Old institutions of the German forest life ; the effects of feudal organization and of feudal society ; the neces- sities of a ravaged, ruined, and distracted country ; the operation of religious zeal, and even of general religious fanaticism; the action of the priesthood, and collision with cultivated Greeks and brilliant Saracens, all con- . tributed to the formation of the type of a Christian soldier — a true knight, a preux chevalier, sans (ache et sans reproche. The judgment is accordingly correct which regards the sera of the Crusades, when the regu- lar and permanent Orders were instituted, as the true period of the formation of that ideal of knighthood which is one of the most precious bequests for which modern times are indebted to the Jliddle Ages. Un- doubtedly there was a previous growth of the same kind, but the growth did not proceed to mature and perfect fruitage until aU agencies were efficacioush* combined on the sacred soil of Palestine.
It is a cause of great embarrassment in endeavoring to ascertain the characteristics and origin of any insti- tution which has widely prevailed in obscure ages, that such institutions only gradually assume the complete form which is their familiar shape, that many concur- rent streams flow in at different periods and add their contributions, and that the darliuess of the foregone time affords everj^ ojiiportunify and every temptation to throw back into the past those characteristics M'hich only belong to the institution in its final development. The same confusion which presented Virgil as a necro- mancer to mediaeval fancy, and made Theseus a feudal duke of Athens in the imagination of Chaucer and Shakespeare, and exhibited Dan Hector and Sir Alex- ander to the admiring regards of baronial circles in the thirteenth century, pushed back the distinctions of knighthood to periods in which the germs of chivalr}- existed only in a loose and disconnected form. By this glamour the Arthurian cycle and the Carlovingian myths were fashioned, and the inventions and ideas of the twelfth centurj^ were provided with a historical ex- istence in the sixth and eighth. After knighthood be- came an established institution, it prevailed so widely and so generally that it seemed to be a necessary part
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of social order. Saladin is said to have sought and re- ceived the accolade from a Christian captive, and the Byzantine emperor Manuel Coruncnus lield jousts and tourneys on the plains of Antioch {Nicet. Chomat, iii, 3 ; comp. Joann. Cantacuzenus, 1, 42).
II. Nature of Kuiyhthood. — A knight was a soldier {miles), usually, but not necessarily, of gentle blood — a soldier wlio fought on horseback {caballarius, chevalier, cahallero) with panoply complete —
"From top to toe no place appeared bare, That deadly dint of Steele endanger may."
In the feudal hierarchy he was the holder of a knight's fee, but, as chivalry was developed, he might be "lord of his presence and no land beside." The quality was thus distinguished from the estate, and, although pen- alties were imposed for conferring the cliaracter on any one not of knightly blood and of knightly havings, yet tlie lionor, once bestowed, was indelible except by degra- dation for unworthy conduct. This point was decided in an English court of law by lord Coke, and the deci- sion was more recently confirmed by lord Kenyon in the case of "Sir John Gallini," a ballet-master. Knight- hood thus came to designate personal character and station, in contradistinction to political rank. The im- poverished warrior, like " Walter the Penniless," or Ber- trand du Guesclin, or the Chevalier Bayard, might be the, pearl of knights, and might sit down with princes; the powerful and wealthy baron might be wholly des- titute of knightly estimation.
It was a precious service that was rendered to morals and civility when lofty virtues were thus broadly dis- criminated from territorial possessions and worldly rank. It was a noble model of personal purity and elevation which was presented for imitation to a warlike and stormy age. The knightly cliaracter, and tlie obliga- tions imposed by tliat character, are strikingly delinea- ted in the instructions of Alphonso V of Portugal to his son and heir, when he knighted him after the conquest of ArzUla (1-471), in the presence of his slain Count de Itlarialva. " First, to instruct you," said the king, " what the nature of knighthood is, know, my son. that it con- sists in a close confederacy or union of power and virtue, to establish peace among men, whenever ambition, av- arice, or tyranny troubles states or injures particulars; for knights are bound to employ their swords on these ■"/ccasions, in order to dethrone tyrants and put good men in their place. But they are likewise obliged to keep fidelity to their sovereign, as well as to obey their ("hicfs in war, and to give them salutary counsels. It is also the duty of a knight to be frank and liberal, and to think nothing his own but his horse and arms, which he ought to keep for the sake of acquiring honor with them, by using them in defence of his religion and coun- try, and of those who are unable to defend themselves ; for, as the priesthood was instituted for divine service, so was chivalry for the maintenance of religion and iustice. A knight ought to be the husband of widows, the father of orphans, the protector of the poor, and the prop of those who have no other support; and they v.ho do not act thus are unworthy to bear that name. These, my son, are the obligations which tlic order of knight- hood will lay upon you." Striking the infant thrice on the helmet with his sword, Alphonso added, " May God make you as good a knight as this whose body you see before you, pierced in several places for the service of God and of his sovereign" (cited by lord Lyttelton, Hist, of lion. If. iii, 159, IGO. Sec also Digby, Mores Catholi- ci, bk. ix, chap, x ; .James, Jlist. of Chiralrii, chap. i).