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CONTENTS
OF
THE FIRST VOLUME.
CHAP. I.
THE ORIGIN AND FIRST APPEARANCES OF CHIVALRY IN
EUROPE.
Page
General nature of chivalry...Military and moral chi-
valry...Origin of chivalry... Usages of the Germans...
Election of soldiers... Fraternity...Dignity of obe-
dience...Gallantry...The age of Charlemagne...Chi-
valry modified by religion...Ceremonies of Anglo-
Saxon inauguration...Chivalry sanctioned by councils,
and regarded as a form of Christianity...Nature of
chivalric nobility...Its degrees...Knight banneret...
His qualifications... By whom created...His privileges
...His relation to the baron...And incidentally of the
war-cry and the escutcheon... The knight...Qualifi-
cations for knighthood...By whom created...The
squirehood...General view of the other chapters on
the institutions of chivalry.....
1
CHAP. II.
THE EDUCATION OF A KNIGHT. THE CEREMONIES OF
INAUGURATION AND OF DEGRADATION.
Description in romances of knightly education...Hawk-
ing and hunting... Education commenced at the age
of seven...Duties of the page...Personal service...
Love and religion...Martial exercises... The squire...
His duties of personal service...Curious story of a
bold young squire...Various titles of squires... Duties
of the squire in battle...Gallantry...Martial exercises
...Horsemanship...Importance of squires in the battle-
field...Particularly at the battle of Bovines... Pre-
parations for knighthood... The anxiety of the squire
regarding the character of the knight from whom he
was to receive the accolade...Knights made in the
battle-field... Inconveniences of this... Knights of
Mines...General ceremonies of degradation...Cere-
monies in England...................................
26
CHAP. III.
THE EQUIPMENT.
Beauty of the chivalric equipment... The lance... The
pennon... The axe, maule, and martel...The sword...
Fondness of the knight for it...Swords in romances...
The shield... Various sorts of mail...Mail...Mail and
plate...Plate harness...The scarf... Surcoats... Armo-
rial bearings... Surcoats of the military orders...The
dagger of mercy...Story of its use...Value of en-
quiries into ancient armour... A precise knowledge
unattainable...Its general features interesting...The
broad lines of the subject...Excellence of Italian ar-
mour...Armour of the squire, &c....Allegories made
on armour...The horse of the knight...........
65
CHAP. IV.
THE CHIVALRIC CHARACTER.
General array of knights...Companions in arms... The
nature of a cavalier's valiancy... Singular bravery
of Sir Robert Knowles...Bravery incited by vows...
Fantastic circumstances... The humanities of chivalric
war...Ransoming... Reason of courtesies in battles...
Curious pride of knighthood...Prisoners...Instance of
knightly honour... Independence of knights, and
knight-errantry...Knights fought the battles of other
countries... English knights dislike wars in Spain...
Their disgust at Spanish wines... Principles of their
active conduct...Knightly independence consistent
with discipline...Religion of the knight...his devotion
... His intolerance...General nature of his virtue...Fi-
delity to obligations... Generousness... Singular in-
stance of it...Romantic excess of it...Liberality...
Humility... Courtesy. EVERY-DAY LIFE OF THE
KNIGHT...Falconry ... Chess playing... Story of a
knight's love of chess...Minstrelsy... Romances...
Conversation...Nature and form of chivalric enter-
tainments...Festival and vow of the pheasant......... 117
...
CHAP. V.
DAMES AND DAMSELS, AND LADY-LOVE.
Courtesy... Education ... Music ... Graver sciences ...
Dress...Knowledge of medicine... Every-day life of
the maiden...Chivalric love... The idolatry of the
knight's passion... Bravery inspired by love...Cha-
racter of woman in the eyes of a knight...Peculiar
nature of his love...Qualities of knights admired
by women...A tale of chivalric love...Constancy...
Absence of jealousy...Knights asserted by arms their
mistress's beauty...Penitents of love...Other pecu-
liarities of chivalric love...The passion universal...
Story of Aristotle...Chivalric love the foe to feudal
distinctions...But preserved religion... When attach-
ments were formed...Societies of knights for the de-
fence of ladies...Knights of the lady in the green
field...Customs in England...Unchivalric to take wo-
men prisoners...Morals of chivalric times... Heroines
of chivalry...Queen Philippa... The Countess of March
...Tales of Jane of Mountfort and of Marzia degl'
Ubaldini...Nobleness of the chivalric female character 181
CHAP. VI.
TOURNAMENTS AND JOUSTS.
Beauty of chivalric sports... Their superiority to those
of Greece and Rome...Origin of tournaments...
Reasons for holding them...Practice in arms...
Courtesy...By whom they were held...Qualifications
for tourneying...Ceremonies of the tournament...
Arrival of the knights... Publication of their names
...Reasons for it... Disguised knights... The lists ...
Ladies the judges of the tournament...Delicate
courtesy at tournaments...Morning of the sports...
Knights led by ladies, who imitated the dress of
knights...Nature of tourneying weapons...Knights
wore ladies' favours... The preparation... The en-
counter... What lance-strokes won the prize... Con-
clusion of the sports... The festival...Delivery of the
prize... Knights thanked by ladies... The ball...
Liberality... Tournaments opposed by the popes...
The opposition unjust...The joust...Description of
the joust to the utterance...Joust between a Scotch
and an English knight...Jousting for love of the
ladies...A singular instance of it...Joust between a
French and an English squire...Admirable skill of
jousters...Singular questions regarding jousts...An
Earl of Warwick... Celebrated joust at St. Inglebertes
...Joust between Lord Scales and the Bastard of Bur-
gundy...The romance of jousts...The passage of
arms... Use of tournaments and jousts.........
258
CHAP. VII.
THE RELIGIOUS AND MILITARY ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD.
General principles of the religious orders...Qualifi-
cations for them... Use of these orders to Palestine...
Modern history of the Knights Templars... Their pre-
sent existence and state....Religious orders in Spain.
...That of St. James...Its objects... Change of its ob-
jects...Order of Calatrava... Fine chivalry of a monk
...Fame of this order...Order of Alcantara...Knights
of the Lady of Mercy...Knights of St. Michael...Mili-
tary orders...Imitations of the religious orders...In-
stanced in the order of the Garter... Few of the pre-
sent orders are of chivalric origin...Order of the Bath
...Dormant orders...Order of the Band...Its singular
rules...Its noble enforcement of chivalric duties
towards woman.... Order of Bourbon... Strange titles
of orders...Fabulous orders ... The Round Table...
Sir Launcelot...Sir Gawain...Order of the Stocking...
Origin of the phrase Blue Stocking...................
332