Once more I am stuck, late at night, on an essay, this time one about the conduct of medieval knights and the concept of 'chivalry'. The word 'chivalry' comes to us from the French 'chevalerie', but doesn't quite mean the same thing. 'Chevalerie' originally meant the company of mounted soldiers - from which we get 'cavalry' - and later the actions of those soldiers. They were 'chevaliers', but in Old English the word used was 'cniht' - meaning 'boy' or 'vassal', similar to the German 'Knecht' ('servant'). This of course became 'knight'. No, 'chivalry' was a behavorial code, a system of values that knights would use: if they were being watched. And knoghts loved to be watched. Tournaments were the arenas for show-off knights, a place where they could win fame, money and women. A bit like the World Cup, where todays knights are called footballers, and their damsels are called glamour models. Personally the only Knights I'm really interested in are the ones with lightsabres.
Chivalry Timbers, Sleepless Knights
2.5.05 23:56
powered by
20six.co.uk
