There are at least 12 acts of chivalry out of 17 entries in the code available in the Song of Roland. The codes that can be deciphered from the song include fear of God, to serve the master or liege lord faithfully, to protect weak and defenseless including orphans and widows, to avoid wanton offence, to live with honor and glory and despise pecuniary considerations, to fight for the public good and welfare, to obey those in higher position, to defend the honor of other knights, to refrain from dishonesty, deceit, meanness, and unfairness, to safeguard faith, to speak truthfully under every condition, to persevere to logical in any assignment or enterprise, to defend the honor of women, to accept any challenge thrown by an equal, and never to show the back to an enemy (middle-ages. This code that describes eighth century Knights of the dark ages is also known as Charlemagne’s Code of Chivalry, for Charlemagne is depicted fighting battles. ‘The Song of Roland’ composed between 10 documents one such code. The Middle Ages culture strongly focused on the Knights Code of Chivalry. In the middle ages, along with strength and skills of combat, a knight was expected to be chivalrous, that is, the aggressive side of his nature was expected to be tempered with modest qualities of bravery and courtesy, gallantry and honor toward ladies. In the following century these rules were set forth in some pages of the prose romance of Lancelot in the German Minnesang, in the fragment of the ‘Meissner’ finally and above all, in the short French didactic poem entitled L’Ordene de Chevalerie (Bloch 38). “One of these composed shortly after 1180, was a celebrated passage from the Perceval of Chretien de Troyes. Slowly and gradually, the rules thus formulated found their way into texts beginning with prayer, followed by various writings in vulgar tongue. Not all dubbed knights had their arm blessed and hence not all of them took the oath, but according to many ecclesiastical writers, even those that did not pronounce the oath with their lips were bound to the code by a kind of quasi-contract. Before a future knight took back his sword from the altar he was required to take an oath defining his obligations. With religious sanctification the spirit de corps of the knightly world gained strength along with impacting upon the moral law of the group. In due course and over a period of time developed the code of chivalry that was religiously sanctified. Therefore, by 1100s Church began to take special interest in knighting ceremony adding an aura of moral significance to it (Stanton & Hyma 261-262). In the opinion of Church Officials knights could show honesty, generosity, and courtesy as also respect to women if they took vows during the knighting ceremony. The Catholic Church was concerned with harshness and brutality prevalent during the Middle ages. It set up standards for the training, and behavior of knights both in and out of combat. All knights were supposed to follow the Code of Chivalry. Hence a Code of Chivalry was developed to tone down the brutal temperament of the warriors in a Christian setting. The knights were the same barbaric tribesmen that had devastated Rome not long back. The society in Medieval Ages was harsh and brutal. The Age of Chivalry distinguishes feudalism in Middle Ages apart from the others.įeudalism was not unique to Europe but almost every contemporary kingdoms throughout the world used some form of feudal government. In the Middle Ages a code of knighthood, also known as Code of Chivalry developed that emphasized bravery, honesty, and courtesy. Historians have spoken of Age of Chivalry in Europe when the Viking raids came to an end. The term that described polite and virtuous behavior of nobles including the art of courtly behavior was cortoisie (Bouchard 103). The term did not have moral and political overtones at the time.
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