Today, people use the word chivalrous to describe a graciously polite and helpful action or attitude, especially toward women. The word chivalry suggests honorable behavior, a meaning that echoes its medieval use. But medieval chivalry was above all an expression of class. It was the code of behavior for knights—professional soldiers who saw their duty as first to protect their lord and/or king in battle, then to hunt, give lavish feasts, and fight in tournaments. Finally, a knight had to terrorize the peasants, as we have seen, to ensure they did not try to improve their lot.

Jean de Froissart was a French chronicler (historian) who lived in the mid-1300s. He left an account of how Edward, the Black Prince of England, treated the people of the French town of Limoges after he captured it in 1370: “Then the prince… entered into the city, [ready to] do evil, and to pillage and rob the city, and to slay men, women and children, for so it was commanded them to do. It was great pity to see the men, women and children that kneeled down on their knees before the prince for mercy; but he was so inflamed with ire, that he took no heed to them, so that none was heard, but all put to death…. There was no pity taken of the poor people, who [suffered more] than the great personages…”

Despite this violence, poets of the Middle Ages exalted knights and made them heroes. The excerpt below, from an Early Medieval epic poem, is an appreciation of chivalry in all its beauty and violence. Read on to learn more.

This is an illustration from the Chanson de Roland, or Song of Roland, an 11th-century French epic poem describing the heroism of the 8th-century knight Roland, vassal to Charlemagne. In this excerpt, a rival, pagan knight named Margaris declares to his lord, King Marsil, that he will win chivalric honor by killing Roland in battle. This image shows Roland’s death at the hands of Margaris.