Art, obsession, and identity
But how do you go about taming the untamable? Some historians have theorized that fables from the Middle Ages such as those of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table were conjured up to present new generations of knights with a different sort of role model. Clergy members would often push these stories of gallantry onto young squires in hopes that Arthurian values would stick with the young warriors well into knighthood.
Medieval knights are only romanticized today in the good light that they are because of chivalry. In reality, knights were once seen as amoral mercenaries and menaces to society.
Three of the primary medieval sources that dealt with chivalry directly included the 'Matter of Britain,' which is where the stories of King Arthur are derived from. Other chivalrous works include the Livre de Chevalerie, from the 14th century.
Chivalry was also practiced strictly along class borders. Respect, kindness towards women, elders, and the sick, and loyalty to one's country applied almost exclusively to the affluent classes that knights themselves belonged to. Most peasants and serfs saw no change in the way they were treated by knights passing through their fields and villages.
Strategically placed after the tenets discussing loyalty to Christianity, the fourth tenet of chivalry reminds knights of their allegiance to their birthplaces: "Thou shalt love the country in which thou wast born."
The second tenet, also religious in nature, attempted to ensure all knights across Europe would be loyal first to the Church, and to their kings and countries second. This tenet states simply: "Thou shalt defend the Church."
The third tenet drives home the importance of bravery in the life of a knight, and the justness of using their power to protect rather than to oppress: "Thou shalt respect all weaknesses, and shalt constitute thyself the defender of them." As honorable as this tenet sounds in theory, it was rarely applied to the truly weakest and most vulnerable members of society.
The first tenet, and certainly one of the most important to the religious leaders who had such a large hand in the conception of chivalry, states, "Thou shalt believe all that the Church teaches and thou shalt observe all its directions."
Lancelot, depicted as the greatest hero of the Knights of the Round Table, could be said to be the ideal knight that all other medieval warriors were meant to look up to. A knight of loyalty, bravery, and righteousness, he perfectly represented all 10 of the tenets of chivalry.
Perhaps the most ignored tenet, taking its appropriate place near the bottom of the list, suggests: "Thou shalt be generous, and give largesse to everyone" (largesse meaning money or gifts).
The final tenet wraps up the entire concept of medieval chivalry quite nicely: "Thou shalt be everywhere and always the champion of the Right and the Good against Injustice and Evil." But what exactly was right and unjust, good and evil, was left up to interpretation.
A favorite tenet of gallant fictional knights like Lancelot and Galahad, the eighth tenet assured not only loyalty but also the romance that would later become the focus of the public perception of chivalry: "Thou shalt never lie, and shalt remain faithful to thy pledged word."
Of course, codes of honor, especially for the warrior classes of societies, weren't unique to Europe. Contemporary cultures around the world had similar moral stands imposed on their warriors. Some historians have even hypothesized that the European idea of chivalry was transmuted through trade with Middle Eastern kingdoms.
Furūsiyya, the art of equestrian warfare practiced by Arabic fāris, or horseman, was closely linked to a code of honor very similar to European chivalry. Most historians agree that chivalry and the ethics of furūsiyya influenced each other to equal degrees.
Likely the most famous code of honor behind chivalry is the Bushido samurai code, which these fierce Japanese warriors strictly adhered to. The Edo-era Bushido code was much more concerned with piety than loyalty, preaching values such as modesty, frugality, and compassion.
In ancient China, a class of travelers known as youxia were known for wandering the country as harbingers of justice in favor of the common folk. Unlike European knights, youxia didn't belong to any particular social class, and weren't exclusively warriors. What they shared in common was a strong sense of ethics based mostly on the teachings of the Mohist branch of Confucianism.
Centuries after the days of knights, chivalry once again found itself in a place of importance in society with the advent of Romanticism in the 1800s. Artists and storytellers of this time became obsessed with the stories of knights in shining armor, but the difference this time was that most of those reading such stories were as far away from being warriors as one could be. And so chivalry in the Victorian age had much less to do with loyalty and bravery, and much more to do with how to properly participate in courting, and the "proper," "masculine" way for men to act towards women.
In the 21st century, it's rare to hear the word "chivalry" without the words "is dead" following closely. While chivalry may, in its original sense, be extinct, we can all make an effort to practice loyalty, kindness, and civility in our own lives and relationships.
