chivalry骑士精神

The Chivalry

I can’t forget the famous movies Titanic, which was adapted by the true story. It was 100 years ago, the unsinkable Titanic crashed into iceberg. There are 1327 passengers on the ship, 73% of the women got on the lifeboats, while only 7% of the men survived. The 702 men were buried in the cold water at that night. What make me move not only the love between Rose and Jack, but also the men faced the death still kept gentle till their death. In fact, the formation of gentleman’s culture can be gone back to medieval chivalry. Today I want to introduce the chivalry and its influence in western countries

Culture is not only a social phenomenon, but also a historical phenomenon, is the accumulation of social history. And after the culture formed, it influenced the people and thing at that cultural atmosphere. When talking about the Britain, I can’t help thinking of the gentleman of England. This period of British chivalry plays an extremely important role in democratic character of modern England and makes the British national character of modern British people contain aristocratic temperament.

The word chivalry comes from the French word, which means behavior is honourable, kind, generous, and honourable way, especially towards women. Or a system of religious beliefs and honourable behavior that in the middle age .It also knows as Knighthood. Although the chivalry is not the product of Britain, it was developed and perfected step by step in Britain. As British knighthood grew stronger and stronger, it becomes unique chivalry and the knight culture.

We should understand that the chivalry is rule of behavior that medieval knights should follow this. The Chinese scholar Ni Shiguang once pointed out that the content of chivalry related to the economy, politics, laws, culture and many other parts of the western world in his article. And another scholar also pointed out that the chivalry has an important influence on medieval society and culture. We can understand more western countries after knowing more about the chivalry. So I think it is of importance for us to know what the chivalry is.

In the 15 or 16 century, when a high born boy reached the age of seven, he was sent to live in the castle of a lord, and there he began his education as a page. He

learned good manners, reading, writing, dancing, and strumming the lute. He learned how to use a sword and ride a horse, and so on. Around the age of 13, the boy was apprenticed to a knight and become a squire. He was taught skill with sword, lance, and shield. He also learned the duties and responsibilities of a knight. When the squire judged ready to become a knight, usually between 18 and 21, a time for the knighting ceremony was set and he became a true knight. Although it was very difficult, people were proud of being a knight at that time.

Chivalry originates from the ancient of Germanic people which like honor and war. After the converting of Christian and the influence of courtly love and literature, chivalry gradually internalized as an important part of the British national spirit and the characteristic. The image of the ideal knight is noble , gentle, honest, loyal, be polite to women, pure, selfless, brave, and with deep religious feeling, with a strong sense of honor, and willing to sacrifice himself to protect others. All in all, the virtue of knight is brave, loyalty and dedicated.

The chivalry has eight codes, which is justice, loyalty, defense, courage, faith, humility, generosity and nobility. Justice, which means search always the path of

'right' and not changed by bias or personal interest; Loyalty need to have unbendable commitment to the people and ideals they select to live by; Defense means he must guard his liege lord , their nation, their family, and those who they believe that it is worthwhile to show loyalty; Courage entails selecting the more difficult path and even taking the side of truth in all matter with courage .He has faith in his beliefs, for faith take root in his mind; Humility means evaluate first the contributions of others; do not make a parade of your own accomplishments; He must be generous in helping someone in need within their power; Nobility means seek great stature of character, by holding to the virtues and duties of a knight.

The chivalry plays a very important role in many fields of the society in middle ages, and it has a far-reaching influence on the later western culture.

Firstly, the food’s culture of the knight affects the western culture deeply. The scholar Ni S higuang once wrote in his article that: “Because o f the military training, the knights like to eat meet and drink wine, and this kind of diet influenced the other

classes' diet. This is why the westerners like to hunting and why they plant a lot of grape trees’’. So even today, due to hunting, westerners like to eat meat, such as steak. Whether eating or wearing, they are extracted from animals mostly .Slowly, the westerners’ diet structure tend to be same.

Secondly, the politeness and high qualities of knights affect the western culture. The scholar Zhang Yunwei pointed out that "Generosity, humility and courtesy, all these characteristics of knight contribute to western civilization.” The gentleman manner and chivalry was formed under the restraint of English church and social environment. The knights should receive the education. They learned social etiquettes, and how to talk with other people gently and elegantly. They should also show respect to the aristocratic women, even the civilians. All of these gradually became a fashion. Nowadays in Britain, it is still popular. The Britain is also famous for its gentleman. So it is not so hard to find that the gentleman originated from chivalry.

Thirdly, the knight literature influenced the western culture. The knight literature generally adopts legendary themes. The knights like listening to hero stories and the love stories between men and women after training. Some of them became the founders of this kind of poetry and the knight literature has become the main current of secular literature in the middle Ages. It reflects the ideal life of knight class. Many books, such as King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Dawn song, sir Gawain and the Green knight and so on, were wrote in that time. The knight literature is wonderful work in of western culture. It affects the later culture of Britain. The romance and adventure still have strong influence in today’s Britain.

Finally, the knight courtly love makes contribution to western culture. Knight is a typical Platonic love. If the knights fall in love with a lady, he vows to believe her and defend her forever until die. The knights would sworn an oath of loyalty to the lady just as he was loyal to the monarch ,which include toeing line of the lady, taking all risks and suffering a great deal. I think all women will love this romantic character. This kind of love becomes the main content of the knight literature and became the dream of western people.

The chivalry gradually become a kind of gentility and contributes to the western civilization. It set a good example to us. The western society has formed the custom of respecting female, especially the gentlemen in Britain; they still keep very obvious knightly demeanors. Learning the chivalry can help us improve our qualities and understand western culture better. Nowadays, China is developing faster and faster, we not only need the riches of people life’ substance, but also the progress of the culture and civilization we make. I think the duty, heroism, honest and others sprits are still valuable today and we should study and borrow the areas in which they excel from chivalry.