Making Curriculum Pop

Fun short article from OZY...

The image of the noble knight, however, was much more a courtly ideal than a reality. Knights formed their own dangerous subclass, prone to plundering and misconduct when unoccupied by official violence, and codes and stories of chivalry were partly a response by the Church and others to tame this bloodthirsty band of troublemakers. And the tales of gallantry, according to historian Richard W. Kaeuper, were more than just a form of entertainment; they were a “form of literary legislation that attempted to shape the behavior of a very powerful group of men.”

Such medieval spin-doctoring was helped along by the rise of the tournament, a convenient outlet for channeling aggression and curbing the lawlessness of idle warriors. Early tournaments were savage mock battles, but the high rates of mortal injury led organizers to reform the popular spectacle into jousting and other nonlethal competitions. But violence remained the sine qua non of the knight’s existence, Kaeuper argues in Chivalry and Violence in Medieval Europe, and whatever their lofty ideals, knights, as “the privileged practitioners of violence in their society,” operated in a world where death and dismemberment were constant companions.

Full article HERE.

 

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