History · Ch 4 — The Three Orders
The Knights
The Knights
The knight was the central figure of the second order, the warrior aristocracy, and his entire life was built around the twin ideals of warfare and chivalry. A knight was first and foremost a mounted soldier, trained from boyhood in the use of weapons and horsemanship, and his social standing came from his ability to fight on horseback. This military role was fused with a code of conduct that demanded loyalty to his lord, protection of the weak, and a deep reverence for women, which together formed the essence of chivalry. …
A thirteenth-century French poem, meant to be sung by travelling minstrels, imagines a knight's total loyalty to his own lord:
'If my dear lord is slain, his fate I'll share,
If he is hanged, then hang me by his side.
If to the stake he goes, with him I'll burn;
And if he's drowned, then let me drown with him.'
— Doon de Mayence, a thirteenth-century French poem (to be sung) recounting the adventures of knights …