Sources: (History) (The Seventeenth Century Lady) ('Chivalry')
See also: The noble life of knights
Timawa were Visayan warriors active in what is today modern-day Philippines. Although their ethics weren't contained in any written lore, they were highly disciplined and loyal fighters. Their idea of loyalty fell somewhere between that of knights and that of youxia: timawa were fiercely loyal to their rulers while they were under their employ, but they were free to quit and serve another ruler should they desire. Before departing, however, timawa warriors were expected to throw a feast for their ex-employers.
The cavalry division of the great West African Oyo Empire, known as the Ikoyo Eso, was legendary for its strict rules of living, known as Emi Omo Oso, or "I am the child of an Eso." Esos were part of an affluent warrior class and garnered the respect of their superiors and the many citizens below them. The Emi Omo Oso shares similarities with the samurai battle code, forbidding Eso warriors from fleeing battle, having them take their own lives before submitting to capture, and also claiming that all of an Eso's wounds must be on the front of their body. Being wounded on the back was seen as dishonorable.
Is chivalry dead? That question has rung in people's ears for decades, as civility and common respect seem to drift further and further out of style. But what do we really know about chivalry?
You might have heard of its connection to the knights of the Middle Ages. But was it really all about courtship and rescuing princesses from towers? The short answer is no, but the reasons might surprise you.
Indeed, chivalry came about during a tumultuous time in European history, when lawlessness ran rampant. And although we usually think of knights as pillars of justice and nobility, that wasn't always the case. Intrigued? Then read on to learn about the real history of chivalry.
For instance, during the Fourth Crusade, instead of heading to Jerusalem on the orders of Pope Innocent III, the Crusaders veered towards Constantinople, a major capital of Christianity, and robbed it for all it was worth in order to settle debts. The knights of the Fourth Crusade never bothered to go to Jerusalem.
In the Middle Ages, there was no concrete manifesto of chivalry passed on to young knights; chivalry was seen more as a comprehensive code of ethics that knights should try to live by. It wasn't until the 19th century that historians compared different medieval sources and agreed on the 10 tenets of chivalry.
While knights did start to become more loyal over time, breeding greed out of a mercenary is hard work, and even the knights of the Crusades, who seemingly went to war for the righteous reason of protecting their faith, could easily be turned.
It's safe to say surrender was already seen as dishonorable to those who considered themselves fearless warriors, but, just in case, chivalrous texts always included a fifth tenet that stated, "Thou shalt not recoil before thine enemy."
Europe's first knights, who began to traverse the continent sometime during the 11th century, bore no political allegiance to any kings or kingdoms as they did later on. The first knights were loyal only to the highest bidder, and regularly terrorized the lower classes, pillaging and burning down villages as they went along.
As the life of a knight became a more popular vocation and the Church began to regain its influence in Europe, it became obvious that something had to be done to turn these wild and dangerous warriors into a force of good, who fought for church, king, and country.
The word chivalry has been used since the Middle Ages in various degrees of seriousness. Today, chivalry can be used interchangeably with politeness or gentlemanliness, but when the word originated, it was a strict code of ethics that was meant to be followed by all the knights in Europe.
The seventh tenet of chivalry goes like this: "Thou shalt perform scrupulously thy feudal duties, if they be not contrary to the laws of God." This tenet was likely included to make sure that, when knights weren't out fighting holy wars, they would keep themselves busy collecting taxes and produce from the lands of their kings, acting as both tax collectors and law enforcement.
The sixth tenet, the tenet that put lit a fire underneath the Crusades and assured even further that the Church had an army at its disposal whenever needed, stated, "Thou shalt make war against the infidel without cessation and without mercy." Infidel, of course, meaning anyone who the Church decided was a threat.
What does chivalry really mean?
The art of civility and its origins
LIFESTYLE Civility
Is chivalry dead? That question has rung in people's ears for decades, as civility and common respect seem to drift further and further out of style. But what do we really know about chivalry?
You might have heard of its connection to the knights of the Middle Ages. But was it really all about courtship and rescuing princesses from towers? The short answer is no, but the reasons might surprise you.
Indeed, chivalry came about during a tumultuous time in European history, when lawlessness ran rampant. And although we usually think of knights as pillars of justice and nobility, that wasn't always the case. Intrigued? Then read on to learn about the real history of chivalry.