and elevated courtly love to a form of religion. Although that religion came
into conflict with the Church’s stand against adultery, it provided a clear
mirror reflecting the romantic idealism of medieval nobility.
From the abundance of melodic poetry and heroic literature that
served the cause of chivalry, there emerged several enduring narratives,
such as Lancelot,by Chrétien de Troyes; Gottfried von Strassburg’s Tristan
and Isolde; Le Roman de la Roseof Guillaume de Lorris; and the legends
of the Holy Grail, the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and searched
for devotedly by King Arthur’s knights.
From the time of the Norman Conquest, French literature exerted a
strong influence on English literary forms, and until the fourteenth century
the French language replaced English in general composition. Jean Frois-
sart, the itinerant historian from Valenciennes, became prominent among
the literati of the fourteenth century. His major work, Chronique de
France, d’Angleterre, d’Ecosse et d’Espagne(simply called the Chronicle),
carries his account of the Hundred Years’ War between France and En-
gland. Not a history in the modern sense, because Froissart was preoccu-
pied with knightly deeds and “the fine feat of arms,” it is rather a saga of
chivalric display in the midst of battle.
The diverse documents of the later Middle Ages give us an ambivalent
image of a chivalrous knight. One side shows us a young noble hero in
bright armor, astride a magnificent white charger, lance poised, ready to de-
fend his monarch, his ladylove, the Church, the poor and oppressed, and
all good Christians who sought shelter under his protective shield.
The other side shows that knightly warfare was direct and savage. The
crusader, heavily protected, first with chain mail, later with plate armor,
was equipped with battle-ax and double-edged sword, forged in fire to slay
the enemy swiftly. The Black Prince, Edward of England, who was prince
of Wales during the Hundred Years’ War, was, in spite of his violence in
battle, compassionate to his war prisoners. In contrast, as was mentioned
above, Richard the Lion-Hearted slaughtered his Muslim prisoners during
the Third Crusade. As much as the code of chivalry was obeyed, it was also
ignored. In any case, knightly comportment was reserved for the gentry. A
knight extended his chivalrous courtesies only to a member of his class; and
his ethereal devotion to his lady did not bridle his predatory advances to-
ward women of the lower class.
The vast number of enthralled peasants who tilled the soil and reaped
the crops on the feudal estates were part of another world, dominated by
the small but powerful aristocracy. Revolts of the peasantry were in-
evitable. In 1358, the French peasants rose up in a jacquerie (peasants’ re-
volt), demanding relief from their economic and judicial oppression; and in
1381, the Wat Tyler Rebellion, just across the English Channel, convulsed
Chivalry 81