Chivalry

This historical study examines chivalry as a social code and institution of the medieval European nobility, mainly from the twelfth century to the fifteenth. Keen treats the making of the knight, the literature of courtesy and prowess, the tournament, crusading vows, heraldry, and the relationship between martial honour and Christian teaching. He uses chronicles, handbooks, and romance to show how an ideal of courage, loyalty, and largesse was taught, displayed, and sometimes ignored in war and court. The book is an argument about a real aristocratic culture, not a gallery of legendary knights. It asks how chivalry worked as both ethic and class identity.

Colour frontispiece and pages of colour illustrations. Gilt decorated brown cloth boards and spine. Black endleaves. Blue slipcase.