The History of Chivalry; Or, Knighthood and Its Times, Volume 2 (of 2)
John Stuart Mill · en
_Chivalry in Baronial Castles ... Chivalry injured by Religious Wars
... Beneficial Influence of Poetry and Romance ... Chivalric
Brilliancy of the Fourteenth Century ... Brittany ... Du Guesclin ...
Romantic Character of his early Years ... His knightly conduct at
Rennes ... Gallantry at Cochetel ... Political Consequences of his
Chivalry ... He leads an Army into Spain ... And Changes the Fortunes
of that Kingdom ... Battle of Navaret ... Du Guesclin Prisoner ...
Treatment of him by the Black Prince ... Ransomed ... Is made
Constable of France ... Recovers the Power of the French Monarchy ...
Companionship in Arms between Du Guesclin and Olivier De Clisson ...
Du Guesclin's Death before Randon ... His Character ... Decline of
Chivalry ... Proof of it ... Little Chivalry in the Second Series of
French and English Wars ... Combats of Pages ... Further Decay of
Chivalry ... Abuses in conferring Knighthood ... Burgundy ... Its
Chivalry ... The Romantic Nature of the Burgundian Tournaments ...
Last Gleams of Chivalry in France ... Life of Bayard ... Francis I.
... Extinction of Chivalry._
[Sidenote: Chivalry in baronial castles.]
The high rank of France among the civilised states of Europe in the middle
ages decides the country to which our attention should be next directed
in tracing the history of chivalry. Every French baron graced his nobility
by the honour of knighthood, and was surrounded by a band of cavaliers.
Kings, and even queens, had a certain number of knights who composed their
court and accepted their pay; and the conferring of royal honours upon
other men than possessors of mere wealth or rank had a powerful effect in
promoting the virtues, whatever they might be, of the times. Merit was not
considered, as a landed estate, to be altogether hereditary, and the
personal nature of chivalry became a check upon the exclusiveness of
aristocratical pride.[139]
The moral influence of the chivalric code in supporting justice and
diffusing gentleness of manners is not very perceptible in the early ages
of France; for the chroniclers of those times chiefly mark the general
political circumstances of the decline of the house of Charlemagne, the
establishing of a feudal aristocracy, and the rise of a new monarchy by
the spirit and ambition of Hugh Capet.
[Sidenote: Chivalry injured by religious wars.]