chivalry

Code of gallantry and honour that medieval knights were pledged to observe. Its principal virtues were piety, honour, valour, courtesy, chastity, and loyalty. The word originally meant the knightly class of the feudal Middle Ages. Modern orders of chivalry such as the Order of the Garter are awarded as a mark of royal favour or as a reward for public services; see knighthood, order of.

Chivalry has its roots in the customs and outlook of the Germanic tribes; it developed in feudal France and Spain, and spread rapidly to the rest of Europe, reaching its height in the 12th and 13th centuries. It was strengthened by the Crusades. The earliest orders of chivalry were the Knights Hospitallers and Knights Templars, founded to serve pilgrims to Palestine. The favourite sport of chivalry was the tournament or joust. Secular literature of the period takes knighthood and chivalry as its theme.

By the 11th century the order of knighthood involved many duties and responsibilities. Even kings had to train for knighthood, serving first as pages, then as esquires, before finally being presented with the golden spurs that were one of the symbols of knighthood. Before a knight was admitted into his order, he held a vigil or nightwatch in a chapel where he gave himself up to solemn meditation before assuming his new duties and privileges. Chivalry assumed a deep spiritual significance during the Crusades, in which the knights fought in the name of Christianity against the Muslims in Palestine.