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The basics
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Chivalry in the Middle Ages
Video transcript
- [Voiceover] Think of chivalry, and you might imagine
knights in shining armor and damsels in distress. Chivalry originated in ideals associated with a
knight's code of conduct. Over time it came to
more broadly represent a model for the behavior
and moral principles of the upper classes. - [Melanie] We can think of chivalry as a code of honor that
really came to fruition in the 11th and 12th centuries, and many of the values
that chivalry championed are things that we still value today. Loyalty, bravery, protection of the weak. - [Voiceover] Chivalry wasn't
just about gallant acts meant to impress a princess. It widely affected culture from love relationships to hunting, fashion to law. This illustrated E is contained
within a medieval law book. You see two knights on
horses facing one another. They are about to settle a
disagreement over a debt. Hunting was a chance to improve oneself physically and mentally, not unlike the goals of chivalry. - [Melanie] It's typical in these stories that there is an aristocrat or a knight who is in love with a woman
of a higher social standing that's already married. It was thought that
the man's love for this higher standing woman would have had a civilizing affect on him. Code of honor provided
a means for aristocrats to kind of move up the social ladder. If they knew these rules,
if they knew how to behave in a tournament or how
to dress for a banquet, then that was a way of
displaying one's social standing. But it's the nature of
having rules like this that certain people are
left out of that club. Because we have such romantic
notions of what chivalry is, we don't tend to think of the practical consequences of chivalry
during this period.