The Age of Chivalry

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The Age of Chivalry
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The Age of Chivalry

• The code of chivalry for knights glorified combat
  and romantic love
• Chivalry has shaped modern ideas of romance in
  Western cultures

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Terms to know

• chivalry
• tournament
• troubadour

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Where youve heard these terms

• Cavalier and chivalry both come from the French
  chevalier which means knight

• The final four is the nickname of the NCAA
  basketball tournament

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Knights become an important part of battle

• Charles Martel organized the Frankish army into
  troops of armored horsemen, knights.
• The development of the saddle and stirrups made
  it easier to fight on horseback.

The knight is still seen as a symbol of war and
battle 1000 years later
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Feudal lords raise private armies

• Knights were given fiefs (plots of land) in
  order to protect feudal lords from other nobles
  trying to take their land
• By granting the knights fiefs, the knights were
  able to use the wealth of the land to buy
  weapons, armor and warhorses
• A knight typically served in 40 days of battle
  per year

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Chivalry

• Chivalry is a complex set of ideas which demanded
  that a knight fight bravely in defense of three
  masters
• His earthly feudal lord
• His heavenly lord
• His chosen lady

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Chivalry

• The chivalrous knight also protected the weak and
  the poor
• The ideal knight was loyal, brave and courteous
• Reality brutal to lower classes..
• Many knights failed to live to these standards

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Literature of Chivalry

• Love poems and songs

• Troubadours traveling poet-musicians at the
  castles and courts of Europe
• They composed short songs about the joys and
  sorrows of romantic love

• Epic poetry

• King Arthur
• Charlemagne

Troubadours then and now.
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Epic Poetry

• The Song of Roland is one of the most famous
  medieval poems
• It praises a band of French soldiers who dies in
  a battle under Charlemagne

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Shifting Role of Women

• Church viewed women as inferior to men
• Feudalism develops ? Women status declined
• Roles limited to home and convent
• Endless labor, bearing children, family care

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Women Power

• Women Power
• Feudal system allowed women to inherit land
• Send knights to war upon lords request
• Acted as military commander/warrior
• Dressed/fought as knights
• Did NOT receive fiefs as rewards for fighting
• Lords passed down land to sons, NOT daughters

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Primary Sources Noble Women

• Contrast the daily life of a noblewoman to the
  daily life of a peasant woman in the Early Middle
  Ages (p. 368).
• Identify at least TWO things that noblewoman and
  peasant women had in common (p. 368).
• Under what circumstance could a noblewoman become
  lord of the manor and assume the duties that
  come along with that title?  (p. 369).

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Tournaments

• Sons of nobles began training for knighthood at a
  young age
• After a year or two of training, they entered
  mock battles called tournaments

Trumpets blared and lords and ladies cheered.
Tournament winners could demand large ransoms
from defeated knights.
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Bloody Battles

• Unlike tournaments, actual battles were quite
  violent and bloody
• Castle battles are among the most bloody

The home of the lord and lady, a castle under
siege was a gory sight. Defenders poured boiling
water, hot oil or molten lead while archers on
the roof fired arrows and bolts at attackers.
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Castle Weapons

• A Siege Tower had a platform on top that lowered
  like a drawbridge
• It could support soldiers and weapons

• A Battering Ram was made of heavy timber with a
  sharp metal tip
• It swung like a pendulum to crack castle walls or
  knock down a drawbridge

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Trebuchet

• A Trebuchet worked like a giant slingshot
• It propelled objects up to a distance of 980 feet
  (More than 3 football fields)

• A Trebuchet was used to launch
• pots of burning lime
• boulders
• severed human heads
• captured soldiers
• diseased cows
• dead horses

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Castle and Siege Weapons

• A tortoise moved slowly on wheels and sheltered
  soldiers from falling arrows.

• A mangonel flung huge rocks that crashed into
  castle walls. It propelled objects up to 1300
  feet.