Chivalry as a Normative Ideal

Abstract The literature of chivalry paints a noble and idealistic picture of the perfect knight. For the modem reader, that image is unrealistic and unachievable, a beautiful fiction. Nevertheless, as a catalogue of virtues and values, it remains an enviable model for honourable conduct in peace and in war. Divorced from its aristocratic and martial as¬pects, chivalry’s pertinence persists, not only for honourable and therefore humanitarian behaviour in war, but also as a model of responsible conduct in the civil society. Commands to spare the enemy who asks for mercy, to aid women in distress, to keep one’s promise, to act charitably and to be magnanimous transcend any one particular historical period or sociopolitical context. Malcolm Vale suggests that chivalric ideals such as honour, loyalty, courage and generosity fulfilled a fundamental human need, especially among the warrior elites. Chivalry was thus “the sentiment of honour in its medieval guise ... [, which] among warrior classes ... possesses a universal and, perhaps, an eternal validity.”1 By creating a culture in which honour and shame are cardinal, chivalry sends a lasting message. In his classical Libre del ordre de cavayleria, translated into English by William Caxton in the fifteenth century, Ramon Lull writes that the duties of the chevalier sans reproche are to defend the faith against unbelievers, to defend the temporal lord and to protect the weak, women, widows and orphans.