Literally, chivalry means, “The sum of the ideal qualifications of a knight, including courtesy, generosity, valor, and dexterity in arms (Random). Chivalry is most known from the middle ages; the time of the knights and kings. There was even something known as the knight’s code of chivalry. All knights were to sympathize with the elderly and the orphans, never accept a reward, always fight to help others, always obey authority, protect their fellow knights’ honor, compete against unfairness, always keep faith, never lie or deceive anyone, respect women, and never refuse a challenge (Knights). The knights of the middle ages lived by 12 points which were faith, charity, justice, sagacity, prudence, temperance, resolution, truth, liberality, diligence, hope, and valor (Knights).
Most people today think that chivalry and honor are non-existent, but really these things are still abundantly in our lives, they just are not taken quite as seriously as they were back in the Middle Ages. If you pay attention to the movies in our culture today most of them display some sort of chivalry, honor, bravery, or loyalty.
In the movie 300, it starts out with messengers from the Persian army telling Sparta to bow down under king Xerxes rule. Leonidas, the leader of the Spartan army, goes to the Ephors, ancient priests with leprosy, to get permission to go to war with Persia (Gordon). Even though Leonidas knew that the Persian army had thousands of soldiers, he went on to battle with only 300 men showing great bravery. He knows that it is certainly a battle that no Spartan will survive, but he wants to convince the Spartan council to unite the city-states around them to fight Persia to keep his friends and family safe (Gordon). The knigh...
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...and also risking their own lives in the process. Luckily, the hired assassin that killed his uncle saves him since he feels guilty about his uncle’s murder (Stormbreaker).
Chivalry, honor, bravery, and loyalty are the main things that knights lived by and apparently we do as well. Bravery and honor require courage, honesty, and integrity while chivalry and loyalty require generosity and faithfulness (Random). Both Leonidas and Alex Rider showed many of these things. This proves that chivalry, honor, loyalty, and bravery are not dead, and are present in our movies and in our literature today.
Works Cited
Knights Code of Chivalry. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 May 2010. .
Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary: Unabridged 2005. Print.
Horowitz, Anthony. Stormbreaker. Walker Books, 7-3-2006. Print.
Life during the Middle Ages was full of social change, division, and classism. This feudal society of Britain was divided into three estates. (social classes) Within the second estate was the the knight who was a soldier for the king who fought in many battles. Even though the knight is expected to have the strength and the skills to fight in battle, all knights during the Medieval period additionally had a chivalrous aspect to them. Chivalry was the honor code of a knight which included bravery, courtesy, honor, and gallantry toward women. Within the stories of the “Wife of Bath’s Tale” and “Le Morte d’Arthur”, the code of chivalry was broken by knights which show the corruption of England’s feudal society.
Chivalry – characteristics of a knight or courageous warrior which include “courtesy, generosity, valor and dexterity” (Dictionary)
Chivalry stresses fighting ability, faithfulness, honesty, generosity, service to one’s lord, service to one’s lady and loyalty to other warriors. The first part of chivalry, which stressed fighting ability and service to one’s lord, is taken directly from comitatus. Chivalry was not always followed in Le Morte D’Arthur much alike comitatus in Beowulf. The biggest withdrawal from chivalry is done by Lancelot. Lancelot broke this social system by taking part in an affair with Guinevere, by doing this he shatters the law of service to one’s lord. It is this decision that results in other characters in the story to stride away from the rules of chivalry, and in the end bring down the society. His decision caused warriors to conspire to catch Lancelot with Guinevere, which in the end leads to Lancelot killing several knights to escape. A pattern forms where a character breaks one part of the code of chivalry in the goal of keeping another code of chivalry intact. Eventually, this results in the demise of the Arthurian society. Because of Lancelot’s failure to follow the code of chivalry, he and Arthur create a long war. A lot of confusion in the warriors results from this, much like when Arthur’s men are ordered to have Guinevere burned, yet it was a violation of chivalry to not be loyal to your lady, and also a violation not to follow an order of the king.
Today chivalry is mostly referred to in regards to how a man treats a woman. Many of this generation believe chivalry to be a synonym for courtesy. This is because the true definition has been lost over time as it was first used in the medieval times. Chivalry is the combination of qualities expected of an ideal knight, especially courage, honor, courtesy, justice, and a readiness to help the weak. So not only does it include courtesy, as we understand it today, but includes other honorable qualities. As chivalry is in reference to an ideal knight, it makes sense that we can identify this quality throughout The Green Knight and Morte D’Arthur. These texts are set in medieval times during the rule of King Arthur. Throughout The Green Knight and Morte D’Arthur chivalry is demonstrated, depicting what it
Chivalry was the code of conduct for knights in medieval Europe. Chivalry came from the French word “chevalier” meaning, “knight.” This code of conduct for knights originated from feudalism, the social-political system that governed medieval Europe. Nobility mostly made up the chivalric order, but not all (Dickerman, 611-12).
