What were the ancient books like? Books appeared a long time ago, but they did not immediately acquire the appearance we are accustomed to. What did ancient books look like? Paper was invented in China more than 2 thousand years ago. The Chinese kept the recipe for its processing secret for not a century or two. But that's the point

What were Neanderthals like? To understand how human development occurred, scientists carefully study everything that remains of primitive people: skeletons, tools of labor and hunting, dishes, etc. In 1856, in a limestone cave located in the valley of the Neander River in Germany, there were

What were the Cro-Magnons like? Cro-Magnons were so named because the remains of these cave dwellers were found in the town of Cro-Magnon in the south of France. Also interesting is the fact that experts who studied the skeletons of these cave dwellers found that they were quite

What were the first skyscrapers? Everywhere these days, where there are large cities, there are high-rise buildings that could be called skyscrapers. There is no reason to use this word to designate all large buildings; this name is given only to very tall buildings and

Another publication about the most common misconceptions of modern man.

What were they like - real knights?

Brave defenders of the oppressed and warriors true to their word, for whom honor is more valuable than life, gallant admirers of beautiful ladies - this is how we usually perceive medieval knights. We believe that the main qualities of a knight are honor and nobility, courage and loyalty.

This is all, of course, very inspiring, but thinking this way, we are most seriously mistaken, because in reality there were no traces of such noble knights - they existed only on the pages chivalric novels.

But let's take things in order. Let's figure out what qualities of a knight were inherent in this class.

Qualities of a Knight

First of all, no one but yourself knights never defended. The overwhelming majority of them were ordinary bandits and for several centuries they terrorized those around them, robbed merchants and pilgrims, did not submit to any authority and, without much mental anguish, killed anyone who dared to resist them.

Secondly, the scenes from chivalric novels, where beautiful ladies tearfully asked for help and received it immediately. It's a delusion . In reality, at the sight of approaching knights everyone who could move independently, and beautiful ladies, first of all, in a panic, tried to hide out of their sight.

Here are just a few examples. In 1208 knights Simon de Montfort captured the city of Beziers in Languedoc, one of the centers of the heretical teaching of the Albigensians. To the question of one of knight and how to distinguish heretics from true Christians, the papal legate Arnold Amaury responded: “Kill everyone. God recognizes his flock." Noble knights Fifteen thousand people were slaughtered, mostly women and children.

Richard the Lionheart has the best qualities of a knight.

What are we even talking about when the very embodiment of nobility, Richard the Lionheart, after the capture of one of the Saracen fortresses, ordered the stomachs of some hundreds, and several thousand others, to check whether they had swallowed jewelry?

In 1369, Edward, aka the Black Prince, called by medieval authors “the noblest and most worthy knight,” captured the French city of Limoges. He granted freedom to his fellow knights who were captured and ordered the killing of all other inhabitants of the city. And in this case, neither women nor children were spared.

Noble knight Edward the Black Prince.

The “noble” knights who participated in the crusade organized by Peter the Hermit in 1096 marked their journey through Europe with robberies, rapes and murders, as local residents refused to supply them with provisions.

Many knight and went on a crusade just to loot more. And the kings of European states welcomed these campaigns, since in this way they got rid of the uncontrollable and warlike for a long time (and sometimes forever). knights.

In this light, the following story does not seem so implausible:

The knight returned to the castle to his lord. He was badly dented, his armor was bent, his helmet was broken, his face was bloody. His horse was limping, and he himself could barely stay in the saddle.

- What kind of trouble happened to you? – the senor asked the poor fellow.

He, with difficulty straightening up in the saddle, answered:

- Oh, I did a nice job for you, sir! I gave your enemies a good beating in the north...

- What? - cried the surprised baron. – I don’t have any enemies in the north...

“Uh...” the knight said tiredly. – It wasn’t, so now it will be!

Manners of knights

But maybe knights were connoisseurs of beauty and distinguished by excellent manners? The knights had nothing like this, such qualities. It's a delusion.

Historians claim that their castles were always incredibly dirty, chickens and pigs swarmed in the courtyards among garbage, dirt and garbage, the rooms were heated with smoking coal and illuminated with torches. The knights ate with their hands, used their hair and beard as napkins and slept clothed. And the ability of noble knights to appreciate beauty is evidenced by the fact that, having captured Christian Constantinople, they destroyed wonderful works of ancient art, masterpieces made of marble, wood, and bone. And all for the simple reason that the crusaders perceived only gold as something valuable.

