Chivalry

Chivalry—with its pageants, heraldry, and knights in shining armor—was a social ideal that had a profound influence on the history of early modern Europe. In this eloquent and richly detailed book, a leading medieval historian discusses the complex reality of chivalry: its secular foundations, the effects of the Crusades, the literature of knighthood, and its ethos of the social and moral obligations of nobility. Examines the social importance of chivalry as a secular ideal during the Middle Ages, traces the origins of knighthood and chivalry, and looks at chivalric rituals and literature.