The Age of Chivalry
Learning Goals:
 Understand why the code of chivalry for knights glorified combat and romantic love
 Why it matters now: Chivalry has shaped modern ideas of Romance in Western Cultures.
Knights: Warriors on Horseback
 The Technology of Warfare Changes
 Leather ______________________ and __________________ enable knights to handle heavy
weapons
 Kept human __________________ on horse
 Allowed them to use stirdier weapons
 In 700s, mounted knights become most important part of an army
The Warriors Role in Feudal Society
 By 1000s, western Europe is a ______________________________of warring nobles
 Feudal lords ____________ private armies of knights
 Knights rewarded with ____________; provides income for needed weapons
 Knights other activities help ___________ them for combat
Knights Obligations
 Serve in battle
 Lord demanded _____________ days of mounted combat/ year
 Knights pastimes revolved around training for war
 Wrestling and ______________________________ helped them prepare for battle
The Code of Chivalry
 The Code of Chivalry
 By 1100s knights obey a code of __________________—a set of ideals on how to act
 Protect three things:
 They are to protect weak and poor; serve feudal ______________, God, chosen ___________
 Ideal Knight: Loyal, brave, courteous
 Most never lived up to these standards; treated lower classes ___________________
Knights Training
 Boys begin to train for knighthood at age ___________; usually knighted at __________
 Knights gain experience in local wars and _____________________________—mock battles
 Charging of each other- fierce and ________________
 People watched them like __________________ games
Brutal Reality of Warfare
 Brutal Reality of Warfare
 ______________________ are huge fortresses where lords live
 Attacking armies use wide range of strategies and weapons
 Gory sight of siege:
▪ Defenders of castle poured hot boiling water, __________ or molten _____________
on enemy soldiers
▪
▪
Expert archers
Fired deadly bolts that could pierce armor
The Literature of Chivalry
 Themes: downplayed brutality of knighthood and warfare, idealized _________________ life,
glorifyed knighthood and chivalry
 Epic Poetry
Epic poems recount a hero’s deeds and _________________________
 Song of Roland- famous
Love Poems and Songs
 Knights’ duties to __________________ are as important as those to their lords
 ___________________________________—traveling poet-musicians—write and sing short verses
 Wrote love songs
 Disappointments
 Lovesick knights
Example “Love of a far-off land/for you my _____________________is aching/And I can find no relief”
 False image of knights
 Artificial view of women
 Modern day love songs?
Women’s Role in Feudal Society
 Status of Women
 According to the Church and feudal society, women were ______________________ to men
 Roles limited to home and ________________________
 Endless labor, ________________________________ children, taking care of families
 Women’s role declined in feudalism
Women in Power
 Noblewomen
 Can _____________________ land, defend castle, send knights to war on lord’s request
 Played key role in defending castles: hurled _______________, fired arrows
 Usually confined to activities of the home or convent
 Passed down land to __________________, not daughters
________________________ provided women in the Middle Ages an alternative to married life.
Childbirth was often ___________________________ for women, so becoming a nun was a respectable and
perhaps attractive alternative.