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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Chivalry</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03691a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="Considered from three points of view: the military, the social, and the religious"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="03691a.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/c.htm">C</a> > Chivalry</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Chivalry</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>Chivalry (derived through the French <em>cheval</em> from the Latin <em>caballus</em>) as an institution is to be considered from three points of view: the military, the social, and the religious. We shall also here consider the history of chivalry as a whole.</p> <h2>Military</h2> <p>In the military sense, chivalry was the heavy cavalry of the <a href="../cathen/10285c.htm">Middle Ages</a> which constituted the chief and most effective warlike force. The knight or <em>chevalier</em> was the professional soldier of the time; in <a href="../cathen/10285c.htm">medieval</a> Latin, the ordinary word <em>miles</em> (soldier) was equivalent to "knight." This pre-eminence of cavalry was correlative with the decline of infantry on the battlefield. Four peculiarities distinguished the professional warrior:</p> <div class="bulletlist"><ul><li>his weapons;</li><li>his horse;</li><li>his attendants, and</li><li>his flag.</li></ul></div> <h3>Weapons</h3> <p>The <a href="../cathen/10285c.htm">medieval</a> army was poorly equipped for long-distance fighting, and bows and crossbows were still employed, although the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> endeavored to prohibit their use, at least between <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> armies, as contrary to humanity. At all events, they were regarded as unfair in combat by the medieval knight. His only offensive weapons were the lance for the encounter and the sword for the close fight, weapons common to both light-armed and heavy cavalry. The characteristic distinction of the latter, which really constituted chivalry, lay in their defensive weapons, which varied with different periods. These weapons were always costly to get and heavy to bear, such as the <em>brunia</em> or hauberk of the <a href="../cathen/03610c.htm">Carlovingian</a> Era, the coat of mail, which prevailed during the <a href="../cathen/04543c.htm">Crusades</a>, and lastly the plate armor introduced in the fourteenth century.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <h3>Horses</h3> <p>No knight was thought to be properly equipped without at least three horses:</p> <div class="bulletlist"><ul><li>the battle horse, or <em>dexterarius</em>, which was led by hand, and used only for the onset (hence the saying, "to mount one's high horse"),</li><li>a second horse, palfrey or courser, for the route, and</li><li>the pack-horse for the luggage.</li></ul></div> <h3>Attendants</h3> <p>The knight required several attendants:</p> <div class="bulletlist"><ul><li>one to conduct the horses,</li><li>another to bear the heaviest weapons, particularly the shield or escutcheon (<em>scutum</em>, hence <em>scutarius</em>, French <em>escuyer</em>, esquire);</li><li>still another to aid his master to mount his battle horse or to raise him if dismounted;</li><li>a fourth to guard <a href="../cathen/12430a.htm">prisoners</a>, chiefly those of quality, for whom a high ransom was expected.</li></ul></div> <p>These attendants, who were of low condition, were not to be confounded with the armed retainers, who formed the escort of a knight. From the thirteenth century the squires also went armed and mounted and, passing from one grade to the other, were raised finally to knighthood.</p> <h3>Flags</h3> <p>Banners were also a distinctive mark of chivalry. They were attached to, and carried on, the lance. There was a sharp distinction between the pennon, a flag pointed or forked at the extremity, used by a single chevalier or bachelor as a personal ensign, and the banner, square in form, used as the ensign of a band and reserved to the baron or baronet in command of a group of at least ten knights, called a constabulary. Each flag or banner was emblazoned with the arms of its owner to distinguish one from another on the battlefield. These armorial bearings afterwards became hereditary and gave birth to the complicated <a href="../cathen/07243a.htm">science of heraldry</a>.</p> <h2>Social</h2> <p>The career of a knight was costly, requiring personal means in keeping with the station; for a knight had to defray his own expenses in an age when the sovereign had neither treasury nor <a href="../cathen/15546c.htm">war</a> budget at his disposal. When land was the only kind of riches, each lord paramount who wished to raise an army divided his domain into military fiefs, the tenant being held to military service at his own personal expense for a fixed number of days (forty in <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a> and in <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a> during the Norman period). These fees, like other <a href="../cathen/06058c.htm">feudal</a> grants, became hereditary, and thus developed a noble class, for whom the knightly profession was the only career. Knighthood, however, was not hereditary, though only the sons of a knight were eligible to its ranks. In boyhood they were sent to the court of some noble, where they were trained in the use of horses and weapons, and were taught lessons of courtesy. From the thirteenth century, the candidates, after they had attained the rank of squire, were allowed to take part in battles; but it was only when they had come of age, commonly twenty-one years, that they were admitted to the rank of knight by means of a peculiar ceremonial called "dubbing." Every knight was qualified to confer knighthood, provided the aspirant fulfilled the requisite conditions of birth, age, and training. Where the condition of birth was lacking in the aspirant, the sovereign alone could create a knight, as a part of his royal prerogative.