Day. The tilts combined theatre, theatrical elements w ...

was held in 1602). The martial skills of the knight carried over to the practice of the hunt, and hunting expertise became an important aspect of courtly life in the later medieval period (see terms of venery). Related to chivalry was the practice of

heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and genealo ...

and its elaborate rules of displaying coats of arms as it emerged in the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history between and ; it was preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended according to historiographical convention ...

Chivalry and Christianity

Christianity had a modifying influence on the classical concept of heroism and virtue, nowadays identified with the virtues of chivalry. The

Peace and Truce of God The Peace and Truce of God () was a movement in the Middle Ages led by the Catholic Church and was one of the most influential mass peace movements in history. The goal of both the ''Pax Dei'' and the ''Treuga Dei'' was to limit the violence o ...

in the 10th century was one such example, which placed limits on knights to protect and honour the weaker members of society and also help the church maintain peace. At the same time the church became more tolerant of war in the defence of faith, espousing theories of the

just war The just war theory () is a doctrine, also referred to as a tradition, of military ethics that aims to ensure that a war is morally justifiable through a series of criteria, all of which must be met for a war to be considered just. It has bee ...

; and

liturgies Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a community, communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, ...

were introduced which blessed a knight's sword, . In the

Grail The Holy Grail (, , , ) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miraculous healing powers, sometimes providing eternal youth or sustenanc ...

romances and ''Chevalier au Cygne'', it was the ethos of the Christian knighthood that its way of life was to please God, and chivalry was an order of God. Chivalry as a Christian vocation combined Teutonic heroic values with the militant tradition of

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

The first noted support for chivalric vocation, or the establishment of a knightly class to ensure the sanctity and legitimacy of Christianity, was written in 930 by Odo, abbot of

Cluny Cluny () is a commune in the eastern French department of Saône-et-Loire, in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. It is northwest of Mâcon. The town grew up around the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, founded by Duke William I of Aquitaine in ...

, in the ''Vita of St. Gerald of Aurillac'', which argued that the sanctity of Christ and Christian doctrine can be demonstrated through the legitimate unsheathing of the "sword against the enemy". In the 11th century the concept of a "knight of Christ" () gained currency in France, Spain, and Italy. These concepts of "religious chivalry" were further elaborated in the era of the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

, with the Crusades themselves often seen as a chivalrous enterprise. The military orders of the crusades which developed in this period came to be seen as the earliest flowering of chivalry, and some of their opponents like

were likewise depicted as chivalrous adversaries. It remains unclear to what extent the notable military figures of this period—such as Saladin,

Godfrey of Bouillon Godfrey of Bouillon (; ; ; ; 1060 – 18 July 1100) was a preeminent leader of the First Crusade, and the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1099 to 1100. Although initially reluctant to take the title of king, he agreed to rule as pri ...

William Marshal William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1146 or 1147 – 14 May 1219), also called William the Marshal (Norman French: ', French: '), was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman during High Medieval England who served five English kings: Henry ...

, or

Bertrand du Guesclin Bertrand du Guesclin (; 1320 – 13 July 1380), nicknamed "The Eagle of Brittany" or "The Black Dog of Brocéliande", was a Breton knight and an important military commander on the French side during the Hundred Years' War. From 1370 to his ...

—actually did set new standards of knightly behaviour, or to what extent they merely behaved according to existing models of conduct which came in retrospect to be interpreted along the lines of the "chivalry" ideal of the Late Middle Ages. Nevertheless, chivalry and crusades were not the same thing. While the crusading ideology had largely influenced the ethic of chivalry during its formative times, chivalry itself was related to a whole range of martial activities and aristocratic values which had no necessary linkage with crusading. The

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

was venerated by multiple chivalric orders, including the

Teutonic Knights The Teutonic Order is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to t ...

, who honored her as their patroness. The medieval development of chivalry, with the concept of the honour of a lady and the ensuing knightly devotion to it, not only derived from the thinking about Mary, but also contributed to it. Although women were at times viewed as the source of evil, it was Mary who as mediator to God was a source of refuge for man. The development of medieval

Mariology Mariology is the Christian theological study of Mary, mother of Jesus. Mariology seeks to relate doctrine or dogma about Mary to other doctrines of the faith, such as those concerning Jesus and notions about redemption, intercession and g ...

and the changing attitudes towards women paralleled each other.

