Chivalry

         The Middle Ages developed a new code of ethics, social behavior, and normative principles for daily life called Chivalry. Its civilizing influences defined the knightly and aristocratic classes directly, and most other classes indirectly. Why use the word, “civilizing?” Most historians find the Early medieval knightly and aristocratic classes devoted to an ethos of violent conquest to gain material wealth and/or power, rather like a group of Hell’s Angels bent on taking over the world and THEN Valhalla -- Look Out, Pinky & the Brain! Chivalry demanded good treatment – in warfare and for captives, often to the extent of allowing a captive to go free, raise his ransom and send it back to his captor. It insisted upon fair play in battle. The main, driving principles are seemingly out-of-date today: Integrity and Honor.

      While these secular developments certainly limited knightly warfare, the church also played its part with its Peace of God and Truce of God movements. These movements were difficult to enforce, but Christianity, as a religion (essentially) of peace and love, had its affect on knights as well as nobles, not only by these movements, but through many and regular ceremonies, sermons and models held up of saintly, peaceable people.

     Another aspect of Chivalry is the participation of ladies, seen in the literature of ‘courtly love.’ Here the code insisted upon gentleness, sublimation of passions, courtesy, respect, service and of course, love. In this area, a knight could earn much honor by dedicating himself faithfully to the service of a lady (often someone else’s wife). Many knights in this position would dedicate themselves to acquiring an art like music or poetry as part of their service to a lady. If this sounds wildly idealistic, it certainly was! But consider the alternative, e.g., a “might-makes-right” principle at every level of society.... It come full circle when St Francis dedicated himself to Lady Poverty.

       Beroul's 12th century Tristan and Iseult exemplifies much of this discussion, above and below.  Pprinciples stand behind actions.  Is this a “Dark Age” -- in that chivarly tended to contribute of anarchy and instability? Or did chivalry provide a needed code of behaviour that not only integrated knights into western "Civilization", but also produced an elite culture devoid of religious domination and flexible enough to withstand the pressures of life?

 

Lord Tennyson’s definition of chivalry, "Live pure, speak true, right wrongs, follow Christ and the King,"

‘ The prestigious figure of the knight stands at the very summit of humanity’ V.-E. Michelet, Secret de la Chevalerie

1. Chevaliers vs milites: Hierarchical, Corporate, Christian-morality(plus), Traditional, Personal Gov’t
2. Contract feudalism implies personal responsibilities
3. Aristocratic ‘Virtue’ even in the sense of one’s power
4. Ransom & honorable treatment of prisoners: Courtesy
5. Fair Fight and only honor gained that way, otherwise dishonor
6. Fight for glory/honor/rightness, not money/lords/power

• This even in the face of growing wealth/power due to knights’ as necessary & commercial expansion
• Utility to Society often glorified
• Church: Peace & Truce of God vs aristocratic love of war
• Crusade Quest of the Ideal (Grail), the Holy – from the impure, the unworthy , the worthless
• Ennobling Service idea not only of ideas & lords, but also of ladies since no gain could be got, except…
• Consummated & Non-C: The Pedestal can be constraining…
• Society

1. Requirements of culture: music, singing, poetry, dancing, witty dialogue, respect, dignity
2. Consider others as your equals: Round Table
3. Tournaments: Sublimate emotions good & bad
4. Arthuriana

• Defense for peace, unity spread
• Round table integration or shared-governance
• Ladies like Guinevere & courtiers like Lancelot
• Quest for the holy grail
• Glastonbury and Cadbury: Celtic/Roman survivals
• Contemporary applications: Henry II
• Merlin and magic

 

COMMANDMENTS

1. Thou shalt defend the Church. (Consider the ‘Good King Wenceslas’ as an Exemplar for most of these)
2. Thou shalt respect all weaknesses, and shalt constitute thyself the defender of them.
3. Thou shalt not flinch before thine enemy.
4. Thou shalt perform thy feudal duties, if they be not contrary to the laws of God or chivalry.
5. Thou shalt never lie, and shall remain faithful to thy pledged word; Be generous, and give generously to everyone.
6. Thou shalt be everywhere and always the champion of the Right and the Good against any and all Injustice and Evil.
7. Follow All the Following, All-Ways & Ever-More :