</p> <h2>Religious</h2> <p>In the ceremonial of conferring knighthood the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> shared, through the blessing of the sword, and by the virtue of this blessing chivalry assumed a <a href="../cathen/12738a.htm">religious</a> <a href="../cathen/03584b.htm">character</a>. In early <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a>, although <a href="../cathen/14520c.htm">Tertullian's</a> teaching that <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a> and the profession of arms were incompatible was condemned as <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heretical</a>, the military career was regarded with little favour. In chivalry, religion and the profession of arms were reconciled. This change in attitude on the part of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> dates, according to some, from the <a href="../cathen/04543c.htm">Crusades</a>, when <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> armies were for the first time devoted to a sacred purpose. Even prior to the <a href="../cathen/04543c.htm">Crusades</a>, however, an anticipation of this attitude is found in the custom called the <a href="../cathen/15068a.htm">"Truce of God"</a>. It was then that the <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a> seized upon the opportunity offered by these truces to exact from the rough warriors of <a href="../cathen/06058c.htm">feudal</a> times a religious <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vow</a> to use their weapons chiefly for the protection of the weak and defenseless, especially <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> and <a href="../cathen/11322b.htm">orphans</a>, and of churches. Chivalry, in the new sense, rested on a <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vow</a>; it was this <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vow</a> which dignified the soldier, elevated him in his own esteem, and raised him almost to the level of the <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monk</a> in <a href="../cathen/10285c.htm">medieval</a> <a href="../cathen/14074a.htm">society</a>. As if in return for this <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vow</a>, the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> <a href="../cathen/11279a.htm">ordained</a> a special blessing for the knight in the <a href="../cathen/03538b.htm">ceremony</a> called in the <em>Pontificale Romanum</em>, "Benedictio novi militis." At first very simple in its form, this ritual gradually developed into an elaborate <a href="../cathen/03538b.htm">ceremony</a>. Before the blessing of the sword on the <a href="../cathen/01362a.htm">altar</a>, many preliminaries were required of the aspirant, such as confession, a vigil of <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a>, <a href="../cathen/05789c.htm">fasting</a>, a symbolical bath, and investiture with a white robe, for the purpose of impressing on the candidate the purity of <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a> with which he was to enter upon such a noble career. Kneeling, in the presence of the <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a>, he pronounced the solemn <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vow</a> of chivalry, at the same time often renewing the <a href="../cathen/02275a.htm">baptismal vow</a>; the one chosen as godfather then struck him lightly on the neck with a sword (the dubbing) in the name of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and <a href="../cathen/06453a.htm">St. George</a>, the patron of chivalry.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <h2>History</h2> <p>There are four distinct periods in the history of chivalry. The period of foundation, i.e. the time when the <a href="../cathen/15068a.htm">Truce of God</a> was in force, witnessed the long contest of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> against the <a href="../cathen/15446a.htm">violence</a> of the age, before she succeeded in curbing the savage spirit of the <a href="../cathen/06058c.htm">feudal</a> warriors, who prior to this recognized no law but that of brute force.</p> <h3>First period: The Crusades</h3> <p>The <a href="../cathen/04543c.htm">Crusades</a> introduced the golden age of chivalry, and the <a href="../cathen/04543c.htm">crusader</a> was the pattern of the perfect knight. The rescue of the holy places of Palestine from <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Moslem</a> domination and the defense of <a href="../cathen/12085a.htm">pilgrims</a> became the new object of his <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vow</a>. In return, the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> took him under her protection in a special way, and conferred upon him exceptional temporal and spiritual privileges, such as the remission of all penances, <a href="../cathen/05041a.htm">dispensation</a> from the <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a> of the secular courts, and as a means of defraying the expenses of the journey to the Holy Land, knights were granted the tenth of all the church revenues. The <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vow</a> of the <a href="../cathen/04543c.htm">crusader</a> was limited to a specified period. For the distant expeditions into <a href="../cathen/01777b.htm">Asia</a>, the average time was two or three years.</p> <h3>Second period: The military orders</h3> <p>After the conquest of <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a>, the necessity of a standing army became peremptory, in order to prevent the loss of the Holy City to surrounding hostile nations. Out of this necessity arose the <a href="../cathen/10304d.htm">military orders</a> which adopted as a fourth <a href="../cathen/10459a.htm">monastic</a> <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vow</a> that of perpetual <a href="../cathen/15546c.htm">warfare</a> against the infidels. In these orders, wherein was realized the perfect fusion of the religious and the military spirit, chivalry reached its apogee. This heroic spirit had also its notable representatives among the secular <a href="../cathen/04543c.htm">crusaders</a>, as <a href="../cathen/06624b.htm">Godfrey of Bouillon</a>, Tancred of Normandy, <a href="../cathen/13041b.htm">Richard Couer de Lion</a>, and above all <a href="../cathen/09368a.htm">Louis IX</a> of <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a>, in whom knighthood was <a href="../cathen/04380a.htm">crowned</a> by <a href="../cathen/07386a.htm">sanctity</a>. Like the monastic, the knightly <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vow</a> bound with common ties warriors of every nation and condition, and enrolled them in a vast brotherhood of manners, ideals, and aims. The secular brotherhood had, like the regular its rule imposing on its members fidelity to their; lords and to their word, fair play on the battlefield, and the observance of the maxims of <a href="../cathen/07462a.htm">honour</a> and courtesy. Medieval chivalry, moreover, opened a new chapter in the history of literature. It prepared the way and gave ready currency to an epic and romantic movement in literature reflecting the ideal of knighthood and celebrating its accomplishment and achievements. Provence and Normandy were the chief centres of this kind of literature, which was spread throughout all <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a> by the trouvères and troubadours.