ABSTRACT
To all appearance the medireval period reached its highest point of success and brilliancy in the reigns of Edward III and his successors till the Wars of the Roses. Never were feasts and tournaments more magnificent. New orders of knighthood were instituted. Heralds issued their decrees concerning coat-armour and precedence. Romances were written as if King Arthur and Charlemagne· were reigning. Lords and gentlemen and ladies dreamed of chivalry and talked its language. The love of ladies was never professed more loudly. Vows were made_ and favours won, duels were fought in the lists, the distinction between knights and churls was more fully maintained than ever, pride of ancestry, rank, and office was never valued higher.
