Jaelin LaGrange Ms.

Tierce English IV-GT 17 December 2013 Medieval Chivalry & Courtly Love Chivalry can be traced back to the Middle Ages and it was derived from German customs. The term chivalry was once used as an aristocratic warrior code but the term grew to have meaning as a way to treat women and how to present ones self accordingly. When the word chivalry started to take on a new meaning it brought along the Knights Code of Chivalry and the rules of Courtly Love. The Knights Code of Chivalry can be credited to the Christian Church. Before the Code was set in place, the Church saw the knights stealing food, burning villages and attacking peasants they set up the Knights Code of Chivalry. This code basically stated that knights shouldnt harm the innocent, hurt people of the Church, attack unharmed knights, fight on holidays, and attack women. The Code also states that knights should be polite and defend religion, women and the innocent if it is needed. The introduction of chivalry not only refined knights behavior, but also it helped the education system and the economy in Britain. Chivalry was also seen as an important part of the English feudalism. Chivalry also took on the idea about how knights acted around the castle he protected and how he was with his family. Later in the Middle Ages, another group adopted the chivalric attitude the wealthy merchants. The wealthy merchants started a new genre of books called the courtesy book. The courtesy book genre talked about how people should take on the behavior of a gentleman. It also talked about how they

LaGrange 2 should treat women, how to act in social situations and how to treat the lower classes. With this genre also gave us the rules of Courtly Love. Courtly Love was believed to have originated in, the French region, Aquitaine and spread to other European regions. During the Medieval period marriages were arranged and did not derive from love therefore the hunger for romance could be quenched outside of marriage. Rules of fidelity and chastity however were strictly followed. Rules like He who is not jealous, cannot love,

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Works Cited

Gayre, Robert. Chivalry. Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. 2007. Grolier Online. 9 Dec. 2013<http://gme.grolier.com/cgibin/article?assetid=0061550-0>.

Courtly Love. Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. 2007. Grolier Online. 9 Dec. 2013<http://gme.grolier.com/cgi-bin/article?assetid=0073970-0>.

"Knights Code of Chivalry." Knights Code of Chivalry. Lords and Ladies, 20 Sept. 2012. Web. 18 Dec. 2013.

Eastwood, Kay. "A Time Of Chivalry." Life Of A Knight (2004): 24-25. History Reference Center. Web. 19 Dec. 2013.

Ruijuan, Yin. "The Knights In The Middle Ages Of England." Review Of European Studies 1.2 (2009): 91-93. Academic Search Complete. Web. 19 Dec. 2013.

"Courtly Love." Courtly Love. N.p., 20 Sept. 2012. Web. 19 Dec. 2013.