The Knight and Chivalry: Revised edition - Hardcover

Barber, Richard

3.45

44 ratings by Goodreads

9780851156279: The Knight and Chivalry: Revised edition

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0851156274 ISBN 13: 9780851156279

Publisher: The Boydell Press, 1974

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A profoundly intelligent book which combines the results for monumental research with elegance and lucidity. DAILY TELEGRAPH (Review of the 1970 edition) The concept of chivalry is one of the central ideas of the medieval world, linking the practicalities of warfare to the highest levels of literary and religious idealism. To understand it, it is necessary to give equal weight to the worlds of reality and imagination in order to examine the complex interaction between the two which produces chivalry. The warriors and knights of early medieval Europe show the first stirrings of a chivalric order. The chansons de geste and the early romances, the biographies and handbooks for aspiring knights, provide an intellectual reflection of the new mood. The physical and social constraints of chivalry were perfectly met by tournaments, which developed from training for warfare into spectacular pageants. The study draws new parallels between chivalry and christian belief, and shows how, from the church's changing attitude to war as reflected in the crusades, the military orders emerged. Only as methods of warfare were transformed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was the medieval knight finally transformed into the Renaissance courtier. The Knight and Chivalry, first appeared in 1970 and has now been completely revised and updated to take account of the latest research.

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Review:

The concept of chivalry has been in existence for well over a thousand years; even today, it is not quite dead. In this valuable book Dr Barber has set himself the task of tracing its history from the beginning aventure every bit as daunting as any undertaken by his heroes and has acquitted himself with honour. His place at the Round Table is now assured. It has been won by a combination of scholarship with quite exemplary thoroughness. JOHN JULIUS NORWICH, THE SPECTATORRichard Barber's magnificent study explores the development of the knightly hero from the iron warrior of the chansons de geste to the courtly lover of the romans, those epics of chivalry in which love and honour were inseparable. In the second half of the book, Dr Barber relates chivalry in literature to chivalry in life a profoundly intelligent book which combines the results of monumental research with elegance and lucidity. DAILY TELEGRAPHI am greatly impressed by his solid scholarship. CYRIL CONNOLLY, SUNDAY TIMES

Synopsis:

The concept of chivalry is one of the central ideas of the medieval world, linking the practicalities of warfare to the highest levels of literary and religious idealism. One of the most elusive aspects of chivalry is its relationship with Christian belief, and this study draws parallels between the two, showing how, from the Church's changing attitude to war as reflected in the Crusades, the military orders emerged: Templars, Hospitallers and others - religious chivalry in action. The book also discusses how chivalry played its part in the realm of politics, the ideals of chivalry being clearly seen in the secular orders of knighthood founded by the princes of Western Europe, binding their allies to them with patronage and reward. First published in 1970, the book has been extensively revised to take account of research during the last 25 years.

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