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1、On the Development and Decline of ChivalryIntroduction:Chivalry, also known as Knighthood, can be defined as the general collection of organizations, regulations, morals and norms owned particularly by the knight class in west Europe in the Middle Ages. This system, with its nature of the dictatorsh
2、ip of mid-and-smallish feudal nobles, is based on the vassalage of land, bonded with knight enlistment, directed by Christian thought. Narrowly speaking, it is a kind of military system. Generally speaking, it serves as a system as well as a moral concept. Since Chivalry has a long-lasting impact on
3、 the developing history of west Europe, I fancy, it is quite necessary to talk about the development and decline of Chivalry.The knighthood, originated with the joint efforts of several elements, including ancient history recollections and various social facts at that time. All of these elements tog
4、ether gave birth to military fief which served as the economic isotopic carrier for the endowment of political rights on knight class. Under the spiritual shaping of Christian thought, Chivalry was established firmly.Chivalry, as a military regime built on the fief system, primitively originated in
5、Frankish Kingdom in the 8th century. Then it was passed to the north, to the west of Reich across Flender, Burgundy and so on. It is safe to say that Chivalry is a kind of mechanism on the whole European continent. To be frank, its development can be divided into three stages.Three stages of develop
6、ment: The first stage was approximately from the Military Reform of Charles Martel, to the end of 11th century. During this period, Chivalry was still on the primary level. Here follows its several features.To begin with, knights were professional soldiers and the primitive soldiers were considered
7、as the most faithful and the bravest people. They shouldered the mission of protecting national people. Their major task was to fight in various battles and to serve their suzerains. It was estimated that they were at war for 4060 days per year. Therefore, its military feature can be plainly seen. K
8、nights were an open class before 11th century. Any person who could afford to buy weapons and horses and had ever participated officially in the ceremony could deserve the name of a knight. A freeman, who was born in a poor family, could also be named a knight as long as he could behave bravely in a
9、 battle. Whats more, every knight had the right to nominate a knight out of a common person. But it is worth nothing along the way that the equipment cost was fairly high. At that time, a very healthy and strong bull cost about 2 sorida, while it would cost 22 times more than that money to equip a k
10、night. Well-equipped weapons and excellent skills, together with the strict measurement of military strength suggest that not everyone could become a knight. Every knight must be outstanding in the Middle Ages. In addition to the conditions above, competitiveness also played a big role during that p
11、eriod. If a knight could beat his rival or an aggressive person, his reputation would be lifted immediately and he would become the respected hero in peoples mind. Secondly, all the knights were feudal lords. However big or small, as a condition, every knight could gain some feuds from his superior.
12、 There were some typical words written in the Code of Germanic saying “Feif is the reward of every knight.” As the suzerain of the fief, the knights could enjoy the total income of the land and invest the money for their equipment. In addition, some administrative rights were given together with the
13、 fief, such as the rights to tackle civilian lawsuits, part of robberies and homicide cases, the rights to nominate jury members and to investigate some cases. The last feature should be that knights were experiencing the process of Christianism. Those knights in the Middle Ages were almost brutal a
14、nd ruthless warriors. They could tease weak people, plunder peasants, rape women or murder innocent people without being seriously punished. Whats worse, all of these behaviors did not violate the Knight Behavior Norms. However, they betrayed the Christian greatly. As Christian became increasingly i
15、mportant in west Europe, the church began to perform some control over those rough knights. In 10th century, the church launched a campaign called the Peace of God where “Brutal knights should deserve spiritual punishment” was declared. Furthermore, the Truce of God prohibited any kind of battle on
16、Sundays or during other divine festivals. Violence was strictly banned in or near churches, otherwise all the violate participants, knights included, would be exiled from Christian church.The second stage was about from 12th century to the beginning of 13th century. This period was the most successful as it was basically about the Crusades. Some features were quite obvious about this stage.Firstly, with the combination of religious discipline and military discipline, the knights aggressiven