Influence of the Moors and Romans

The works of Roman poets like

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

and

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

bore some similarities to the typical depiction of romance in chivalric literature during the Middle Ages. In Ovid's works, lovers "became sleepless, grew pale, and lost their appetite," while Cicero's works celebrated the "ennobling power of love". Some scholars also point to the romantic poetry of the Arabs as antecedents to the depiction of courtly love in medieval European literature. In the works of the Cordoban author

Ibn Hazm Ibn Hazm (; November 994 – 15 August 1064) was an Andalusian Muslim polymath, historian, traditionist, jurist, philosopher, and theologian, born in the Córdoban Caliphate, present-day Spain. Described as one of the strictest hadith interpre ...

, for example, "lovers develop passions for slave boys as well as girls, interchangeably, and the slave is recognized as now the master of his beloved." Ibn Hazm's ''

The Ring of the Dove ''The Ring of the Dove'' or ''Ṭawq al-Ḥamāmah'' ()Hitti, p. 58 is a treatise on love written in the year 1022 by Ibn Hazm. Normally a writer of theology and law, Ibn Hazm produced his only work of literature with ''The Ring of the Dove''. H ...

'' is a noteworthy depiction of a lover's extreme submissiveness. Medieval courtly literature glorifies the valour, tactics, and ideals of both

Moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...

and ancient Romans. For example, the ancient handbook of warfare written by

Vegetius Publius (or Flavius) Vegetius Renatus, known as Vegetius (), was a writer of the Later Roman Empire (late 4th century). Nothing is known of his life or station beyond what is contained in his two surviving works: ''Epitoma rei militaris'' (also r ...

called '' De re militari'' was translated into French in the 13th century as ''L'Art de chevalerie'' by

Jean de Meun Jean de Meun (or de Meung, ) () was a French author best known for his continuation of the '' Roman de la Rose''. Life He was born Jean Clopinel or Jean Chopinel at Meung-sur-Loire. Tradition asserts that he studied at the University of Paris. ...

. Later writers also drew from Vegetius, such as Honoré Bonet, who wrote the 14th century ''L'Arbes des batailles'', which discussed the morals and laws of war. In the 15th century

Christine de Pizan Christine de Pizan or Pisan (, ; born Cristina da Pizzano; September 1364 – ), was an Italian-born French court writer for King Charles VI of France and several French royal dukes, in both prose and poetry. Christine de Pizan served as a cour ...

combined themes from Vegetius, Bonet, and Frontinus in ''Livre des faits d'armes et de chevalerie''.

Late Middle Ages

In the 14th century

Jean Froissart Jean Froissart ( Old and Middle French: ''Jehan''; sometimes known as John Froissart in English; – ) was a French-speaking medieval author and court historian from the Low Countries who wrote several works, including ''Chronicles'' and ''Meli ...

wrote his ''Chronicles'' which captured much of the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a conflict between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France and a civil war in France during the Late Middle Ages. It emerged from feudal disputes over the Duchy ...

, including the

Battle of Crécy The Battle of Crécy took place on 26 August 1346 in northern France between a French army commanded by King PhilipVI and an English army led by King Edward III. The French attacked the English while they were traversing northern France ...

and later the

Battle of Poitiers The Battle of Poitiers was fought on 19September 1356 between a Kingdom of France, French army commanded by King John II of France, King JohnII and an Kingdom of England, Anglo-Gascony, Gascon force under Edward the Black Prince, Edward, the ...

both of which saw the defeat of the French nobility by armies made up largely of common men using

longbows A longbow is a type of tall bow that makes a fairly long draw possible. Longbows for hunting and warfare have been made from many different woods in many cultures; in Europe they date from the Paleolithic era and, since the Bronze Age, were made ...