Let us also note that the barbarians from the West, who for some reason are rashly called noble knights, in 1204 turned the richest book depositories of Constantinople with the most valuable works of ancient writers and philosophers into ashes.

Recover from the effects of the invasion knights with crosses on their cloaks, the Byzantine capital could no longer...

So were there really no knights in the best sense of the word? Are the best qualities of a knight that we listed at the beginning of the article just fiction? I can reassure the romantics. Although very small quantity, but noble knights still existed. Few literate knights they simply imitated book heroes: King Arthur, Lancelot, Tristan and other literary models. As they say, thanks for that. This is the great power of art! In those distant times, people still believed what was written...

TICKET No. 5

TICKET No. 8

Historical novel is a genre

Historical novel is a genre

narrative literature, showing human destinies and

characters that convey the appearance of a particular historical era

Historical novel is a genre

narrative literature, showing human destinies and

characters that convey the appearance of a particular historical era

Historical novel is a genre

narrative literature, showing human destinies and

characters that convey the appearance of a particular historical era

Features of a historical novel.

TICKET No. 13

TICKET No. 18

TICKET No. 19

TICKET No. 25

TICKET No. 5

1. Define the concept of “tragedy” using the example of William Shakespeare’s work “Romeo and Juliet”.

Tragedy is one of the types of drama, which is based on a tense, irreconcilable conflict, most often ending in the death of the hero. In the tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" the problems of the invincibility of fate and earthly love are raised. The basis of the tragedy is the conflict (clash) of people, interests, positions, the manifestation of the hero’s insoluble internal contradictions. This conflict cannot be resolved otherwise than through the suffering of a person; it leads to his death, but also to spiritual growth, to a sharpening of feelings, to the manifestation of human qualities. The conflict involves the other participants in the tragedy, and it is experienced by everyone. In the tragedy “Romeo and Juliet”, time itself, the setting, and opposing characters are conflicting. Chance plays the role of inevitability.

In Shakespeare's tragedy, pure, natural, sinless love and the disorder of the world (blood feud, ambition) collide. This is a conflict between pure heart and prejudice. In an atmosphere of mutual hostility, suddenly great love arises, which resists evil and affirms the beauty of the world.

The play also shows the clash between fathers and sons, progressive-minded young people. According to the custom of that time, the choice of a partner for the marriage of a son or daughter was made by parents, regardless of the feelings of the children. This is how it happens in the Capulet family. The father chose Count Paris as Juliet's husband without asking her consent.

Love is opposed to misanthropy. Romeo and Juliet not only rebelled against old views and their relationship. They gave an example of a new life. They are not divided by enmity, they are united by love. the main idea work is that the long-awaited peace comes thanks to the sincerity of the feelings of the young generation, ready to accept death in the name of eternal love and reconnection beyond these cruel worldly principles.

TICKET No. 8

1. Determine the features of the historical novel genre using the example of W. Scott’s work “Ivanhoe”.

Historical novel is a genre

narrative literature, showing human destinies and

characters that convey the appearance of a particular historical era

Historical novel is a genre

narrative literature, showing human destinies and

characters that convey the appearance of a particular historical era

Historical novel is a genre

narrative literature, showing human destinies and

characters that convey the appearance of a particular historical era

Historical novel is a genre

narrative literature, showing human destinies and

characters that convey the appearance of a particular historical era

The creator of the historical novel genre is Walter Scott.

Features of a historical novel.

1) Depiction of events of a specific historical era. These events are most often turning points when the fate of the country is decided.

The novel “Ivanhoe” recreates the time of feudal strife in the 12th century in England. There is a struggle between the Saxons (native inhabitants of England) and the Normans (conquerors). At that time, the country was fighting for centralization. royalty. The work tells about the boundless tyranny of the feudal lords, the transformation of knightly castles into robber cells, the lawlessness and poverty of the peasants. The writer vividly depicts the cruelty of the servants of the Catholic Church, the robbery and violence of the crusading knights. Also in the center of the plot of the novel are episodes typical of the era (tournament of knights, siege and storming of the castle in order to free the hostages)

2) The private life of people is depicted against the background of historical events and is connected with them.

In “Ivanhoe,” the author describes the personal lives of the characters in the context of historical events, talks about extraordinary adventures and real historical facts. The novel revolves around the young knight Ivanhoe and the beautiful lady Rowena. The fictional character Ayyengo in the novel is a comrade of King Richard and a participant in the crusade. Real and fictional events are closely intertwined.

3) The presence of historical figures in the novel. This is Richard the Lionheart in the novel, but he is depicted here not so much as a real man, much like the good king from folk legends.