</p> <h3>Third period: secular chivalry</h3> <p>After the <a href="../cathen/04543c.htm">Crusades</a> chivalry gradually lost its religious aspect. In this, its third period, <a href="../cathen/07462a.htm">honour</a> remains the peculiar worship of knighthood. This spirit is manifested in the many knightly exploits which fill the annals of the long contest between <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a> and <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a> during the Hundred Years War. The chronicles of <a href="../cathen/06308b.htm">Froissart</a> give a vivid picture of this age, where bloody battles alternate with tournaments and gorgeous pageants. Each contending nation has its heroes. If <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a> could boast of the victories of the Black Prince, Chandos, and Talbot, <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a> could <a href="../cathen/12405a.htm">pride</a> herself on the exploits of Du Guesclin, Boucicaut, and Dunois. But with all the brilliance and glamour of their achievements, the main result was a useless shedding of blood, waste of money, and misery for the lower classes. The amorous character of the new literature had contributed not a little to deflect chivalry from its original ideal. Under the influence of the romances <a href="../cathen/09397a.htm">love</a> now became the mainspring of chivalry. As a consequence there arose a new type of chevalier, vowed to the service of some noble lady, who could even be another man's wife. This idol of his heart was to be worshipped at a distance. Unfortunately, notwithstanding the <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligations</a> imposed upon the knightly lover, these extravagant fancies often led to lamentable results.</p> <h3>Fourth period: court chivalry</h3> <p>In its last stages, chivalry became a mere court service. The Order of the Garter, founded in 1348 by <a href="../cathen/05321a.htm">Edward III of England</a>, the Order of the Golden Fleece (<em>Toison d'or</em>) of Philip of <a href="../cathen/03068a.htm">Burgundy</a>, dating from 1430, formed a brotherhood, not of <a href="../cathen/04543c.htm">crusaders</a>, but of courtiers, with no other aim than to contribute to the splendor of the sovereign. Their most serious business was the sport of jousts and tournaments. They made their <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vows</a> not in <a href="../cathen/03574b.htm">chapels</a>, but in banquet halls, not on the cross, but on some emblematic bird. The "vow of the Swan" of 1306, was instituted during the feast of the dubbing of the son of Edward I. It was before <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and the swan that the old king <a href="../cathen/11176a.htm">swore</a> with his knights to avenge on <a href="../cathen/13613a.htm">Scotland</a> the <a href="../cathen/07441a.htm">murder</a> of his lieutenant. More celebrated is the "vow of the Pheasant," made in 1454 at the court of Philip of <a href="../cathen/03068a.htm">Burgundy</a>. The motive was weighty indeed, being nothing else than the rescue of Constantinople, which had fallen the past year into the hands of the <a href="../cathen/15097a.htm">Turks</a>. But the solemnity of the motive did not lessen the frivolity of the occasion. A solemn <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vow</a> was taken before <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and the pheasant at a gorgeous banquet, the profligate cost of which might better have been devoted to the expedition itself. No less than one hundred and fifty knights, the flower of the nobility, repeated the <a href="../cathen/15511a.htm">vow</a>, but the enterprise came to nought. Chivalry had degenerated to a futile pastime and an empty promise.</p> <p>Literature, which had in the past so greatly contributed to the exaltation of chivalry, now reacted against its extravagances. In the early part of the fourteenth century this turning point becomes evident in the poetry of <a href="../cathen/03642b.htm">Chaucer</a>. Although he himself had made many translations from the French romances, he mildly derides their manner in his "Sir Thopas." The final blow was reserved for the <a href="../cathen/07687a.htm">immortal</a> work of Cervantes, "Don Quixote," which aroused the laughter of all <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a>. Infantry, on its revival as an effective force on the battlefield during the fourteenth century began to dispute the supremacy which heavy cavalry had so long enjoyed. Chivalry which rested entirely upon the superiority of the horseman in <a href="../cathen/15546c.htm">warfare</a>, rapidly declined. At Crécy (1346) and Agincourt (1415) the French knighthood was decimated by the arrows of the English archers of <a href="../cathen/05321a.htm">Edward III</a> and Henry V. The Austrian nobility at Sempach (1386) and the <a href="../cathen/03068a.htm">Burgundian</a> chivalry at Morat (1476) were unable to sustain the overpowering onslaught of the <a href="../cathen/14358a.htm">Swiss</a> peasantry. With the advent of gunpowder and the general use of firearms in battle, chivalry rapidly disintegrated and finally disappeared altogether.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Moeller, C.</span> <span id="apayear">(1908).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Chivalry.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03691a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Moeller, Charles.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Chivalry."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 3.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1908.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03691a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"> <span id="transcriber"></span> <span id="dedication"></span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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