Delusion about character of war in days of chivalry--The common slaughter of women and children--The Earl of Derby’s sack of Poitiers--The massacres of Grammont and Gravelines--The old poem of the Vow of the Heron--The massacre of Limoges by Edward the Black Prince--The imprisonment of ladies for ransom--Prisoners of war starved to death; or massacred, if no prospect of ransom; or blinded or otherwise mutilated--The meaning of a surrender at discretion, as illustrated by Edward III. at Calais; and by several instances in the same and the next century--The practice of burning in aid of war; and of destroying sacred buildings--The practice of poisoning the air--The use of barbarous weapons--The influence of religion on war--The Church in vain on the side of peace--Curious vows of the knights--The slight personal danger incurred in war by them--The explanation of their magnificent costume--Field-sports in war-time--The desire of gain the chief motive to war--The identity of soldiers and brigands--The career and character of the Black Prince--The place of money in the history of chivalry--Its influence as a war-motive between England and France--General low character of chivalrous warfare. For an impartial estimate of the custom of war, the best preparation is a study of its leading features in the days of chivalry. Not only are most of our modern military usages directly descended from that period, though many claim a far remoter ancestry, and go back to the days of primitive savagery, but it is the tradition of chivalry that chiefly keeps alive the delusion that it is possible for warfare to be conducted with humanity, generosity, and courtesy. Hallam, for instance, observes that in the wars of our Edward III., ‘the spirit of honourable as well as courteous behaviour towards the foe seems to have arrived at its highest point;’ and he refers especially to the custom of ransoming a prisoner on his parole, and to the generous treatment by the Black Prince of the French king taken captive at Poitiers.