A Companion to Chivalry

A comprehensive study of every aspect of chivalry and chivalric culture.

A comprehensive study of every aspect of chivalry and chivalric culture.

Chivalry lay at the heart of elite society in the Middle Ages, but it is a nebulous concept which defies an easy definition. More than just a code of ethical behaviour, it shaped literary tastes, art and manners, as well as socialhierarchies, political events and religious practices; its impact is everywhere.
This work aims to provide an accessible and holistic survey of the subject. Its chapters, by leading experts in the field, cover a wide range of areas: the tournament, arms and armour, the chivalric society's organisation in peace and war, its literature and its landscape. They also consider the gendered nature of chivalry, its propensity for violence, and its post-medieval decline and reinvention in the early modern and modern periods. It will be invaluable to the student and the scholar of chivalry alike.

ROBERT W. JONES is a Visiting Scholar in History, Franklin and Marshall College; PETER COSS is Emeritus Professor of Medieval History, Cardiff University

Contributors: Richard Barber, Joanna Bellis, Matthew Bennett, Sam Claussen, Peter Coss, Oliver Creighton, David Green, Robert W. Jones, MeganG. Leitch, Ralph Moffat, Helen J. Nicholson, Clare Simmons, David Simpkin, Peter Sposato, Louise J. Wilkinson, Matthew Woodcock

Introduction - Robert W. Jones
The Origins and Diffusion of Chivalry - Peter Coss
The Organisation of Chivalric Society - David Simpkin
The Secular Orders: Chivalry in the Service of the State - David Green
The Military Orders - Helen J. Nicholson
Marshalling the Chivalric Elite for War - Robert W. Jones
Chivalric Violence - Samuel A. Claussen and Peter Sposato
Chivalry in the Tournament andPas d'Armes - Richard Barber
Heraldry and Heralds - Robert W. Jones
Arms and Armour - Ralph Moffat
Constructing Chivalric Landscapes: Aristocratic Spaces Between Image and Reality - Oliver H. Creighton
Gendered Chivalry - Louise J. Wilkinson
Chivalric Literature - Joanna Bellis and Megan G. Leitch
Manuals of Warfare and Chivalry - Matthew Bennett
The End of Chivalry? Survivals and Revivals of the Tudor Age - Matthew Woodcock
Chivalric Medievalism - Clare A Simmons
Bibliography