. The chivalric tactic employed by the French armoured nobility, namely bravely charging the opposition in the face of a hail of arrows, failed repeatedly. Froissart noted the subsequent attacks by common English and Welsh archers upon the fallen French knights. ''Chronicles'' also captured a series of uprisings by common people against the nobility, such as the

Jacquerie The Jacquerie () was a popular revolt by peasants that took place in northern France in the early summer of 1358 during the Hundred Years' War. The revolt was centred in the valley of the Oise north of Paris and was suppressed after over tw ...

and The Peasant's Revolt and the rise of the common man to leadership ranks within armies. Many of these men were promoted during the Hundred Years' War but were later left in France when the English nobles returned home, and became mercenaries in the

Free Companies A free company (sometimes called a great company or, in French, ''grande compagnie'') was an army of mercenaries between the 12th and 14th centuries recruited by private employers during wars. They acted independently of any government, and were ...

, for example

John Hawkwood Sir John Hawkwood ( 1323 – 17 March 1394) was an English soldier who served as a mercenary leader or ''condottiero'' in Italy. As his name was difficult to pronounce for non-English-speaking contemporaries, there are many variations of it in ...

, the mercenary leader of

White Company The White Company () was a 14th-century English mercenary Free company (), led from its arrival in Italy in 1361 to 1363 by the German Albert Sterz and later by the Englishman John Hawkwood. Although the White Company is the name by which it is ...

. The rise of effective, paid soldiery replaced noble soldiery during this period, leading to a new class of military leader without any adherence to the chivalric code. Chivalry underwent a revival and elaboration of chivalric ceremonial and rules of

etiquette Etiquette ( /ˈɛtikɛt, -kɪt/) can be defined as a set of norms of personal behavior in polite society, usually occurring in the form of an ethical code of the expected and accepted social behaviors that accord with the conventions and ...

in the 14th century that was examined by

Johan Huizinga Johan Huizinga (; 7 December 1872 – 1 February 1945) was a Dutch historian and one of the founders of modern cultural history. Life Born in Groningen as the son of Dirk Huizinga, a professor of physiology, and Jacoba Tonkens, who died two ...

in ''

The Waning of the Middle Ages ''The Autumn of the Middle Ages'', ''The Waning of the Middle Ages'', or ''Autumntide of the Middle Ages'' (published in 1919 as ''Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen'' and translated into English in 1924, German in 1924, and French in 1932), is the best ...

'', which dedicates a chapter to "The idea of chivalry". In contrasting the literary standards of chivalry with the actual warfare of the age, the historian finds the imitation of an ideal past illusory; in an aristocratic culture such as Burgundy and France at the close of the Middle Ages, "to be representative of true culture means to produce by conduct, by customs, by manners, by costume, by deportment, the illusion of a heroic being, full of dignity and honour, of wisdom, and, at all events, of courtesy.... The dream of past perfection ennobles life and its forms, fills them with beauty and fashions them anew as forms of art". In the later Middle Ages, wealthy merchants strove to adopt chivalric attitudes. The sons of the bourgeoisie were educated at aristocratic courts, where they were trained in the manners of the knightly class. This was a democratisation of chivalry, leading to a new genre called the

courtesy book A courtesy book (also book of manners) was a didactic manual of knowledge for courtiers to handle matters of etiquette, socially acceptable behaviour, and personal morals, with an especial emphasis upon life in a royal court; the genre of courtesy ...

, which were guides to the behaviour of "gentlemen". Thus, the post-medieval gentlemanly code of the value of a man's honour, respect for women, and a concern for those less fortunate, is directly derived from earlier ideals of chivalry and historical forces that created it. Japan was the only country that banned the use of

firearm A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originate ...

s completely to maintain ideals of chivalry and acceptable form of combat. In 1543 Japan established a government

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

on firearms. The Japanese government destroyed firearms and enforced a preference for traditional Japanese weapons.