4) In the novel there are representatives of different classes (in “Ivanhoe” these are kings, knights, feudal lords and their servants, monks, robbers). Their clothing, housing, household items are described in detail, and even their manner of speaking is conveyed.

A historical novel introduces us to history, helps us understand the peculiarities of life and morals of people in a time distant from us.

TICKET No. 13

Tell us about the qualities of a real knight, based on the actions of the heroes of W. Scott’s novel “Ivanhoe.”

The main knight in W. Scott's novel is Ivanhoe himself. Throughout the entire work, he commits actions that correspond to the knightly code of honor. Under the guise of a pilgrim, he is the only one who, taking pity on the weak old man Isaac, gives him a place at the hearth. Then he saves him from robbery and death. Wins several duels of the Knights Templar, fights alongside King Richard, and takes part in the crusade. He saves the beautiful Reveka, without betraying the knightly concepts of honor throughout the novel. At the same time, Rowena remains his only lady of his heart. The duty of a true knight is to be a supporter of the weak. His main virtue is nobility. Ivanhoe is a fair and noble man. He is always ready to help honest people, protect them from the willfulness of the insidious Normans. Ivanhoe understands well that a person’s strength lies in friendship, and his happiness lies in love. Everyone who surrounds him is captivated by the generosity, kindness and simplicity of the young knight. The most terrible crime of a knight is betrayal of honor and duty (Von de Boeuf and Briand de Boisguillebert), this crime is punishable by death.

The second incarnation of a real knight in the novel is Richard the Lionheart. He is most attracted to the life of a simple wandering knight; the glory he wins alone is dearer to him than the victory won at the head of a hundred thousand army. It is he, under the mask of the Black Knight, who carries the wounded Ivanhoe out of the burning castle in his arms, and then does many more good deeds: he saves old Cedric and Lady Rowena, reconciles Ivanhoe with his father and blesses the future marriage of the young man and Rowena.

A). RULES OF GALLANT LOVE

Marriage is not an exemption from love affairs.
- He who is jealous cannot love.
- No one can be bound by double love.
- It is known that love always comes and goes.
- What a lover takes against the will of his beloved does not give pleasure.
- Boys cannot experience the feeling of love until they reach maturity.
- When one lover dies, the survivor must mourn for two years.
- No one should be deprived of love without the most compelling reason.
- No one can love if they are not driven by love.
- Love is always a stranger in the house of greed.
- You should not love a woman whom you are ashamed to marry.
- A true lover does not want to embrace anyone with love except his beloved.
- Love declared publicly rarely lasts.
- The easy achievement of love reduces its value: the difficulties of achieving it make it precious.
- Every lover constantly turns pale in the presence of his beloved.
- When a lover suddenly catches the eye of his beloved, his heart flutters.
- New love inspires the former.
- Even one good trait makes any man worthy of love.
- If love weakens, it quickly cools down and is rarely reborn.
- A person in love is always full of anxiety.
- True jealousy always increases the feeling of love.
- Jealousy increases when one lover suspects the other.
- Anyone who is tormented by the thought of love eats and sleeps very little.
- No matter what a lover does, he always thinks about his beloved.
- For a true lover, only what is good for his beloved is good.
- In love, all means are good.
- Lovers are insatiable with each other.
- A person who experiences too much passion is usually not in love.
- A true lover constantly and without interruption thinks about his beloved.
- Nothing prohibits one woman from being loved by two men, or one man from two women.
- The slightest reason is enough for a lover to suspect his beloved.

From the work: Andre Capellan “De Amore” (“Treatise on Gallant Love”, 1184-1186).

b). KNIGHT'S ETHOS

“What were the main features associated with the ideal of a knight?”

In principle, a knight had to come from a good family. “In principle,” because sometimes they were knighted for exceptional military exploits. In addition, it was possible - and this happened more and more often as cities developed and their importance increased - to buy this privilege.

The knight had to be distinguished by beauty and attractiveness. His beauty was usually emphasized by clothing that testified to his love of gold and precious stones. The armor and harness matched the clothes. The word “noblement” (“noble”) meant the same thing to the chronicler of the IV Crusade as “rikement” (“richly”, “luxuriously”, “magnificent”). Male beauty ceases to play a special role only in the bourgeois ethos; here she is replaced by dignified appearance, respectability, and beauty is required only from a woman, and only she is given the right to jewelry, which even in the 18th century men were not forbidden to wear.

