Chivalry (redirected from politesse)

chivalry (shĭv`əlrē), system of ethical ideals that arose from feudalism and had its highest development in the 12th and 13th cent.

Chivalric ethics originated chiefly in France and Spain and spread rapidly to the rest of the Continent and to England. They represented a fusion of Christian and military concepts of morality and still form the basis of gentlemanly conduct. Noble youths became pages in the castles of other nobles at the age of 7; at 14 they trained as squires in the service of knights, learning horsemanship and military techniques, and were themselves knighted, usually at 21.

The chief chivalric virtues were piety, honor, valor, courtesy, chastity, and loyalty. The knight's loyalty was due to the spiritual master, God; to the temporal master, the suzerain; and to the mistress of the heart, his sworn love. Love, in the chivalrous sense, was largely platonic; as a rule, only a virgin or another man's wife could be the chosen object of chivalrous love. With the cult of the Virgin Mary, the relegation of noblewomen to a pedestal reached its highest expression.

The ideal of militant knighthood was greatly enhanced by the Crusades. The monastic orders of knighthood, the Knights Templars and the Knights Hospitalers, produced soldiers sworn to uphold the Christian ideal. Besides the battlefield, the tournament was the chief arena in which the virtues of chivalry could be proved. The code of chivalrous conduct was worked out with great subtlety in the courts of love that flourished in France and in Flanders. There the most arduous questions of love and honor were argued before the noble ladies who presided (see courtly love). The French military hero Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard, was said to be the last embodiment of the ideals of chivalry.

In practice, chivalric conduct was never free from corruption, increasingly evident in the later Middle Ages. Courtly love often deteriorated into promiscuity and adultery and pious militance into barbarous warfare. Moreover, the chivalric duties were not owed to those outside the bounds of feudal obligation. The outward trappings of chivalry and knighthood declined in the 15th cent., by which time wars were fought for victory and individual valor was irrelevant. Artificial orders of chivalry, such as the Order of the Golden Fleece (1423), were created by rulers to promote loyalty; tournaments became ritualized, costly, and comparatively bloodless; the traditions of knighthood became obsolete.

Medieval secular literature was primarily concerned with knighthood and chivalry. Two masterpieces of this literature are the Chanson de Roland (c.1098; see Roland) and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (see Pearl, The). Arthurian legend

Medieval Sources

The battle of Mt. Badon—in which, according to the Annales Cambriae (c.
.....  and the chansons de geste furnished bases for many later romances and epics. The work of Chrétien de Troyes and the Roman de la Rose also had tremendous influence on European literature. The endless chivalrous and pastoral romances, still widely read in the 16th cent., were satirized by Cervantes in Don Quixote. In the 19th cent., however, the romantic movement brought about a revival of chivalrous ideals and literature.

For the lyric poetry of the age of chivalry, see troubadours; trouvères; minnesinger.

Bibliography

See B. E. Broughton, Dictionary of Medieval Knighthood and Chivalry (1986); M. Keen, Chivalry (1984); H. Chickering and T. H. Seiler, ed., The Study of Chivalry (1988).

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chivalry

Knightly class of feudal Europe, and especially the gallantry and honor expected of medieval knights. The ideal of courteous knightly conduct developed in the 12th–13th century. It arose out of feudal obligation (see feudalism) and stressed loyalty and obeisance by a knight to his God, his lord, and his lady, thus melding Christian and military virtues. Chivalry was greatly strengthened by the Crusades, a military endeavor on behalf of Christianity, which led to the founding of the earliest orders of chivalry, the Knights of Malta and the Templars. In addition to loyalty and honor, the chivalric virtues included valor, piety, courtesy, and chastity. Questions of love and honor were combined in the ethos of courtly love. The knight's lady was meant to be unobtainable, ensuring chastity; the feminine ideal thus became melded with the Virgin Mary. In the 14th–15th century, chivalry came to be associated increasingly with aristocratic display and public ceremony, particularly in jousting tournaments, rather than with service in the field.

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Chivalry

Amadis of Gaul

personification of chivalric ideals: valor, purity, fidelity. [Span. Lit.: Benét, 27]

Arthur, King

king of England; head of the Round Table. [Br. Lit.: Le Morte d’Arthur]

Bevis

chivalrous medieval knight, righting wrongs in Europe. [Br. Lit.: Bevis of Hampton]

Book of the Courtier

Castiglione’s discussion of the manners of the perfect courtier (1528). [Ital. Lit.: EB, II: 622]

Calidore, Sir

personification of courtesy and chivalrous actions. [Br. Lit.: Faerie Queene]

Camelot

capital of King Arthur’s realm, evokes the romance of knightly activity. [Br. Legend: Collier’s IV, 224]

Cid, El

Spanish military leader who becomes a national hero through chivalrous exploits. [Span. Lit.: Song of the Cid]

Courtenay, Miles

dashing and chivalrous Irishman. [Br. Lit.: King Noanett, Walsh Modern, 108]

Coverley, Sir Roger de

ideal, early 18th-century squire. [Br. Lit.: “Spectator” in Wheeler, 85]

D’Artagnan

Dumas’s ever-popular chivalrous character. [Fr. Lit.: The Three Musketeers]

Dantes, Edmond

chivalrous adventurer. [Fr. Lit.: Count of Monte-Cristo]

Edward III, King

when a countess dropped her garter, he put it on to reproach the sniggering courtiers, and instituted the Order of the Garter. [Br. Legend: Benét, 383]

Eglamour, Sir

“a knight well-spoken, neat, and fine.” [Br. Lit.: Two Gentlemen of Verona]

Galahad, Sir

gallant, chivalrous knight of the Round Table. [Br. Lit.: Le Morte d’Arthur]

Gareth

knight who, though Lynette scorns him as only a kitchen hand, successfully accomplishes rescuing her sister. [Br. Poetry: Tennyson Idylls of the King]

Gawain, Sir King

Arthur’s nephew; model of knightly perfection and chivalry. [Br. Lit.: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]

Ivanhoe

the epitome of chivalric novels. [Br. Lit.: Ivanhoe]

Knights Templars

protected pilgrims to the Holy Land and fought the Saracens. [Medieval Hist.: NCE, 1490]

Knights of the Round Table

chivalrous knights in King Arthur’s reign. [Br. Lit.: Le Morte d’Arthur]

Lancelot, Sir

knight in King Arthur’s realm; model of chivalry. [Br. Lit.: Le Morte d’Arthur]

Morte d’Arthur, Le

monumental work of chivalric romance. [Br. Lit.: Le Morte d’Arthur]

Orlando

gallant and steadfast hero of medieval romance. [Ital. Lit.: Orlando Furioso; Orlando Inammorato; Morgante Maggiore]

Quixote, Don

knight-errant ready to rescue distressed damsels. [Span. Lit.: Don Quixote]

Raleigh, Sir Walter

drops his cloak over a puddle to save Queen Elizabeth from wetting her feet. [Br. Lit.: Scott Kenilworth in Magill I, 469]

Richard the Lion-Hearted

(1159–1199) king known for his gallantry and prowess. [Br. Hist.: EB, 15: 827]

Roland

paragon of chivalry; unyielding warrior in Charlemagne legends. [Fr. Lit.: Song of Roland]

sweet william

symbolizes chivalry. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 181]

Valiant, Prince

comic strip character epitomizes chivalry. [Comics: Horn, 565]