chivalry
War was a game, to be played according to the rules. We may think of these medieval knights as
making war upon each other in the spirit of the modern amateur in sport. They would assume the
ancient and royal obligations of protecting the poor and weak, including women. The knight
set forth under the banner of Christ becoming a war leader and king, to wrest the "land of his birthright" from the infidels; if he fell, he had his reward in heaven, if he
conquered, he won renown, and estate of earth and the kingdom of heaven besides.
When loyalty became a Christian virtue, it increased respect for women and probity in the
poor. Honor became the password of chivalry - a sort of moral institution imposed on
feudalism. The social habits of educated laymen were made gentler by the warm contact of
chivalry, and courteous manners spread far and wide. Wore chain mail in the first crusade
rather than plate armor. Chivalry taught Europeans that it is right and fitting to kill and destroy in the service of Christian ideals. The immediate sufferers from this belief were Jews
and heretics. The long range sufferer was European society as a whole. Nor has belief in
killing and destruction in the service of a higher cause suffered any diminutation in the
20th century.
Chivalry is the consecration of fighting ability to the uses of the church. The
ideal knight came to be thought of as preferably a celibate, even tonsured, who spent his
life fighting the infidel or engaged in other "just" wars. This directed the fighting
propensities of the nobility, to some extent, into channels sanctioned by the church.
[76, 42, 46]
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