 

• Always have respect and pity for all weaknesses, and be steadfast in defending them.
• Always keep one's word.
• Always maintain one's principles with integrity.
• Always protect/defend the innocent, the weak, the oppressed, the unarmed, the innocent.
• Always respect and serve women, especially those in distress, more so if aristocratic.
• Always use your strengths in the service of justice, rather than in personal gain
• Avenge the wronged. Never abandon a friend, ally, or noble cause.
• Avoid lying to your fellow man, Avoid cheating, Avoid torture.
• Be courteous and attentive to all, and as their station demands; Be generous in giving
• Champion country, King, Church, the ideals of honor, integrity & freedom.
• Be loyal always to friends and to those who trust thee.
• Be obedient in all things to the commands of ladies.
• Be respectful of your host.
• Being ‘Love-Sick’ is having an honorable dis-ease.
• Crush the monsters that steal our land and rob our people.
• Die with valor and honor as God did for you.
• Do not knowingly strive to break up a love affair that someone is engaged in.
• Exhibit courage in word and deed.
• Exhibit self control in all things.
• Fight for the ideals of king, country, and chivalry.
• In giving and receiving love's solaces let modesty reign.
• Keep thyself chaste for the sake of her whom thou lovest.
• Live to gain honor and glory, with humility.
• Live to serve & defend King and Country.
• Live to Serve without thought of reward, e.g., a Lady, a Quest, a Noble Deed/Cause
• Love Conquers All!
• Be loyal to truth and to the pledged word and seek always the truth
• Never attack an unarmed foe; Never use a weapon on an opponent not equal to the attack.
• Never attack from behind; Always fight fair in order to gain honor/fame.
• Never betray a confidence or comrade; avoid deception.
• Never use a weapon on an opponent not equal to the attack.
• Obey the law of king, country, and chivalry; administer justice as if God is watching.
• Show respect to authority, and show it with humility.
• Toward Ladies at Court, All Ways & Times: gentleness, courtesy, respect, service and, of course, love

     The Crusade Movement coincided with the rise of chivalry. Rescue of the holy places and the defense of pilgrims equate to defense of the weak and rescue of the damsel-Jerusalem.  The Holy Grail was only one direct link, and as Indiana Jones' dad, said, the Grail is less about a cup and more about pursuing the best in all of us. The Church put knights under its umbrella, using rituals to ‘knight’ a squire, applying church ethics for knightly behavior, and requiring from the knightly class respect, mutual aid and defense. Of course, in practice when there was a conflict between chivalry and Christianity, the knights tended to follow the code of chivalry, especially since they were not clerics under the control of the church. The most outrageous example of this was the killing of Archbishop Becket by King Henry II's four knights (an act which defies the code in many respects though loyalty trumps much in these four knights' minds, if not also the hope of monetary gain and social advancement).

     Still, the chivalric code of ethics, some of which drew from Germanic ideals of the warrior-virtue, nobility, magic and the notion of personal freedom, became an inventive set of ethics for warriors that attempted to limit warfare, and to civilize the Brute Squad, since Just War Theory was often unknown. Chivalry also filled that gap to some extent.

The fatal love of Tristan and Iseult is an absorbing passion, before which every other consideration must give way; but the exasperating behaviour of the lovers conforms to the ordinary, human developments of that exasperating passion... There is a kind of desperate beauty in this mutual passion, faithful through years of sin and unfaith on both sides, and careless of lies and shifts and incredible dishonour.

    -- Dorothy Sayers (a translator of Tristan & Iseult, Quoted from: Barbara Reynolds, Dorothy Sayers: A Biography (N.Y.: St Martin’s Press, 1993), p. 189.