American Chivalry Analysis

Whats a good medieval romance without chivalry? The combination of qualities expected of an ideal knight, especially courage, honor, courtesy, justice, and a readiness to help the weak. “The world of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is governed by well-defined codes of behavior. ... The ideals of Christian morality and knightly chivalry are brought together in Gawain's symbolic shield. The pentangle represents the five virtues of knights: friendship, generosity, chastity, courtesy, and piety.”

Chivalry, as defined by Encyclopedia Americana is a system of values and ideals of conduct held by knights in medieval Europe. In its institutional form, chivalry was an informal, international order to which many, but not all, of the ruling class (nobility) belonged. The word is derived from the Latin caballus (horse) through the French chevalier (“horseman” or knight).

     An act of chivalry is described as the qualifications or character of the ideal knight. Knights were expected to uphold this code of conduct. In the English literature Le Morte d?Arthur, French for ?The Death of Arthur?, by Sir Thomas Malory, the characters display acts of chivalry from beginning to end. Though the code of chivalry contains many qualities or acts, nevertheless bravery, loyalty, and courtly love are demonstrated more throughout this literature.

Chivalry is the type of thing that would be great to have in our society but I don’t believe that it exists too much anymore in the world today. Let me break down here some of the chivalry rules compared with the actions of the people of the current world.

Literally, chivalry means, “The sum of the ideal qualifications of a knight, including courtesy, generosity, valor, and dexterity in arms (Random). Chivalry is most known from the middle ages; the time of the knights and kings. There was even something known as the knight’s code of chivalry. All knights were to sympathize with the elderly and the orphans, never accept a reward, always fight to help others, always obey authority, protect their fellow knights’ honor, compete against unfairness, always keep faith, never lie or deceive anyone, respect women, and never refuse a challenge (Knights). The knights of the middle ages lived by 12 points which were faith, charity, justice, sagacity, prudence, temperance, resolution, truth,

was his duty to help the master of the castle in anyway needed. These tasks

Chivalry is defined as the combination of qualities expected of an ideal knight, especially courage, honor, courtesy, justice, and a readiness to help the weak (Dictionary.com). While the time of the knights has departed, the qualities they stood for are still around and have evolved as the times have changed. Whether it be in stories and culture or in actual lives, traces of chivalry can be found. These qualities are desired enough to still exist today as well as be present throughout history. The reason is because chivalry is beneficial to mankind in numerous ways.

A close look at these manuscripts reveals how the debate about women is an extension of the debate on chivalry. The debate on women focused on the measure of moral excellence of the man who treated a woman with honor. The behavior that was considered honorable was based on the citations used in the treatises that the authors argued were aligned with biblical and Christian doctrine. It is through their knowledge of Christian doctrine along with their behavior that they were able to validate their own Christianity according to their standards of chivalry. As stated previously, the need to validate one's Christianity became particularly important as the jealousy of the high nobility centered on the new class of nobles and conversos whom they perceived

Chivalry is a concept that has baffled countless medieval historians throughout the years. Chivalry was supposedly a code that knights and nobles lived their lives by, however, like other social structures of the past historians have debated over the extent to which people lived according to chivalric principles. Sir Walter Scott believed that chivalry was meant as a code which knights could aspire, but not one that was carried out in reality. His description seems accurate. Chivalric principles could not be borne out in real life. Froissart painted a romantic image of The Hundred Years War and of the aristocracy at the time. Froissart is constantly full of praise for the chivalric lifestyle many of them are

The characteristics of the samurai.What were the characteristics of the samurai and samurai culture?The samurai were a warrior culture that was unique to japan.The samurai followed a code of conduct know as bushido.The code was bushid was for the samurai.The samurai confines himself to practicing the way.These moral principles in the land.The samurai were soldiers by japanese serving nobles japanese called daimyo to protect their lands.In japan the daimyos held a social position that was almost identical to the one held by the lords in europe.In japan the

During medieval times knighthood was a class culture, cherished and jealousy guarded by the knightly caste. Knight had the honor of defending the king as well as their country. On the bloody fields of battle a code of chivalry evolved that tempered anger and fury with mercy. It created ways of turning the grim business of fighting into something tolerable, perhaps even acceptable. Chivalry was not only looked upon as a code for war; it was looked upon as a setting for stories of love and romance. Chivalry meant a higher social status as well as recognition.

2. The main elements of European chivalry are their respect of their lord and the church. They also defend the church when needed, sometimes using force. These are not the only elements, but they are the most important.

The European chivalry believed in courage in battle, loyalty to a lord, generosity to feeble, defending the church, and respecting women. Knights often championed a lady by protecting and defending her honor. The relationships between ladies and knights inspired many works of romanced writings.

The concept of Chivalry has baffled countless medieval historians throughout the years. Chivalry was supposedly a code that knights and nobles lived their lives by however, just like other social structures that were in place in the past historians have struggled to draw conclusions as to the extent to which people lived according to chivalric principles. Sir Walter Scott believed that knights aspired to the code of chivalry, but that in the real world the code was impossible to live according to such a code. This conclusion gives a clear picture of chivalry. The aristocracy strived to live according to the paragons of chivalry; however, it was simply impossible to adhere to such rules in real life. Froissart painted a romantic image of The

In medieval romances there is a hero-knight, this hero-knight prides himself on being chivalrous. Chivalry is the overall code of being respectful, religious, and morally right. Some believe chivalry is dead in our society, but I believe it has just been evolved for modern day life. In “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, the author pokes fun at the court's values of chivalry. During the second half of the 14th century, when the story takes place, chivalry dictates their ranks and their everyday life.