Knights and Chivalry
Chivalry
Chivalry was the medieval term for
the knightly system or honour code. It evolved from terms such as chevalier,
which is French, caballero, which is Spanish, and cavalier, which is
Italian. These all basically mean a mounted warrior. The first orders
of chivalry was basically the same as the monastic orders of the time,
but during the 13th century, it was changed to direct knights to honour,
serve, and do nothing to displease ladies and maidens.
Training
At around age 7, the son a a nobleman
would be sent to serve in a lords castle as a page. There, he would
learn swordsman ship, horsemanship, and archery. Sometime near his 14th
birthday, the page would become a squire. The squire was assigned to be
trained by a knight, who trained him in physical fitness, endurance, and
strength. He would also be trained to wield several different kinds of
weapons. In return, the squire would take care of the knights horse and
equipment. At the age of 21, the squire would go through the dubbing
ceremony. This started as a simple, open-handed blow to the neck, followed
by an admonition to conduct himself with courage, loyalty, and skill.
After the 11th century, the church added religious parts to the ceremony,
because of the Crusades. It continued to become even more elaborate
through the 11th and 12th centuries.
Origins of Chivalry
The
most likely image to spring to mind at the mention of the word 'chivalry'
today, is one of the perfect gentleman, an impeccably mannered individual
who displays gentle and courteous behavior, especially towards women.
Combing our way through history in search of beginnings of this social
code, we may trace it back to the Middle Ages. This was an era which nurtured
the ascendancy of a mail-clad cavalry, at first a simple military force,
yet later evolved into a powerful fraternity espousing the principles
of honourable and gallant .behavior The word 'chivalry' has its earliest
roots in the French word for horse, cheval, and a knight in that same
language is called chevalier, the ambassador of la chivalry (chivalry).
Many historians consider knighthood and chivalry to mean one and the
same thing. Originally, however, the chevalier was simply a horseman
equipped with lance and sword for battle, a barbaric descendant of the
Germanic Goths who raided and invaded the Roman Empire from the third to
the fifth centuries. As time progressed, the knights image grew in sophistication,
and by the end of the eleventh century knighthood had come to denote a person
of noble birth, often possessing property, whose responsibility it was to
uphold certain religious, moral and social systems. No one can assign a
precise date to the birth of chivalry, but it is generally agreed that it
was at its height between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, falling
into decadence and decline during the fourteenth, ultimately to become a
subject of unbridled farce in the fifteenth century. Chivalry's importance
to the evolution of Western civilization is sharply divided by critics.
Some have called it 'the most glorious institution that man himself ever
devised', and 'the splendid institution which threw its luster over so many
ages of gloom and anarchy'. Others, however, condemn its glorification of
war for its own sake, its contempt for social inferiors, and its 'picturesque
mimicry of high sentiment, heroism, love and courtesy.'
Created
by Jake B. and Meghan M.