“The Creed that created our civilization.”Ĭhivalry has its true origin in the Christian Faith. No warrior culture before him embraced these qualities systematically like the knight because these qualities were the incomparable contribution of Christianity. These qualities, these virtues, are unique to the European knight up to that point in history, until his influence carried these qualities elsewhere.
The part of chivalry that is unique to itself and distinct from every other warrior ethos consists of the following qualities that the knight is expected to embrace: Largess, Courtesy, Meekness, Obedience to the Church, Defense of the Church, Moderation, Justice, Mercy, Defense of the Weak, and Courtesy to Women. The second element that makes up the code of Chivalry caused a revolutionary break with the classical idea of what defines heroism.Īs stated, a warrior ethos was common to many warrior cultures but the second element that was grafted on to the warrior ethos was the impulse for a moderation of violence and the practice of Christian virtues. Great men are almost always bad men." Thus, the heroes of old, whether of myth or of historical record, Gilgamesh, King Ninus, Heracles, and Alexander the Great, these were great men in the eyes of the world but they were not good men. In the classical world "Might makes Right" or as Sir John Dalberg-Acton put it "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The warrior ethos contained in the code of chivalry consisted of the following warrior virtues: Prowess, Valor, Honor, Duty, Service, Loyalty, Glory, & Nobility.īut it should be noted that these military virtues embraced by the ancient world are unbridled by any other virtues. evolved as a counterpoise to fear." It "embodies certain virtues-courage, honor, loyalty, integrity, selflessness and others-that most warrior societies believe must be inculcated from birth.” Various warrior cultures in sundry places expected their soldiers to practice some form of warrior ethos such as that of the Laconians of the city of Sparta, or the Habitus of the Romans, and later the Bushido Code of the Japanese Samurai. The warrior ethos, according to Steven Pressfield, ". Its first element was made up of a Warrior Ethos. Galgano's sword Chivalry was the code of conduct practiced by Medieval European knights.Ĭhivalry was a compound made up of two distinct elements. The Knights of the Virgin is an international military order of Catholic knighthood whose members strive to live out the code of chivalry in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
0 kommentar(er)
