Book Description: This original and authoritative text reveals how
chivalry was part of the problem of violence in medieval Europe, not
merely it's solution. The ideal was to internalize restraint in
knights, but a close reading of chivalric literature shows chivalry
also praised heroic violence by knights. This fascinating book lays
bare the conflicts and paradoxes surrounding the concept of chivalry
in medieval Europe.
Back Cover: Medieval Europe was a rapidly developing society with
a problem of violent disorder. Professor Kaeuper's original and
authoritative study reveals that chivalry was just as much a part
of this problem as it was its solution. Chivalry praised heroic
violence by knights, and fused such displays of prowess with honour,
piety, high-status, and attractiveness to women. Though the vast
body of chivalric literature praised chivarly as necessary to
civilization, most texts also worried over knightly violence,
criticized the ideals and practices of chivalry, and often proposed
reforms. The knights themselves joined the debate, absorbing some
reforms, ignoring others, sometimes proposing their own. The
interation of chivalry with major governing institutions ('church'
and 'state') emerging at that time was similarly complex: kings and
clerics both needed and feared the force of the knighthood. This
fascinating book lays bare these conflicts and paradoxes which
surrounded the concept of chivalry in medieval Europe.
About the Author: Richard Kaeuper is Professor of History at the
University of Rochester, New York State.