Criticism

Medieval historian Richard W. Kaeuper saw chivalry as a central focus in the study of the European Middle Ages that was too often presented as a civilizing and stabilizing influence in the turbulent Middle Ages. On the contrary, Kaueper argues "that in the problem of public order the knights themselves played an ambivalent, problematic role and that the guides to their conduct that chivalry provided were in themselves complex and problematic." Many of the codes and ideals of chivalry were contradictory: when knights did live up to them, they did not lead to a more "ordered and peaceful society". The tripartite conception of medieval European society (those who pray, those who fight, and those who work) along with other linked subcategories of monarchy and aristocracy, worked in congruence with knighthood to reform the institution in an effort "to secure public order in a society just coming into its mature formation." Kaeuper says that knighthood and the worldview of "those who fight" was pre-Christian in many ways and outside the purview of the church, at least initially. The church saw it as a duty to reform and guide knights in a way that weathered the disorderly, martial, and chauvinistic elements of chivalry. Royalty also clashed with knighthood over the conduct of warfare and personal disputes between knights and other knights (and even between knights and aristocracy). While the worldview of "those who work" (the burgeoning merchant class and bourgeoisie) was still in incubation, Kaeuper states that the social and economic class that would end up defining modernity was fundamentally at odds with knights, and those with chivalrous valor saw the values of commerce as beneath them. Those who engaged in commerce and derived their value system from it could be confronted with violence by knights. According to British historian David Crouch, many early writers on medieval chivalry cannot be trusted as accurate sources, because they sometimes have "polemical purpose which colours their prose". As for

Kenelm Henry Digby Kenelm Henry Digby (c. 1797 – 1880) was an Anglo-Irish writer, whose reputation rests chiefly on his earliest publication, '' The Broad-Stone of Honour, or Rules for the Gentlemen of England'' (1822), which contains an exhaustive survey of medi ...

and Léon Gautier, chivalry was a means to transform their corrupt and secular worlds. Gautier also emphasized that chivalry originated from the Teutonic forests and was brought up into civilization by the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Church.

Charles Mills Charles, Charlie or Chuck Mills may refer to: Academics * C. Wright Mills (Charles Wright Mills) (1916–1962), American academic sociologist * Charles Henry Mills Charles Henry Mills (January 29, 1873 – July 23, 1937) was an England, En ...

used chivalry "to demonstrate that the Regency gentleman was the ethical heir of a great moral estate, and to provide an inventory of its treasure". Mills also stated that chivalry was a social, not a military phenomenon, with its key features: generosity, fidelity, liberality, and courtesy.

Modern times

End of chivalry

Chivalry was dynamic; it adjusted in response to local situations, and this probably led to its demise. There were many chivalric groups in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

as imagined by

Sir Thomas Malory Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author of ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', the classic English-language chronicle of the Arthurian legend, compiled and in most cases translated from French sources. The most popular version of ''Le Morte d'A ...

when he wrote ''

Le Morte d'Arthur ' (originally written as '; Anglo-Norman French for "The Death of Arthur") is a 15th-century Middle English prose reworking by Sir Thomas Malory of tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the ...

'' in the late 15th century; perhaps each group created its own chivalric ideology. Malory's perspective reflects the condition of 15th-century chivalry. When ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' was printed,

William Caxton William Caxton () was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into Kingdom of England, England in 1476, and as a Printer (publishing), printer to be the first English retailer ...

urged knights to read the romance with an expectation that reading about chivalry could unite a community of knights already divided by the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses, known at the time and in following centuries as the Civil Wars, were a series of armed confrontations, machinations, battles and campaigns fought over control of the English throne from 1455 to 1487. The conflict was fo ...

. During the early Tudor rule in

, some knights still fought according to that ethos. Fewer knights were engaged in active warfare because battlefields during this century were generally the arena of professional infantrymen, with less opportunity for knights to show chivalry. It was the beginning of the demise of the knight. The rank of knight never faded, but

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

ended the tradition that any knight could create another, making this exclusively the preserve of the monarch. Christopher Wilkins contends that Sir Edward Woodville, who rode from battle to battle across Europe and died in 1488 in

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

, was the last knight errant who witnessed the fall of the Age of Chivalry and the rise of modern European warfare. By the time the Middle Ages came to an end, the code of chivalry was gone.

