Group items tagged

"Chivalric customs arose from the medieval knight's code of conduct, and were gradually adopted by aristocrats and society as a whole. This video traces some of the surprising early applications of chivalry through medieval illuminated manuscripts."

Our story begins in 1360. It was a time of castles and intrigue, of knights and chivalry. Less than twenty years before, the Black Death had decimated Europe's population. Twenty years later, Wat Tyler would meet his fate while leading a peasant uprising. In the meantime, Geoffrey Chaucer the great English poet, was writing his famous Canterbury Tales. The Knights of France and England had tales to tell of their own. Of jousting and tournaments. Of fair maidens and dragons. Of King Arthur and the Round Table. English speakers then did not sound like English speakers today. But people who attended the popular jousting tournaments of the 14th century expected from their heroes what we expect from ours: Courage in the face of great danger.

The defense of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the blooming of the spirit of chivalry were the determinant causes that induced the "frates" to become "equites et servientes armigeri". By the will of Innocent III, the initial hospitaller tasks were supplemented with military functions. It was an original fusion: military forces defending the Christian dominions, and hospitaller charity defending life.