=Chivalry.= Chivalry arose in the Middle Ages, reaching its height during the Crusades. It constituted the moral and social law and custom of the ruling classes in Europe between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries. It grew out of old Teutonic customs, was modified by the feudal system, and brought into existence a distinction between men of noble rank and the common people about them. The chivalric person was expected to devote himself to the service of God, to his feudal lord, and to his lady. The knight was trained to service and obedience. He was to give his services to the weak, especially of his own rank, to give himself over to the protection of the church, to be reverent and obedient to his superiors, and to hold womankind in high esteem. In the training of a knight, the boy remained at home till his seventh or eighth year under the care of his mother, who began his religious education and gave him his early training in respect and obedience to his superiors. He was then placed under the care of some nobleman or churchman, in whose castle he lived and took his place with the members of the household. He was known as a _page_ and he waited upon his lord and lady. He learned to play chess and other games and in most cases to play the harp and to sing and likewise to read and write. He was trained in running, wrestling, boxing, and riding and some knightly exercises that went with the riding. At fourteen or fifteen the youth became a _squire_ and entered into more intimate relations with the knight and his lady. With other squires he played chess and walked and hunted with the lady of the castle, and they attended to the personal wants of the knight, such as caring for his bed, helping him to dress, grooming his horse, and attending upon him at the tournament and in war. During this time the youth learned the arts of war--to exercise in armor, to ride and to use the shield, and to handle the sword and lance and battle-axe. As he neared the end of his squireship, the young man chose his lady-love, to whom he was ever to be devoted. She was usually older than he and often married and he was expected to remain devoted to her even though he should marry. At twenty-one the young man became a knight, after the ceremony of knighthood. When the time for the ceremony arrived, the candidate put in a season of fasting and purification and prayer, and then he passed the night in a church in prayer and meditation. In the morning came the confession and the absolution and the eucharist. He then placed his sword upon the altar, the priest blessed it and returned it to him, after he had taken the solemn oath of knighthood. His armor was placed upon him and his sword buckled about him and then he knelt before his lord, who laid his sword upon the candidate's shoulder and dubbed him knight. The new knight then arose and mounted his horse and displayed his skill and strength in handling his horse and in the use of his weapons.