Chivalry I - - The Concept.

This is coolbert:

Chivalry. A concept that moderns with good reason must feel is irrelevant to warfare as it has been practiced for over one hundred years now.

The industrialized, mechanized, impersonal warfare such as was practiced in both World Wars.

Irrelevant? Is this so?

As taken from a previous blog entry concerning the one time dictator of Uganda, Idi Amin Dada:

"See this description of how a medieval chivalrous knight was supposed to not behave. According to Geoffroi de Charny, a French knight who was born in the first decade of the 14th century and who died at Poitiers in 1356:

"Men who want to wage war without good reason, who seize other
people without prior warning and without any good cause and rob
and steal from them, wound and kill them ... who use arms
(dishonorably) behave like cowards and traitors ... Indeed all
such people who are thus doers or consenters or receivers in
relation to such deeds are not worthy to live or to be in the
company of men of worth ... Cursed be these persons who devote
their lives to committing such evil deeds in order to acquire such
dishonorable fame! And indeed any lords who have such men under
their control and have knowledge of their ill doings are no longer
worthy to live if they do not inflict such punishment on them that
would persuade anyone else who might have a desire for wrongdoing
to draw back."

Chivalry as a concept that became institutionalized has an origin to a period PRIOR to the Crusades.

Is a concept fostered by the church with good reason.

In the minds of many, there was a perception that warfare and Christianity were totally incompatible. This is not so, but to many, there was such a perception. The church, through the promotion of knighthood and chivalry as institutions that had the blessing of the church, hoped to resolve this apparent incompatibility not only in the favor of the church, but for general society as a whole.

"the Church shared, through the blessing of the sword, and by the virtue of this blessing chivalry assumed a religious character. In early Christianity, although Tertullian's teaching that Christianity and the profession of arms were incompatible was condemned as heretical, the military career was regarded with little favour. In chivalry, religion and the profession of arms were reconciled."

It was also true that the evolution of the man-at-arms, primarily the mounted armored horseman, that occurred in the period falling the fall of the Roman Empire until the beginning of the Crusades, was indeed a DARK AGE where the peasantry was at the mercy of those skilled in warfare. A few persons proficient in warfare and weaponry could rule in a despotic manner to the great detriment of the lesser classes. This was a situation the church wished to avoid. For a host of reasons, the church did desire to restrain and channel the military "arm" [sword arm] of society into civilized behavior.

Chivalry as an institution and concept was a way to channel and mold the innate aggressive tendencies of the warrior that existed during at the time.

"Chivalry (derived through the French cheval from the Latin caballus) as an institution is to be considered from three points of view: the military, the social, and the religious."

"Medieval chivalry is most easily defined when broken up into three basic but overlapping areas:

* Chivalry in relation to countrymen and fellow Christians.

* Chivalry in relation to God.

* Chivalry in relation to women."

"One particular similarity between all three of these categories is honor. Honor is the foundational and guiding principle of chivalry. Thus, for the knight, honor would be one of the guides of action."

A concept and institution that for the most part succeeded??!!

You can probably cite many examples from history that seem to suggest that the ideal concept of chivalry was a mirage.

However, as an ideal that was aspired to by many, chivalry was a worthy concept that had great merit.

Better to have such a concept, even if not ideally practiced, than no such concept at all.

And, lastly, with regard to HONOR, even the most casual of observers can instantly and with ease understand that Idi Amin Dada WAS NOT a man who possessed chivalrous attitudes. Quite the contrary. The archetype of the military man GONE BAD!!

"Cursed be these persons who devote their lives to committing such evil deeds in order to acquire such dishonorable fame!"

Cursed be these persons INDEED!!

coolbert.