Through this literary analysis, supported by relevant medieval letters and documents, I hope to show that the concept of chivalry is more complicated than the knight simply riding out to save the damsel in distress. While the chivalric code has rarely taken the shape of a formal code of conduct, its effects can be observed in the way medieval life was shaped from the way wars were waged to the way nobility behaved. Tales of daring deeds and chivalry were told in poems and popular songs so that. With the best training, the best clothes, the best weapons and, supposedly, the best manners, they were what everyone else aspired to be. Bernard of Clairvaux’s exhortation of the Knights Templar. In the Middle Ages, knights were at the top of the social ladder. My thesis will explore this emergence and development of chivalry by looking at these three different aspects-secular/militaristic, religious, and courtly-specifically from the point of view of medieval chivalric texts, including the Arthurian romances of Chrétien de Troyes, heroic texts like The Song of Roland, and religious documents like St. It can be defined as an ideal, a behaviour, a vocation, an ethical code for knights, an institution. At the same time, the idea of courtly love, which promoted the wooing of noble maidens as the ultimate goal of knighthood, emerged in southern France. An Introduction to Chivalry in Medieval Literature.
By 1100, Christian ecclesiastics had appropriated the militaristic qualities of chivalry in order to promote religious warfare in the form of the crusades, transforming the knight into a holy warrior. the basic rules of armed conflict were not invented in the late 19th century as one of their most significant sources was the medieval code of chivalry.11. The concept of chivalry emerged alongside medieval knighthood in the decades around 1000 C.E., with the express purpose of portraying knights as the elite, mounted fighting-force of Western Europe. Michael James Milligan, Honors Advisor Keywords:įew images in history are as provocative as the knight in shining armor, and few concepts of medieval knighthood are as romanticized as chivalry, the code-of-conduct that all knights were supposed to follow. Developed between the late 11th century and early 12th century, chivalry was an informal code of conduct associated with knights. clear concept of chivalry the code of honor guiding these endeavors. Kathryn Elizabeth Salzer, Thesis Supervisorĭr. Chivalry today might mean opening a door for someone or picking up the bill in a restaurant but in the medieval period it mean something a little different. An Exploration of Chivalry and Masculinity in Medieval and American Literature.
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