Modern manifestations and revivals

Chivalry!—why, maiden, she is the nurse of pure and high affection—the stay of the oppressed, the redresser of grievances, the curb of the power of the tyrant—Nobility were but an empty name without her, and liberty finds the best protection in her lance and her sword.
—
Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...
, ''
Ivanhoe ''Ivanhoe: A Romance'' ( ) by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in December 1819, as one of the Waverley novels. It marked a shift away from Scott's prior practice of setting stories in Scotland and in the more ...
'' (1820)

The chivalric ideal persisted into the early modern and modern period. The custom of founding

s by Europe's monarchs and high nobility peaked in the late medieval period, but it persisted during the Renaissance and well into the Baroque and early modern period, with e.g. the Tuscan

Order of Saint Stephen The Order of Saint Stephen (officially ''Sacro Militare Ordine di Santo Stefano Papa e Martire'', 'Holy Military Order of St. Stephen Pope and Martyr') is a Roman Catholic Tuscan dynastic military order founded in 1561. The order was created ...

(1561), the French

Order of Saint Louis The Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis () is a dynastic order of chivalry founded 5 April 1693 by King Louis XIV, named after Saint Louis (King Louis IX of France). It was intended as a reward for exceptional officers, notable as the fi ...

(1693) or the

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

Order of St. Patrick (1783), and numerous

dynastic orders of knighthood A dynastic order, monarchical order, or house order is an honorific distinction under royal patronage. This type of order is bestowed by a reigning sovereign or by the head of a formerly ruling family, recognized as a legitimate source of hono ...

remain active in countries that retain a tradition of monarchy. At the same time, with the change of courtly ideas during the

Baroque period The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (in ...

, the ideals of chivalry began to be seen as dated, or "medieval". ''

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

'', published in 1605–15, burlesqued the medieval chivalric novel or ''

'' by ridiculing the stubborn adherence to the chivalric code in the face of the modern world as anachronistic, giving rise to the term

Quixotism Quixotism ( or ; adj. :wikt:quixotic, quixotic) is impracticality in pursuit of ideals, especially those ideals manifested by rash, lofty and romantic ideas or extravagantly chivalrous action. It also serves to describe an idealism without regar ...

. Conversely, elements of

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

sought to revive such "medieval" ideals or aesthetics in the late 18th and early 19th century. The behavioural code of military officers down to the

Napoleonic era The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and history of Europe, Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly (French Revoluti ...

, the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

(especially as idealised in the "

Lost Cause The Lost Cause of the Confederacy, known simply as the Lost Cause, is an American pseudohistorical and historical negationist myth that argues the cause of the Confederate States during the American Civil War was just, heroic, and not cente ...

" mythology), and to some extent even to

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, was still strongly modelled on the historical ideals, resulting in a pronounced

ling culture, which in some parts of Europe also held sway over the civilian life of the upper classes. With the

decline of the Ottoman Empire In the 18th century, the Ottoman Empire faced threats on numerous frontiers from multiple industrialised European powers as well as internal instabilities. Outsider influence, rise of nationalism and internal corruption demanded the Empire to lo ...

, however, the military threat from the "infidel" disappeared. The

European wars of religion The European wars of religion were a series of wars waged in Europe during the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries. Fought after the Protestant Reformation began in 1517, the wars disrupted the religious and political order in the Catholic Chu ...

spanned much of the early modern period and consisted of infighting between factions of various Christian denominations. This process of

confessionalization In Protestant Reformation history, confessionalization is the parallel processes of "confession-building" taking place in Europe between the Peace of Augsburg (1555) and the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). For most of this time, there was a n ...

ultimately gave rise to a new military ethos based on

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

rather than "defending the faith against the infidel". Social commentators of the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

advocated for a revival of chivalry in order to remedy the ill effects of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher. Known as the "Sage writing, sage of Chelsea, London, Chelsea", his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the V ...

's " Captains of Industry" were to lead a "Chivalry of Labour", a beneficent form of governance that is hierarchical yet fraternal in nature, rather than materialistic.

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English polymath a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, Critique of politic ...

