Many people wonder if chivalry is dead; yet how many people know what chivalry really is, and where it came from?
“Chivalry to me is the idea of gentility, selflessness, put others before yourself. A lot of people get it confused with holding the door open for a lady, but it is a whole lot more than that,” said Clay Brenton, a junior biology major.
Most people do think of chivalry as having good manners or holding doors open for women. However chivalry was also a moral code of conduct for knights.
The word chivalry comes from the old French word “chevalerie,” which meant knight.
Chivalry came into existence around the 11th century, right around the end of the Dark Ages.
By this time almost all of Europe operated under the Feudal system.
The Feudal system was based on the belief that the land belonged to God, but that kings ruled it for him by Divine Right.
With the entire continent being Christian, it was important that the knights, who served kings, behave well.
Their list of conduct was long: to fear God, believe and obey the church’s teachings, to live by honor and glory, to protect the weak and defenseless, never recoil before the enemy, and to be generous to everyone were just a few. They were also to avoid pride, lying, and lustful behavior.
Chivalry peaked between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries and fell into decline during the 14th century. Chivalry’s decline coincided with the decline of knights, who were rendered obsolete by the development of guns and simultaneously the end of the feudal system. Knights were their own class and so when they disappeared, so did their codes of conduct.
So are men being chivalrous today?
Likely not, but for reasons besides what you probably think. The idea of chivalry involving good manners and being courteous is true, but that treatment only applied to nobles; chivalry did not extend to peasants.
In feudal times there were three classes: clergy, nobles, and the large peasant class. Chivalry did demanded protecting the weak, but that only meant noble women and children.
Nobility doesn’t exist in America, so in the traditional sense it would be hard for men to show chivalry if they wanted to.
So next time someone asks you what happened to chivalry, you know the answer; it died with the knights who it was made to govern.
