CHIVALRY
. The word chevalerie, related to chevalier ‘knight,’ has been used as a collective noun, to
refer to a body of knights, or to all knights, or to an entire social order—all members of
the class from which knights were drawn. Yet it also meant a set of values, a collection of
virtuous qualities that became a code of conduct for those who belonged, or aspired to
belong, to the aristocracy of mounted warriors. Modern writers usually refer to chivalry
in this sense.
Some of these values have been associated with all warrior societies. Others survived
into modern times because of their appeal to social elites. The true age of chivalry,
however, fell between 1100 and 1500, and the incubator, if not the birthplace, of chivalry
was France. To understand chivalry is to understand the “chivalric virtues,” but different
sources in different periods gave them different emphasis, reflecting the agenda of the
writers. There are three main types of sources: ecclesiastical, literary/romantic, and
instructional treatises. In them, we find six major virtues, of which two had almost
universal acceptance: prowess (a combination of courage and style) and loyalty. Almost
as important was largesse, which drew support from different groups for different
motives. The virtue of courtesy appeared later and survived longer than the others, but its
meaning varied greatly. A fifth virtue, associated with words like “honor” and “glory,”
was of greater importance in some periods than in others. Finally, an imprecise concept
of good birth and virtuous behavior was embodied in the word franchise.
Huizinga contended that this value system became divorced from “harsh realities” in
the declining civilization of the later Middle Ages. Recent scholars, who tend to refute
Huizinga, have had to evaluate chivalry in its social and cultural context over successive
centuries. The most admired chivalric virtue was prowess, a quality esteemed in fighting
men for centuries and not specific to the heyday of the medieval knight. Loyalty had
roots in the war bands of early Germanic society and remained important under the
Carolingians. By the 11th century, most warriors were men who owed a lord personal
service, and loyalty was an important virtue.
Perceptions of loyalty and disloyalty evolved over time. Early epic literature often
portrayed faithful warriors who were wronged by their lords. By the 12th century,
however, villains of the stories were knights who betrayed their lords. By the 14th
century, treason was a crime against the king associated with lèse-majesté. Loyalty, then,
was a reciprocal obligation between a warrior and his lord, which evolved into an
obligation to the king, who was increasingly the embodiment of a state. Finally, loyalty
was a reciprocal obligation among the members of the lay orders of knighthood that
proliferated in the 14th and 15th centuries.
The virtue of generosity, or largesse, doubtless originated in the distribution of booty
among members of a war band, but it acquired new economic significance in the 11th
century, when the knight had become a trained warrior requiring a strong war-horse and
expensive equipment. Knighthood now became an increasingly aristocratic occupation,
and those without sufficient lands could be properly equipped only through their lord’s
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