's "Ideal Commonwealth" took chivalry as one of its basic characteristics. From the

early modern period The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

, the term ''gallantry'' (from ''

galant The galant style was an 18th-century movement in music, visual arts and literature. In Germany a closely related style was called the '' empfindsamer Stil'' (sensitive style). Another close relative is rococo style. The galant style was drawn in ...

'', the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

ideal of refined elegance) rather than ''chivalry'' became used for the proper behaviour of upper-class men towards upper-class women. In the 19th century, there were attempts to revive chivalry for the purposes of the

gentleman ''Gentleman'' (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man; abbreviated ''gent.'') is a term for a chivalrous, courteous, or honorable man. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire ...

of that time.

wrote his ''

The Broad-Stone of Honour ''The Broad Stone of Honour, or Rules for the Gentlemen of England'', is a book written by Kenelm Henry Digby and published first in 1822 by F. C. & J. Rivington of London. Then the work was subdivided into its constituent parts and published as ' ...

'' for this purpose, offering the definition: "Chivalry is only a name for that general spirit or state of mind which disposes men to heroic actions, and keeps them conversant with all that is beautiful and sublime in the intellectual and moral world." The pronouncedly masculine virtues of chivalry came under attack on the parts of the

masculist Masculism or masculinism may variously refer to ideologies and socio-political movements that seek to eliminate discrimination against men, or increase adherence to or promotion of attributes regarded as typical of males. The terms may also re ...

and upper-class

suffragettes A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for women's suffrage, the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in part ...

campaigning for

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making, an ...

in the early 20th century, and with the decline of the military ideals of duelling culture and of European aristocracies in general following the catastrophe of

, the ideals of chivalry became widely seen as outmoded by the mid-20th century. As a material reflection of this process, the

dress sword __NoTOC__ The small sword or smallsword (also court sword, Gaelic: or claybeg, French: , lit. “Sword of the court”) is a light one-handed sword designed for thrusting which evolved out of the longer and heavier rapier (''espada ropera'') of ...

lost its position as an indispensable part of a gentleman's wardrobe, a development described as an "archaeological terminus" by

Ewart Oakeshott Ronald Ewart Oakeshott (25 May 1916 – 30 September 2002) was a British illustrator, collector, and amateur historian who wrote prodigiously on medieval arms and armour. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, a Founder Member of the A ...

, as it concluded the long period during which the

sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

had been a visible attribute of the free man, beginning as early as three millennia ago with the

Bronze Age sword Bronze Age swords appeared from around the 17th century BC, in the Black Sea and Aegean regions, as a further development of the dagger. They were replaced by iron swords during the early part of the 1st millennium BC. Typical Bronze Age sword ...

. During the 20th century, the chivalrous ideal of protecting women came to be seen as a trope of melodrama ("

damsel in distress The damsel in distress is a narrative device in which one or more men must rescue a woman who has been kidnapped or placed in other peril. The "damsel" is often portrayed as beautiful, popular, and of high social status; she is usually depicted ...

"). The term ''chivalry'' retains a certain currency in sociology, in reference to the general tendency of men, and of society in general, to lend more attention offering protection from harm to women than to men, or in noting gender gaps in

life expectancy Human life expectancy is a statistical measure of the estimate of the average remaining years of life at a given age. The most commonly used measure is ''life expectancy at birth'' (LEB, or in demographic notation ''e''0, where '' ...

health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

, etc., also expressed in

media bias Media bias occurs when journalists and news producers show bias in how they report and cover news. The term "media bias" implies a pervasive or widespread bias contravening of the standards of journalism, rather than the perspective of an ...

giving significantly more attention to female than to male victims. The promotion of chivalry played a part in the foundation of the

Scouting Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

movement. The

Brownsea Island Scout camp Brownsea Island Scout camp, is a historic Scout campsite on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour in southern England, which was the site of Robert Baden-Powell's 1907 experimental camp for boys to test ideas for his book ''Scouting for Boys'', which ...

, formed in 1907, began as a boys' camping event on

Brownsea Island Brownsea Island is the largest of the islands in Poole Harbour in the county of Dorset, England. The island is owned by the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, National Trust with the northern half managed by the Do ...

