"Georges Duby in productivity and originality stands at the forefront of active medievalists in France and in the world. The present collection contains 15 of his short articles, most but not all of which appear in English for the first time. . . Of capital interest are his several essays that explore the evolution of nobility, knighthood, the noble family, and the ideals of chivalry across the central Middle Ages. They are both a summary and the point of departure of current research into the medieval aristocracy .... Indispensable."--Choice "[A] valuable collection. The title is exact. But it is no coffee-table account of courtly life eked out with colour photos of an author's subsidized holiday. It is an interlocking series of studies about the structure of families, the nature of knighthood and nobility, changes of attitudes towards kinship, and the influence of new clerical ideas . . . . Duby shows us noble families becoming specifically knightly, acquiring heritable toponymies, clustering round the patrimony, emphasizing the male line and the eldest born save when the female is an heiress, and in the course of time forming a homogeneous noble class whose members by St. Louis's age, whatever else they are, are gentilhommes. Passion is not spent, but canalized against the enemies of Christ. The discrete themes of undergraduate medieval history are in reality one complex whole: land, wives, dynasty war, celibacy, vows, pilgrimage, crusade, nobility."--Times Literary Supplement "Duby's researches in medieval agrarian and social history have established him as one of the leading international authorities in those areas. This volume brings together 15 of his most significant articles. The book represents the best of 'the new history."'--Library Journal

On the great influence of a valiant lord: "The companions, who see that good warriors are honored by the great lords for their prowess, become more determined to attain this level of prowess." On the lady who sees her knight honored: "All of this makes the noble lady rejoice greatly within herself at the fact that she has set her mind and heart on loving and helping to make such a good knight or good man-at-arms." On the worthiest amusements: "The best pastime of all is to be often in good company, far from unworthy men and from unworthy activities from which no good can come." Enter the real world of knights and their code of ethics and behavior. Read how an aspiring knight of the fourteenth century would conduct himself and learn what he would have needed to know when traveling, fighting, appearing in court, and engaging fellow knights. Composed at the height of the Hundred Years War by Geoffroi de Charny, one of the most respected knights of his age, A Knight's Own Book of Chivalry was designed as a guide for members of the Company of the Star, an order created by Jean II of France in 1352 to rival the English Order of the Garter. This is the most authentic and complete manual on the day-to-day life of the knight that has survived the centuries, and this edition contains a specially commissioned introduction from historian Richard W. Kaeuper that gives the history of both the book and its author, who, among his other achievements, was the original owner of the Shroud of Turin.

In popular imagination few phenomena are as strongly associated with medieval society as knighthood and chivalry. At the same time, and due to a long tradition of differing national perspectives and ideological assumptions, few phenomena have continued to be the object of so much academic debate. In this volume leading scholars explore various aspects of knightly identity, taking into account both commonalities and particularities across Western Europe. Knighthood and Society in the High Middle Ages addresses how, between the eleventh and the early thirteenth centuries, knighthood evolved from a set of skills and a lifestyle that was typical of an emerging elite habitus, into the basis of a consciously expressed and idealised chivalric code of conduct. Chivalry, then, appears in this volume as the result of a process of noble identity formation, in which some five key factors are distinguished: knightly practices, lineage, crusading memories, gender roles, and chivalric didactics.

Craig Taylor's study examines the wide-ranging French debates on the martial ideals of chivalry and knighthood during the period of the Hundred Years War (1337–1453). Faced by stunning military disasters and the collapse of public order, writers and intellectuals carefully scrutinized the martial qualities expected of knights and soldiers. They questioned when knights and men-at-arms could legitimately resort to violence, the true nature of courage, the importance of mercy, and the role of books and scholarly learning in the very practical world of military men. Contributors to these discussions included some of the most famous French medieval writers, led by Jean Froissart, Geoffroi de Charny, Philippe de Mézières, Honorat Bovet, Christine de Pizan, Alain Chartier and Antoine de La Sale. This interdisciplinary study sets their discussions in context, challenging modern, romantic assumptions about chivalry and investigating the historical reality of debates about knighthood and warfare in late medieval France.

What does it mean to be a man? When a culture fails to answer that properly, the results can be disastrous. For men it can lead to broken identity, overcrowded prisons, spousal abuse, gang violence, chemical addiction and aggressive, anti-social tendencies that wreck havoc all over the world. For women it can mean living in a suppressed environment where involvement is marginalized. Using medieval chivalry as a springboard, this book leads the reader into a thought-provoking quest for values long ignored. By incorporating freedom, personal authenticity, democracy and equality (including feminism), this new form of chivalry is entirely relevant for today's world.

A comprehensive study of every aspect of chivalry and chivalric culture.

Essays in this collection examine the lifestyles and attitudes of the gentry in late-medieval England. Through surveys of the gentry's military background, administrative and political roles, social behavior, and education, the reader is provided with an overview of how the group's culture evolved and how it was disseminated.