Chivalry

Code of Chivalry transforms warriors into courtiers. Shaped by three influences

I. Culture of combat --encapsulated in the tournament

A. When war is rarer, knights can still prove honor, and seek advancement, wealth and power

B. Rules of the tournament (melee)

1. two teams ranging the countryside

2. starts on horseback, continues on foot

3. safe zones for rest

4. take captives for ransom

5. later rules limiting types and qualities of weapons

C. Later popularity of jousting

D. tournament was for entertainment and for teaching moral lesson

1. entertainment value apparent in 14th-century paintings

2. upholding chivalric virtues

3. tournament compared with other sports

II. Courtly literature is second influence on chivalry

A. Warrior romance: Song of Roland

1. what values are most important?

B. Love romance: Lancelot (1177)--combines combat and courtly love

1. why did Guinevere tell Lancelot to lose?

2. why love become an important theme in chivalry

a. marriage alliances

b. courtly alliances

III. The church seeks to sanctify chivalry

A. opposes both tournaments and courtly romance

B. seeks to make the Crusades the main expression of chivalry

C. writers respond by writing Christianized romances