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Craig Taylor's study examines the wide-ranging French debates on the martial ideals of chivalry and knighthood during the period of the Hundred Years War (1337–1453). Faced by stunning military disasters and the collapse of public order, writers and intellectuals carefully scrutinized the martial qualities expected of knights and soldiers. They questioned when knights and men-at-arms could legitimately resort to violence, the true nature of courage, the importance of mercy, and the role of books and scholarly learning in the very practical world of military men. Contributors to these discussions included some of the most famous French medieval writers, led by Jean Froissart, Geoffroi de Charny, Philippe de Mézières, Honorat Bovet, Christine de Pizan, Alain Chartier and Antoine de La Sale. This interdisciplinary study sets their discussions in context, challenging modern, romantic assumptions about chivalry and investigating the historical reality of debates about knighthood and warfare in late medieval France.
In popular imagination few phenomena are as strongly associated with medieval society as knighthood and chivalry. At the same time, and due to a long tradition of differing national perspectives and ideological assumptions, few phenomena have continued to be the object of so much academic debate. In this volume leading scholars explore various aspects of knightly identity, taking into account both commonalities and particularities across Western Europe. Knighthood and Society in the High Middle Ages addresses how, between the eleventh and the early thirteenth centuries, knighthood evolved from a set of skills and a lifestyle that was typical of an emerging elite habitus, into the basis of a consciously expressed and idealised chivalric code of conduct. Chivalry, then, appears in this volume as the result of a process of noble identity formation, in which some five key factors are distinguished: knightly practices, lineage, crusading memories, gender roles, and chivalric didactics.
What did it mean to be a medieval knight? Medieval knighthood and chivalry still hold a fascination for modern readers more than 500 years after the knight's office was overtaken by the military officer and civil servant. Writing in the latter part of the 13th century, Ramon Lull penned what has become on of the most influential books on what it meant to be a knight. Originally written in Catalan, it was first translated into English in 1484 by William Caxton and printed as one of the first books in England. Since the 15th century text has proven difficult for many students, this modernized edition by Brian R. Price strives to preserve as much of Caxton's language as posssible while upading the text as necessary to make this important work accessible to modern readers. As a bonus, the editors have included the anonymous Ordene de Chevalerie, translated into English by William Morris. Together, these works comprise two the three most important works on chivalry to survive from the Middle Ages.
Medieval Literature and Social Politics brings together seventeen articles by literary historian Stephen Knight. The book primarily focuses on the social and political meaning of medieval literature, in the past and the present. It provides an account of how early heroic texts relate to the issues surrounding leadership and conflict in Wales, France and England, and how the myth of the Grail and the French reworking of Celtic stories relate to contemporary society and its concerns. Further chapters examine Chaucer’s readings of his social world, the medieval reworkings of the Arthur and Merlin myths, and the popular social statements in ballads and other literary forms. The concluding chapters examine the Anglo-nationalist `Arctic Arthur’, and the ways in which Arthur, Merlin and Robin Hood can be treated in terms of modern studies of the history of emotions and the environment. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of medieval Europe, as well as those interested in social and political history, medieval literature and modern medievalism (CS 1099).
On the great influence of a valiant lord: "The companions, who see that good warriors are honored by the great lords for their prowess, become more determined to attain this level of prowess." On the lady who sees her knight honored: "All of this makes the noble lady rejoice greatly within herself at the fact that she has set her mind and heart on loving and helping to make such a good knight or good man-at-arms." On the worthiest amusements: "The best pastime of all is to be often in good company, far from unworthy men and from unworthy activities from which no good can come." Enter the real world of knights and their code of ethics and behavior. Read how an aspiring knight of the fourteent...
This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1989.
This evocative book examines the historical brotherhood of knights, how they were governed by their feudal lord, and the ideal of the chivalric code. Knights drewinspiration from portrayals of knighthood in the literature of chivalry - in heroic chansons de geste, poems of courtly love and prose, and verse of romances that told of knights' great deeds in war and love. From the knightly heroes of the Bible and the classical worlds to the goldenage of medieval chivalry and the enduring tales of King Arthur, there is also a discussion of how the knights of history lived up to these ideals, and themselves becamelegendary figures.
Traces the history of chivalry from the warriors and knights of early medieval Europe to the chivalric displays which characterised fifteenth and sixteenth century court life.
What happens when a sheepish knight and a not-so-fierce dragon fight for the very first time? Well, it's no ordinary battle since the knight has to go to the castle library to learn about dragon-fighting and the dragon must dig through his ancestor's things to find out how to fight a knight! "Spontaneity of line and feeling are backed by zesty colors and a jovial, tongue-in-cheek tone to which children can relate—a top springtime choice." —Booklist "There's a swirl of good-humored life to the book." —The New York Times Book Review