The main elements of the European chivalry was that a knight should defend the Christian church, offer loyalty to his lord, be courageous in battle, and also be generous to the feeble. Knights also often championed a lady by protecting her and defending her honor.
Chivalry began in the 12th century in the form of a knightly code of conduct,
“Chivalry based its rules first on the knight's duty to defend the people he had promised to defend. To run away or give up was unacceptable; knights fought to the death or until they were captured and disarmed.” (Knights) These knights because of their bold and courageous acts were valued by everyone in the kingdom including, monks, woman, children, and the very old and sick who were unable to fight. “Chivalry also required a knight to be loyal to his lord and to his fellow knights.” (Knights) Explaining the duties of knights and how they helped out their fellow people and the town also how fearless and brave they were thus making us believe that all knights back then where honorable, compassionate, brave men. Knights were also extremely valued because they risked their lives for the people and their king. "Although knights were trained horsemen, they did not always go into battle as cavalrymen. On many occasions it was thought better for a large part of an army to dismount and form a solid body, often supported by archers and groups of cavalry." (“Into Battle”) Like our army and troops now, knights did not always fight ...
Chivalry – characteristics of a knight or courageous warrior which include “courtesy, generosity, valor and dexterity” (Dictionary)
Technically chivalry is defined as the moral code of knights in medieval times i.e.: dignity, courtesy, bravery, generosity, and gallantry. This was the manner of respect in which women were to be treated, and a knight was to uphold the code always. One can imagine courtly ladies strolling through the court in fine gowns, and having a chivalrous knight lay his cloak over a muddy patch so the ladies shan't muss their shoes. These days should some kind man stand for an extra second at a door to keep it open for an approaching woman, she may be amazed at this display of courtesy.
First, The Knight is an extraordinary character because of his excess amount of chivalry. Chivalry is the medieval knightly system with its religious, moral, and social code. “And at a Knight I therefore will begin. There was a Knight, a most distinguished man, who from the day on which he first began, To ride abroad had followed chivalry, Truth, h...
Closely associated to the romance tradition are two idealized standards of behavior, especially for knights: courage and chivalry. The protagonist within many medieval romances proved their worth by going on quests, as many a knights went in those times, thus returning with great tales of their travels and deeds. Many modern people think of chivalry as referring to a man's gallant treatment of women, and although that sense is derived from the medieval chivalric ideal, chivalry could be seen as more than that. Knights were expected to be brave, loyal, and honorable-sent to protect the weak, be noble to...
... has changed drastically. During the Middle Ages, chivalry was a code of brave and courteous conduct for knights. During the Middle Ages, the people who lived during this time use chivalry as a code of conduct .There are some forms of Chivalry today but to a smaller degree than in the Middle Ages. Some examples of chivalry today are helping the elderly, family, and friends with some activities. It’s not possible to be as chivalrous as the knights in the Middle Ages were because our lifestyles have changed. Since the beginning of the Middle Ages, chivalry has been an important part of life. Society had high expectations for knights. Knights strictly followed by these rules and were punished both physically and socially if they broke them. They had many responsibilities such as protect the church, serve their lord, protect the weak and practice courtly love(Chivalry).
The word chivalry comes from the French term “chevalrie” which when literally described meant the warrior attributes of armed knights on horseback. When the word was first used it did not have many, if any, of the moral or social aspects with which were later attributed to it. Reaching the later periods of the Middle Ages there begins to be a consensus opinion on the definition of a chivalrous knight. This knight would be polite, especially to women, loyal to his lord, a devout and humble Christian, and a powerful and strong-willed fighter. While no man could live up to these expectations, an ideal chivalrous knight would demonstrate all of these qualities. Chivalry would begin to fade in the 15th century following the unrealistic disposition of courtly love. From the beginning of the Crusades to this point however, chivalry was not only an important part of the cultural world of the upper classes it would come to define it. Indeed, many of the major parts of life in the Middle Ages including warfare, religion, ceremonies and romance were significantly affected by chivalry. These key aspects of life which chivalry impacted would define the cultural world of the upper classes throughout Europe.
In today’s society the differences in morals between the rich and the poorer classes are virtually non-existent, but during Medieval times “morals and, above all, the virtues at its center, played an important role not only for distinguishing between good and bad, but, more importantly, even for the structuring of society” (Virtus 1). The aristocracy class and the immoral poor class had morals but how they demonstrated them varied; the aristocratic class used chivalry as the basis of their morals, while the immoral poor class did not. Chivalry was not only a code of conduct for those who followed it; chivalry was a way of life. ‘Chivalry first arose in Europe during the Crusades. Chivalry dealt with loyalty honor, and service to women on and off the battle field’ (“The Medieval Period: 1066-1485” 76). The Knight in The Canterbury Tales is the perfect example of someone who follows the code of chivalry. Chaucer describes him with much admiration as “a most distinguishable man, who from the day on which he first began to ride abroad had followed chivalry, truth, honor generousness and courtesy” (Chaucer, "The Prologue." 117). While Chaucer praises the knight for ...