aristocratic, whilst it was passionately worshipped by the Spaniards, those noble and knightly descendants of the Goths and Iberians, whose struggle with the Arabs was one long tournament that lasted for more than seven centuries (Fig. 116). In religious countries chivalry assumed monastic characteristics; among nations of a gay and lively disposition it verged on the voluptuous and licentious. Alphonso X., King of Leon and Castile, forced his subjects to submit to monkish regulations, and prescribed the shape of their clothes as well as the manner in which they were to spend their time. In Provence, chivalry regarded unlawful love with an indulgent eye, and made a jest of marriage. Chivalry was in fact a fraternal association, or rather an enthusiastic compact between men of feeling and courage, of delicacy and devotion; such at least was the noble aim it had in view, and which it constantly strove to attain (Fig. 117). [Illustration: Fig. 116.--Sword of Isabella the Catholic. Upon the hilt is the following inscription, partly in Spanish and partly in Latin:--“I am always desiring honour; now I am watching, peace be with me” (“Deseo sienpre onera; nunc caveo, pax con migo”).--From the “Armeria Real of Madrid,” a publication of M. Ach. Jubinal’s.] However praiseworthy its motives and intentions, chivalry was not favourably regarded by everybody. In its feudal aspect it was displeasing to sovereigns, who constantly endeavoured to create beside it, and sometimes above it, a nobility of the sword, an individual and personal rank that could not be handed down from father to son (Fig. 118). Thus Philippe le Bel, being in want of soldiers after the Flemings had destroyed his chivalry--that is to say, his nobility--attempted immediately to replace it by ordering that the elder of two sons of a villain, and the two elder of three sons, should be admitted into the order of knighthood. In this way Frederick Barbarossa knighted peasants who had displayed personal bravery on the field of battle. [Illustration: Fig. 117.--Chivalry represented by Allegorical Figures.--Fac-simile of a Copper-plate in the Spanish translation of the “Chevalier délibéré” of Olivier de la Marche: 4to, Salamanca, 1573.] [Illustration: Fig. 118.--Conferring Knighthood on the Field of Battle.--Romance of “Lancelot du Lac,” a Manuscript in the National Library of Paris (Thirteenth Century).]