Poole Harbour Poole Harbour is a large natural harbour in Dorset, southern England, with the town of Poole on its shores. The harbour is a drowned valley ( ria) formed at the end of the last ice age and is the estuary of several rivers, the largest being th ...

, southern England, organised by

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

Lieutenant-General Robert Baden-Powell to test his ideas for the book ''

Scouting for Boys ''Scouting for Boys: A handbook for instruction in good citizenship'' is a book on Boy Scout training, published in various editions since 1908. Early editions were written and illustrated by Robert Baden-Powell with later editions being exten ...

''. Boy scouts from different social backgrounds in the U.K. participated from 1 to 8 August 1907 in activities around

camping Camping is a form of outdoor recreation or outdoor education involving overnight stays with a basic temporary shelter such as a tent. Camping can also include a recreational vehicle, sheltered cabins, a permanent tent, a shelter such as a Bivy bag ...

observation Observation in the natural sciences is an act or instance of noticing or perceiving and the acquisition of information from a primary source. In living beings, observation employs the senses. In science, observation can also involve the percep ...

woodcraft Woodcraft or woodlore is skill and experience in living and thriving in the woods, either on a short- or long-term basis. It includes skills as hunting, fishing, and camping. Traditionally, woodcraft was associated with subsistence lifestyles an ...

, chivalry,

lifesaving Lifesaving is the act involving rescue, resuscitation and first aid. It often refers to water safety and aquatic rescue; however, it could include ice rescue, flood and river rescue, swimming pool rescue and other emergency medical servic ...

, and

patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to one's country or state. This attachment can be a combination of different feelings for things such as the language of one's homeland, and its ethnic, cultural, politic ...

. According to

William Manchester William Raymond Manchester (April 1, 1922 – June 1, 2004) was an American author, biographer, and historian. He was the author of 18 books which have been translated into over 20 languages. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal and the ...

, General

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He served with dis ...

was a chivalric warrior who fought a war with the intention to conquer the enemy, eliminating their ability to strike back, then treated them with the understanding and kindness due their honour and courage. One prominent model of his chivalrous conduct was in World War II and his treatment of the Japanese at the end of the war. MacArthur's model provides a way to win a war with as few casualties as possible and how to get the respect of the former enemy after the occupation of their homeland. On May 12, 1962, MacArthur gave a famous speech in front of the cadets of United States Military Academy at

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

by referring to a great moral code, the code of conduct and chivalry, when emphasizing duty, honour, and country.

Masculism

With the rise of

masculism Masculism or masculinism may variously refer to ideologies and socio-political movements that seek to eliminate discrimination against men, or increase adherence to or promotion of attributes regarded as typical of males. The terms may also re ...

, chivalry was criticized in terms of

men's rights The men's rights movement (MRM) is a branch of the men's movement. The MRM in particular consists of a variety of groups and individuals known as men's rights activists (MRAs) who focus on social issues, such as specific government services, wh ...

. Ernest Bax described chivalry as "the deprivation, the robbery from men of the most elementary personal rights in order to endow women with privileges at the expense of men" in ''The fraud of feminism'' (1913), and criticized the Ladies First that took place in the Titanic sinking.

Criticism of chivalry

Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra ( ; ; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was a Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelist ...

, in Part I of ''

'' (1605), attacks chivalric literature as historically inaccurate and therefore harmful (see history of the novel), though he was quite in agreement with many so-called chivalric principles and guides to behavior. He toyed with but never intended to write a chivalric romance that was historically truthful. Peter Wright criticizes the tendency to produce singular descriptions of chivalry, claiming there are many variations or "chivalries". Among the different chivalries Wright includes "military chivalry" complete with its code of conduct and proper contexts, and woman-directed " romantic chivalry" complete with its code of conduct and proper contexts, among others. *

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* Laura Ashe (University of Oxford), Miri Rubin (University of London), and Matthew Strickland (University of Glasgow), interviewed by Melvin Bragg. Includes bibliography for further reading. Downloadable podcast available. * * Today's on-line version. * * * * Issued in connection with a 1982 exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art {{Authority control