The Reign of Chivalry

"Profusely illustrated and redesigned for a new generation of readers, Richard Barber's classic The Reign of Chivalry presents a broad picture of the chivalric world, showing how chivalry affected or was affected by great social movements, great writers and great events, and analysing the legacy it passed down to later ages." "The opening chapter looks at the central figure of the whole chivalric world, the knight, and asks why he is such a different figure from other fighting men. Following sections deal with chivalry in relation to the main themes of medieval literature, especially the vast cycle of Arthurian romances, and discuss the attitudes towards chivalry of writers such as Jean Froissart, whose pages cast a golden glow over the harsh realities of war." "Later themes engage with chivalry's influence on the Renaissance and later culture, beginning with the knight's transition to gentleman; the respectful, even adoring, attitude towards women, the element by which chivalry is now most remembered, is the subject of a wideranging discussion, covering both medieval reality and modern ideals."--Jacket.