Strength was required from the knight. He usually showed this power, like Hercules, in infancy. However, the importance of physical strength is gradually decreasing with the development of technology.

A knight was expected to be constantly concerned about his glory. Glory demanded tireless confirmation, more and more new tests. “Since there is war here, I will stay here,” says the knight in one of Mary of France’s ballads. If there is no war, he moves on, calling the first horseman he meets to establish a hierarchy, the place in which depends on the number and quality of the defeated knights. A knight cannot calmly listen to other people's successes.

With such constant concern for his military prestige, it is clear that courage is required from a knight. Lack of courage is the heaviest charge. The fear of being suspected of cowardice led to a violation of the elementary rules of strategy, which in turn very often ended in the death of the knight and the extermination of his squad.

The relentless rivalry did not violate the solidarity of the elite as such, a solidarity that extended to enemies belonging to the elite. You can read about how the English received the enemies they defeated in the battles of Crecy and Poitiers, about joint feasts and competitions. When the English are plagued by hunger and dysentery in the battle of 1389, they go to the French for treatment, after which they return and the battle resumes. For, as the chronicler says, although both peoples, the French and the English, are fiercely at odds with each other in their own countries, when they find themselves in other countries, they often help each other in a brotherly way and count on each other. During the wars between the Franks and Saracens, one of the best knights of Charlemagne, Ogier, called the Dane, is challenged to a duel with a Saracen knight. When the Saracens take Ogier prisoner by cunning, his enemy, not approving of such methods, surrenders to the Franks so that they can exchange Ogier for him. In one legend, a simple warrior boasts that he killed a noble knight from the enemy camp; his noble commander orders the proud man to be hanged. The way of thinking of those who lived at court or in the castle was imbued with the belief that chivalry rules the world...

If courage was necessary for a knight as a military man, then the generosity that was expected from him and which was considered an indispensable property of a noble-born served the people dependent on him, and above all those who glorified the exploits of knights at the courts in the hope of a good treat and decent occasion gifts before setting off on a further journey. It was necessary, without bargaining, to give anyone what he asked for. It's better to go broke than to be known as a miser.

The knight, as is known, had to remain unconditionally faithful to his obligations towards his equals. When the son of John the Good, says J. Huizinga, escaped from England, where he was being held as a hostage, John himself surrendered into the hands of the English instead of the fugitive. The custom of making strange knightly vows, which had to be fulfilled contrary to all the rules of common sense, is well known.

Class brotherhood did not prevent the knights from fulfilling the duty of revenge for any - real or imaginary - insult inflicted on themselves or their loved ones. When Roland's father, Ganelon, lost a case that was decided by ordeal, not only he himself, but all his relatives were hanged.

In addition to obligations to their overlord, the knights were owed special gratitude to the one who ordained them to the rank of knight, as well as caring for orphans and widows, which had already become a byword.

The unusually prolific author E. Deschamps, who was born in 1346 into a burgher family, but subsequently received the nobility, lists the conditions that must be met by those who want to become a knight. Anyone who wishes to become a knight must begin new life, pray, avoid sin, arrogance and base acts. He must protect the church, widows and orphans, and also take care of his subjects. He must be brave, loyal and not deprive anyone of his property. He is obliged to fight only for a just cause. He must be an avid traveler, fighting in tournaments in honor of his lady love; look for differences everywhere, avoiding everything unworthy; love your overlord and protect his property; be generous and fair; seek the company of the brave and learn from them how to perform great deeds, following the example of Alexander.

When we talk about chivalrous behavior, we usually first of all mean the attitude towards the enemy and the attitude towards women. Let's look at both in more detail.

It was not so much the victory that brought glory to the knight, but his behavior in battle. The battle could, without damaging his honor, end in his defeat and death, as happened with Roland. Death in battle was even a good ending to the biography, because it was difficult for the knight to come to terms with the role of a frail old man. The “rules of the game”, mandatory in battle, were dictated by respect for the enemy, pride, a “game” life attitude, fear that the enemy would respond in kind, and, finally, humanity. If the enemy fell from his horse (and in armor he could not climb into the saddle without outside help), the one who knocked him out of the saddle also got off his horse to even the odds.

Taking advantage of an opponent's weakness did not bring glory to the knight. When, in a fight between two unfamiliar knights, one throws the other to the ground and, raising his visor, sees an older man in front of him, he does not finish off the lying one, but says to him: “Senior, get up, I’ll hold the stirrup for you, // I don’t need such glory . // There is a little honor in throwing down // One whose head has already turned gray.”

