Chivalry

(shiv'al-re.) [Fr. che valerie, from cheval, a horse.] (Hist.) The system of knighthood, together with the privileges, duties, and manners of knights. The origin of C. has been traced to the German tribes; but,as a military dignity, it is supposed by some to have been established soon after the death of Charlemagne; and by others, to have arisen out of the Crusades, because in those expeditions many chivalrous exploits were performed, and a proud feeling of heroism was engendered. It was certainly in connection with feudality that.C. attained to i' full proportions, and in many respects it must be regarded as the complement of that institution. Whilst feudality exhibits the political, in 1 C. we see the moral and social side of the arrangements of medieval life. It was in the feudal mansions of the barons that the system was developed; and to the lay portion of the youth of the higher cla es, the instruction which they there received in the usages of C. formed by far the most important part of education. In describing the origin, object, and character of this military institution, Gibbon, the historian, thus speaks of a succe ful candidate for the honor of knighthood, and eulogizes the profe ion: " He was created a knight in the name of God and of the patron-saint of his country. He swore to accomplish the duties of his profe ion; and education, example, and the public opinion were the inviolable guardians of his oath. As the champion of God and the ladies, he devoted himself to speak the truth; to maintain the right; to protect the distre ed; to practise courtesy, a virtue le familiar to the infidels; to despise the allurements of ease and safety; and to vindicate in every perilous adventure the honor of his character. The abuse of the same spirit provoked the illiterate knight to disdain the arts Fig. 170.-coMBAT à outrance IN A TOURNAMENT. of luxury and peace; to esteem himself the sole judge and avenger of his own injuries; and proudly to neglect the laws of civil society and military discipline. Yet the benefits of this institution, to refine the temper of barbarians, and to infuse some principles of faith, justice, and humanity, were strongly felt, and have been often observed. The asperity of national prejudice was softened; and the community of religion and arms spread a similar color and generous emulation over the face of Christen dom. Abroad in enterprise and pilgrimage, at home in martial exercise, the warriors of every country were perpetually a ociated; and impartial taste must prefer a Gothic tournament to the Olympic games of cla ic antiquity. Instead of the naked spectacles which corrupted the manners of the Greeks, and banished from the stadium the virgins and matrons, the pompous decoration of the lists was crowned with the presence of chaste and high-born beauty, from whose hands the conqueror received the reward of his dexterity and courage." C. decayed with the progre of mercenary armies and the decline of feudal institutions through the 15th cent.; in the 16th, it was little more than a lively recollection of past ages, which knights such as Bayard, and sovereigns such as François I. and Henry VIII., strove to revive; and, finally, it became extinguished amid religious discords, leaving as its only relic the code of honor, which, in days not long ago, was still considered as governing the conduct of a gentleman. [s. 180]