The Middle Ages - Knights Buy this Poster at AllPosters.com

The Age of Chivalry is one of gallant knights, jousting tournaments, a maiden's favours, and a life-code of honour, duty, courtliness, and bravery. Chivalry can be defined as the sworn moral and behavioural code of conduct governing knights during the Middle Ages; its qualities included: honour, courage, gallantry, chastity, courtesy, generosity, and loyalty, among others. In later time, the chivalric idea came to form the basis of gentlemanly behaviour.

During the Middle Ages Christianity became a unifying force of culture, tying together its economic, political and military institutions. Chivalry is the embodiment of that unification.

Chivalry developed in Europe in the 8th and 9th centuries. The word chivalry is taken from the French word chevalier, which means horseman. The French chevalier and its English equivalent, the knight, represent the beginnings of mounted military units, or cavalry. These units became the heart of the military, both because of their grandeur and because of the real battle effectiveness of their training.

Socially, chivalry was a concept rooted in the upper classes. The societal structure of this period, first under the manorial system and later under the stricter concept of feudalism, was very stratified. This stratification meant that individuals of that time were strictly tied to a position or level of society based on birth and often tied to land. The King held the land which he granted to lords who in turn parceled it out among their tenants to be worked. In a time of great political upheaval, and frequent invasion, the knight served as protectorate. The knight's place in the scheme of society was below that of the Lord and other nobles, but above that of the general peasantry. They were frequently members of the landowning class, but out of direct succession to a title. In chivalry they forged their connection to the upper, as opposed to the lower classes. The chivalric code declared them as individuals above the norm. Their life was dedicated to serving and protecting at the expense of their personal safety. Their conduct was exemplary. Their motives were pure.

Members of the knighted class were trained from a very young age, typically 7 or 8, to exemplify an idea. They were trained in the arts of warfare, but more importantly they were schooled in the code of the brotherhood, chivalry. While it is true that an individual was not born a knight, it was in practice a hereditary title. An individual could not become a candidate for knighthood unless he himself was the son of a knight.

Religion played a large part in the concept of chivalry and in the lives of those slated to protect. While the church was at odds philosophically with the concept of warriors and their duty to protect at the cost of other human life, they became reconciled with the concept as they began to view the knight as an arm of the Church. The Church in time sanctified the position to the point of being a major component in the actual knighting ceremony, the blessing of the knight's armour and battle implements after his night-long prayer vigil. It was during the Crusades that Church and soldier became much solidified.

Much of chivalry's development is mirrored in literature. In particular, its rise to preeminence is reflected in the legend of King Arthur. It was through literature that the concept spread throughout Europe. The story of Arthur begins simply as the rise of a good and noble king. The works that make up Arthurian Legend had a major influence on chivalry and chivalry had a major influence on them. As the telling of the story grew, so too did the story. What began as a simple story became a growing and living thing. It is only in later tellings that the concept of courtly love, involvement in the Crusades, and other elements are introduced into the knightly equation. It is also in these later tellings that we come to learn of the existence of Guinivere, Lancelot, Galahad, and the other Knights of the Round Table.

Just as its rise to glory is reflected in the literature of its time, so to is its demise. Cervantes' Don Quixote is an often heart-wrenching tale of a man's fight to keep the knightly dream alive. In the end he returns home defeated in spirit after realizing the dream is just that, only an illusion of his imagination.

Chivalry's demise, like its rise, was a slow process. One of its biggest hindrances was economic. A knight was responsible for supplying his own equipment and keep. Even in times of war the knight paid for his own rig and for the cost of his attendants, of which there were several. This cost was doubly high in times of peace when the knight was expected to take his place alongside the nobles of society and by the pomp and grand display of the tournaments and festivals. As the costs of knighthood increased, fewer individuals were interested in being granted the privilege. Land-holding gentlemen, who might have joined the ranks began paying off their military debt in coin as opposed to service. In time the armies became less and less an aristocratic endeavour and the term knight became more a hereditary title of honour, as opposed to a military title earned by proving oneself worthy in battle and knightly skills.

Though the knight errant and his lady-love are concepts of the past, the ideas behind chivalry - goodness, honesty, honour, devotion and protection of the weak - remain as central ideas in today's concept of a true gentlemen.