The medieval code of chivalry demanded that warrior elites demonstrate fierce courage in battle, display prowess with weaponry, and avenge any strike against their honor. They were also required to be devout Christians. How, then, could knights pledge fealty to the Prince of Peace, who enjoined the faithful to turn the other cheek rather than seek vengeance and who taught that the meek, rather than glorious fighters in tournaments, shall inherit the earth? By what logic and language was knighthood valorized? In Holy Warriors, Richard Kaeuper argues that while some clerics sanctified violence in defense of the Holy Church, others were sorely troubled by chivalric practices in everyday life. As elite laity, knights had theological ideas of their own. Soundly pious yet independent, knights proclaimed the validity of their bloody profession by selectively appropriating religious ideals. Their ideology emphasized meritorious suffering on campaign and in battle even as their violence enriched them and established their dominance. In a world of divinely ordained social orders, theirs was blessed, though many sensitive souls worried about the ultimate price of rapine and destruction. Kaeuper examines how these paradoxical chivalric ideals were spread in a vast corpus of literature from exempla and chansons de geste to romance. Through these works, both clerics and lay military elites claimed God's blessing for knighthood while avoiding the contradictions inherent in their fusion of chivalry with a religion that looked back to the Sermon on the Mount for its ethical foundation.

The Book of the Order of Chivalry was written in Catalan by Ramon Llull between 1274 and 1276 and is one of the author’s earliest works. After his death, it achieved a wide dissemination throughout Europe in part because it was considered the theoretical manual on knighthood par excellence. The book was written in Catalan for knights who might not have a knowledge of Latin. Llull devotes his treatise to the definition of the duties of a perfect knight. In addition, he is interested in delving into the religious and moral aspects of chivalry as well as in trying to reform this institution. This edition is based on the Catalan text from Luanco’s Libro de la Orden de Caballería del B. Raimundo Lulio, which is included here in facsimile format thanks to the generosity of the Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona. To this are added new Spanish and contemporary English translations. In addition, this volume includes an edition of Caxton’s 16th century English translation.

Charny was a knight who lived the chivalric life for nearly two decades in a manner thought ideal by his contemporaries, dying appropriately in battle at Poitiers in 1356. He was also the first documented owner of the Shroud of Turin. This volume establishes the cultural context in which Charny lived in the first section and sets forth in the second the French text of Charny's fascinating work alongside an English translation, with full critical apparatus. Paper edition (unseen), $17.95. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

First published in 2008. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Reproduction of the original: The Buke of the Order of Knyghthood by Ramon Llull

A significant contribution to the history of the political life and culture of the later medieval aristocracy. MAURICE KEEN Orders of lay knights - the most famous of which are those of the Garter and the Golden Fleece - were founded at some time between 1325 and 1470 in almost every kingdom of Western Christendom, and played an important part in the life of the court. Jonathan Boulton defines the "monarchical" orders as those with corporate statutes which attached the presidential office to the crown of the princely founder, or made it hereditary in his house. Modelled eitherdirectly or indirectly on the fictional society of the Round Table, they incorporated varying numbers of elements borrowed from the older religious orders of knighthood and from contemporary institutions. This study explores the nature and history of thirteen orders, and reveals them as not only an ingenious supplement to (or replacement for) the feudo-vassalic ties that still bound the leading members of the nobility to their sovereign, but also as the most important institutional embodiments of the secular ideals of chivalry that were at the heart of the international court culture of the age. JONATHAN BOULTON teaches at the University of Notre Dame.