Thou shalt perform scrupulously thy feudal duties, if they be not contrary to the laws of God. Thou shalt make war against the Infidel without cessation, and without mercy. Thou shalt not recoil before thine enemy. Thou shalt love the country in the which thou wast born. Thou shalt repect all weaknesses, and shalt constitute thyself the defender of them. Because God identifies closely with His Church, defending His Church is understood to be a defense of God, Himself.The Ten Commandments of the Code of Chivalry Thou shalt believe all that the Church teaches, and shalt observe all its directions. No, this was a call to defend the Church, both in Europe and around the known world.įear God and maintain His Church. Remember that Europe was divided up into hundreds of small city-states. After the historic rise of the Church throughout the Roman Empire, the expanse of the Church had been cut in half by a single, unrelenting enemy, and the medieval knight took up arms to defend the Church. It is in this context, that of defending the Church in a military manner, that we can understand very well what is meant by "maintain His Church" to the medieval knight. And it was at this time, in answer to the cry of persecuted Christians in the Middle East, and as a measure of defending Europe from this implacable invasion, the first Crusades were called. Over the course of 450 years, Islamic forces conquered all of North Africa, Spain, all of the Middle East, and were incurring into Europe from both the East and also in the West from Spain into France. All the lands from the Middle East, across North Africa, Turkey, and all of Europe and beyond had been Christian for about 300 years before Islam arrived into history. If you live anywhere in the Americas, that's longer than your country has been a country. Rather, the Church means all members of this Body, both the clergy and the lay.Īt the time of the Song of Roland, Christendom had already been under assault by Islamic forces for approximately 450 years. Note, the Church does not mean strictly the hierarchy of the Holy Orders. Most relevant to a knight, however, as opposed to a merchant or artisan, this tenet of the Code should be understood to mean to defend the Church from violent warfare. After all, where better to start than at the start (.and three quarters of the way through)? In this entry, I will be speaking about item numbers 1 and 12 from the Song of Roland. I want to present the different rules within the Code according to similar themes. The way these next few entries about chivalry are going to be laid out will be a kind of grouping by similarity. To violate these tenets was highly dishonorable and represented a betrayal of not just themselves, but their brothers in arms. This isn't just a set of rules that Knights had to obey. Think about the codes of honor that a U.S. Marine, or a Navy Seal might live by. This is a code that the warriors of the European middle ages lived by. This is important, because I want you to think about what the Code of Chivalry means in that light. Chivalry literally means "of or pertaining to knighthood." To "be chivalrous" is to behave in a knightly manner. I wish to once again dispel this notion that we are speaking about "good manners." That is not what chivalry means. I will probably make brief mention to how these relate to Gautier's Commandments, but I want the focus to be on the Song of Roland because these actually came from the time when chivalry was a widespread practice.īefore I continue, I would like to remind you, my dear reader, about the meaning of the term, chivalry. In my previous entry on chivalry, I mentioned that I was going to try to expand on each of the items on the list given to us in the Song of Roland. I'm back though, and ready to continue talking about the Code of Chivalry!
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