Code of Chivalry *15 Interesting Facts
- The word Chivalry itself comes from the French word chevalier (‘cavalier’).
- Non-knights (archers, peasants, foot-soldiers, etc.) did not follow the rules of Chivalry.
- A rule in the chivalric code included taking an oath of loyalty to an overlord.
- Chivaly code rules include never striking a defenseless opponent in battle.
- Chivalry started in Northern France
- Chivalry started around the 12th century in the time period between 1101 – 1200
- Chivalry was a kind of early set of standards ‘ethics and rules for the ‘warrior class’
- There is a famous medieval song called ‘Song of Roland’ which describes ‘the perfect knight’
The Song of Rowland *Famous Medieval Song
- Captured knights were never harmed or killed but exchanged for a ransom which was usually a very reasonable negotiation.
- It appears that knights totally respected one another, a respect that they did not hold for other lower warrior classes.
- Lower level foot-soldier would simply be killed and not taken captive by knights regardless of Chivalry code.
- Queen Elizabeth I ended the tradition that any knight could create another and made it exclusively the preserve of the monarch.
- Historians consider ‘Sir Edward Woodville’ who died in 1488 in Brittany to be one of the ‘Last Knights’ in history
- The fall of the ‘Age of Chivalry’ and the rise of modern European warfare is around the end of the 15th century
- As the Middle Ages ended so did the ‘Age of Chivalry’.
