ABSTRACT
Chivalry was the great ennobling force of the Middle Ages, consecrating the martial ardour of the period by enrolling it in the cause of religion and order. It showed to the feudal baron how the circumstances of his life could be raised from a base material level to a higher and more spiritual plane; how his skill in war could be used against the enemies of the Cross, his power devoted to the protection and government of the poor and helpless, and his lawless passion subjugated to the service of noble ladies. Chivalry was no less vital because it remained largely an ideal, which few completely realized and many scarcely approached. A great stride out of barbarism was taken when such an ideal was formulated and recognized as most worthy of attainment, while the men who furnished brilliant examples of any of the chivalric virtues, whatever their other faults may have been, merit high honour as pioneers in the march of civilization. In the eloquent words of John Addington Symonds:—
“Whatever was most noble in the self-devotion of the Crusaders; most beneficial to the world in the foundation of the knightly orders; most brilliant in the lives of Richard, the Edwards, Tancrcd, Godfrey of Bouillon; most enthusiastic in the lives of Rudel, Dante, Petrarch; most humane in the courtesy of the Black Prince; in the gallantry of Gaston de Foix; in the constancy of Sir Walter Manny; in the loyalty of Blondel; in the piety of St. Louis—may be claimed by the evanescent and impalpable yet potent spirit which we call chivalry.”
