Rather, he argues, European neo-romantics in the late 19th century adapted the word to define ideal male behavior. Kaeuper argues that our current understanding of chivalry as a code of proper masculine behavior, particularly in relation to women, has little to do with real knights in the Middle Ages. Our king would protect you,’” Kaeuper says. “In a way it’s like mafia tactics: ‘You think the king of France can protect you? He can’t. That style of warfare was still endemic during the Hundred Years’ War of the 14th and 15th centuries, when England and France fought each other, laying waste to the countryside. Thou shalt acquire all the proper Virtues, without succumbing to hubris. Consider the 1885 Frank Dicksee painting below, simply titled Chivalry. Kaeuper says few medieval texts describing chivalry warned against burning or looting towns or raping common women. A Code of Chivalry: Thou shalt never lie, and shall remain faithful to all thy pledges. Chivalry the Templar Code of Honour SeptemIf you’re picturing a knight in shining armour rescuing a damsel in distress, you’re not alone. “Ordinary women, shepherdesses, are just rather like for sport.” A knight was expected to have not only the strength and skills to face combat in the violent era of the Middle Ages but was also expected. “There’s a lot of courtesy-you want to be able to speak well to ladies, defend ladies,” Wollock says. Yet even when knights did follow a code of chivalry as they understood it, these ideas about honor and good behavior focused mostly on concern for the noble class that knights were part of, often at the expense of the poor.
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