What’s chivalry?

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Chivalry in its modern sense tends to apply to courtesies a man might pay a woman. These include standing until a woman sits down, offering a woman a seat on a bus, or opening a door for a woman. These actions are remnants of the ancient chivalric code of behavior adopted during the Middle Ages.
Chivalry is a derivative of the French knight. Cheval translates to horse and chevalier refers to a man on horseback and is usually translated simply as “knight”. Knights used horses for transportation, battle, and games such as jousting, separating them from the general population. The British took the term cavalier as a corruption of chevalier.

Mere horseback riding, however, is not an example of chivalry. Indeed the term implies not only the knight, but also the duties of a good knight. These duties were defined as faithfulness and service to God, kindness to fellow Christians, protection and championship of the weak, and courtly love.

Courtly love is often confused with adulterous love in medieval stories involving Lancelot and Guinevere, or Tristan and Isolt. Indeed, adultery had very little to do with the chivalry that governs courtly love. Courtly love includes the kindness and appreciation of women, advocacy for women in need of defense or rescue, and a whole code of behavior for talking to women. Chivalry, as part of courtly love, essentially generates the idea of ​​romantic love. Yet not all love affairs and flirtations have turned into sexual relationships.

Instead, women and men could “play” courtly love, because in most cases marriage was a contractual obligation and not a marriage made out of love. The woman’s gentle demeanor and elaborate praise helped satisfy a deep desire to be admired and appreciated, something not always obtainable from a husband.

Additionally, a younger knight could act as champion for a woman with an older husband, who lacked the strength to wear her colors in jousting tournaments. This aspect of chivalry was seen as the attention due to women and not as the possibility of conquering a woman sexually. In fact, by following church teachings as part of chivalry, adultery strays from the path of chivalry.

All aspects of chivalry are driven by the service of an honorable knight. Personal valor was measured by adherence to chivalry and not simply by being chivalrous when others were around to observe. The cavalry was meant to guide the rider through situations where he was alone; it gave him the possibility to act for the salvation of his own soul and for the salvation of others.
Naturally, one must contrast chivalry with outrageous and barbaric behavior often in harmony with the feudal system and the crusades. Since chivalry is conducted as a Christian code, it did not apply to “infidels” such as Jews or Turks, killed during the Crusades. Nor did chivalry apply to the abuses frequently inflicted on serfs, although in Arthurian legends, much chivalry was practiced to punish feudal lords who abused their serfs, as part of protecting the weak.

However, chivalry was a code for some small strata of society. As such, chivalrous behavior might separate the knight from the masses rather than making him work for the many poor and abused in feudal society. Chivalrous behavior in almost all cases did not apply to the treatment of non-Christians.

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