This lofty exemplar may have been rarely approached in the ages of chivalry. The Black Prince was guilty of sanguinary atrocities. The passions of men were brutal and untamed; temptations were great and fre- (pient; but continual failures would not furnish strange instances of the disproportion between concej^tion and performance. IMuch, however, was achieved by the con- stant contemplation of excellence, even though it was unattained; and by the repeated efforts after each de-
clension to aspire to tlie perfection so often abandoned. Much, too, was gained by the partial and occasional ac- complishment of the high duties prescribed. Even more, perhajis, was slowly secured by the bitter shame and repentance which ever revived, and thus perpetu- ated, the desire and the image of better things. " Altius ibunt qui ad summa nituntur."
INIuch corruption undoubtedly flowed from the con- junction of chivalrj' with the Provenc^al courts of love, which were of mingled Greek and Saracenic descent. They contributed much to the obscuration and debase- ment of the wise ideal, but they contributed fully as much to the refinement and polish of the intercourse between the sexes. They added literary and intellect- ual culture to martial bearing; they toned down the rough, blunt manner of the battle-field to the elegant and respectfid courtesies of the boudoir. They exacted from " the dauntless in war" that he should be equally gentle in peace and " faithful in love." Thus gallantry was mellowed and softened into civility, which was the antithesis of military hntsquerie, as in tlie abbe Talley- rand's celebrated witticism. Hence sprung that thor- oughly modem and Christian product, " the gentleman of the olden time," of which Sir Harr}' Lee of Ditchley may be taken as a specimen. If fearful licentiousness accompanied these amiable graces in Provence, Langiie- doc, Aquitaine, and other sunny southern lands, at any rate vice was stripped of its brutality and coarseness, and lost its brazen shamelessness and virulent conta- gion. But, tliough truth and fidelity to his " faire la- dye" were always demanded of the knight, the sensual- ism of the countries of romance was only accidentally connected with knightly conduct, and never formed any part of its nature. Moreover, though it be true that
"The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with then- bones,"
the converse is equally true ; and modern generations unquestionably owe much of tliose rarely-attained per- fections which are now most admired to the fragrant nastiness and ornate priu-icnce of the Cours d' Amour and Jeux Floraiix.
In the splendid Arthurian cycle — a brighter realm of romance than all the legends of Homer and the Homerid.T — the heroes and heroines are sadly stained and spotted ■with moral blurs and blotches, and even with gross crimes. Sir Lancelot, " first of knights," bears an ineradicable brand ; but still is scarce
"Less than archangel ruined, and the excess Of glory obscured."
The birth and the marriage of king Arthur are equally foul; and the champions and dames that encircled him are all tainted, except Sir Galahad — " among the faith- ess, faithful only he." But, despite the endless detaU of weakness, of ruth, and of sin, the central idea comes forth, like the sun emerging from a bank of clouds — the noblest dream of human fantasy, the highest evidence of ethereal aspirations from the midst of vicious indul- gences and multiplied contaminations. This type is true knighthood, '\^'hat knighthood was has been al- ready partly explained ; what it is in the Arthurian ro- mances is shown by Arthur's latest bard :
"In that fair Order of the Table Round, A glorious conijinny, the flower of men, To serve as model "for the mighty world, And be the fair beginning of a time. I made them lay tlieir hands in mine, and swear To reverence tlie king, as if he were Their conscience, and their conscience as the king; To break the heathen, and uphold the Christ; 'J'o ride abroad redressing human wrongs; To speak no slander, no, nor listen to it; To lead sweet lives in purest chastity; To love one maiden only, cleave to her, And worship her by years of nolile deeds, Until they won her; for indeed I knew Of no more subtle" master under heaven Than is the maiden jiassion for a maid, Not only to keep duwii the base in man, But teach high ihou^'hts, and amiable words, And courtliness, and the desire of fame, And love of truth, and all that makes a man."
KNIGHTHOOD
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KNIGHTHOOD
III. Classes and Derjrees of Knighthood. — Kiiiglitliood may be loosely distributed into six classes: 1. Feudal kuiglithood; 2. Simple knighthood; 3. Regular knight- hood, or the knighthood of the spiritual orders, like the Knights of IMalta; 4. Honorary knighthood, as of the (Jarter; 5. Titidar knighthood, as in England and many other countries, constituting a dignity of lesser nobility ; G. Social, or fantastic knighthood, as the Templars in Freemasonry, the Knights of Pythias, etc. The first of these classes furnishes the foundation and origin of all the rest, but needs no further notice than has been al- ready given. The last is foreign to the present pur- pose. The fifth may be excluded, as it is political rather than chivalrous. Simple, regular, and honorary knight- hood require further, but brief consideration.
Each of these classes exhibits the same general con- stitution, though the third is only an imitation, and a jireposterous prolongation of the first with the forms of the second. In each there are usually three degrees. In actual chivalry, these were the page, the squire, and the knight. The young son of a kniglit, or of a noble who was also a knight, was placed at the age of seven years in the service and cliarge of another knight, se- lected on account of family connection, friendship, or personal renown. The education of the young in the ages of chivalry vf&s secured by attendance on their elders in the field, in hunting, at the table, and in the concerns of domestic life (see Correspondeiwe of Simon de Montfort and bishop Grosseieste, and the Treatises on Manners in The Babees' Boke), The page, or varlet, or valet {rassaletus, rarletus, raktns) was taught to ride, to run, to leap, to shoot with the bow, to hawk, to play on the lute. He was taught obedience and attention to his superiors, and was supposed to be kept in the ob- servance of religion and morals. He attended his patron in war, but armed only with a short dagger. His per- son was safe in the melee, for it was dastardly to assail a page. In the intervals of serious occupation he re- ceived guests and ministered to their comforts, and waited on the chatelaine and the other ladies of the household, receiving instruction in legend, and poesy, and song ; in manners, and in the formalities of love. The character of the instruction in the last easy science may perhaps be conjectured from the tenor of the lessons composed for his daughters by the knight De la Tour Landry in 1.571.