ABSTRACT
History-books tell the reassuring and happy story of civilisation's progress in the twelfth century. That period saw the rough habits of a warrior class becoming gentler and more courtly: if they still resorted to fighting, they did so for causes that were just, in crusades or in royal service, or as a game or sport in tournaments. A historical origin is ascribed to 'chivalry', meaning by that, a military technique, a social class, and a set of values. It's certainly true that there were some developments in medieval technology: spurs appeared sometime in the eighth century; and stone keeps became common atop mottes around the year 1000. The chapter distinguishes three sorts of historiographical myth, all of them created from medieval sources whose bias, legendary and ideological character, and even deliberate falsehoods, have not been sufficiently taken into account. There are myths of social ascent; myths about the Christianisation of war; myths of the civilising of social conduct.