Killing an unarmed enemy covered a knight with shame. Lancelot, a knight without fear or reproach, could not forgive himself for having somehow killed two unarmed knights in the heat of battle and noticed it when it was too late. He feels that he will not forgive himself for this until his death, and promises to make a walking pilgrimage in only a bone-length shirt to atone for his sin.

It was impossible to kill the enemy from behind.

The knight in armor had no right to retreat. Therefore, he went on reconnaissance unarmed. Anything that could be considered cowardice was unacceptable. Roland refused to blow the horn so that they would not think that he was asking for help because he was chickening out. It doesn’t matter that this resulted in the death of his friend along with his squad.

Duels of knights with their faces covered serve in courtly novels as the theme of tragic stories in which a knight, having raised the visor of the defeated one, is convinced that he has killed a close relative or beloved friend. The custom of covering the face with a visor is explained, according to Montesquieu, by the fact that getting hit in the face was considered especially shameful: only a person of low rank could be hit in the face. For the same reasons, Montesquieu believes, it is considered shameful to receive a blow with a club: peasant foot soldiers fought with a club, and not the powers that be (“On the Spirit of the Laws”).

Since we are talking about a fighting knight, we must not forget about the role of the horse in the battle. It’s not for nothing that the horse is called by name. He takes part in the battle quite consciously and remains boundlessly faithful to his owner. In medieval legends one can read about horses endowed with the gift of human speech, about horses overcoming decrepitude in order to faithfully serve for the last time the one they were accustomed to carry on their backs. In return, the knight contributed greatly to the glorification of this animal, and horse riding remains a noble occupation of the aristocracy to this day.

The knight treated not only his horse in a special way, but also his weapons and, above all, his sword. The personal nature of this relationship was expressed in the use of the pronoun “she” instead of “it”.

Being in love was one of the duties of a knight. The songs of Mary of France speak of a glorious knight who did not look at women. This is a great evil and an offense against nature, the author notes. A knight's attitude towards a woman depended, of course, on who she was: a lady or a commoner. In conquered cities, men were slaughtered from the common people, but it was not proper for a knight to stain his hands with the blood of a woman. Care and adoration could only be attributed to a lady from her own class, who often occupied a higher position within this class.

Love must be mutually faithful, overcome serious difficulties and long separation. A common theme in courtly romance is the test of fidelity. Knights who have taken a vow of fidelity to the lady of their heart steadfastly resist the love confessions of other ladies.

Love for the lady of the heart should ennoble a knight. In heroic poems, women do not yet play a prominent role. Only with the courtly romance of the 12th century did the adoration of women come to France.

This phenomenon is all the more curious because in cultures where man makes his way with the sword, women are usually not valued very highly. There is not the slightest trace of the worship of women among the ancient Germans, if you believe the description of their morals by Tacitus. In the samurai code, which has often been compared to the code of European chivalry, women are not taken into account at all. The concept of gallantry is usually traced back to the code of chivalry. Montesquieu defines gallantry as love associated with the concepts of guardianship and strength, or rather, not so much love as “a tender, refined and constant appearance of love.” This worship, or gallantry, is sometimes explained by the improvement in the position of women in the 12th century: it was then that the lord's wife received the right to manage her husband's estates in his absence, as well as the right to bring fief.

Most of the hypotheses regarding the cult of women, about which we're talking about, took him seriously. Some saw here the extension of the vassal's duty of loyalty to his overlord to the overlord's wife. Others argued that this cult was invented and supported by women themselves: taking advantage of the frequent absences of their husbands, they usurped the faithful service due to them from their vassals. Finally, the third origin of this cult was attributed to traveling minstrels: traveling from castle to castle, they praised the mistress (whose husband was usually absent) in the hope of service at court or at least a good reception and gifts before setting off on their further journey. This “bottom-up” attitude was also facilitated by the fact that the traveling minstrels came mostly from landless or land-poor knights dreaming of some kind of permanent position at court. However, the position of a traveling singer was an honorable one.

Other explanations can be added to these: the influence of correspondence between monasteries and monasteries, where love was expressed in an exalted form at a distance; the influence of Arab poets coming from Spain; finally, acquaintance with the recently “discovered” Roman culture, especially with Ovid’s “The Art of Love.”

An analogue of Ovid's work was a treatise on gallant love by Andreas Capellanus (see excerpts from this treatise - editor's note). This author of a one-of-a-kind work is not enough... It all begins with a gallant courtship using sophisticated rhetoric on both sides; its shades vary depending on the social status of the partners. Dialogues sound different between:

1) a man of the middle class and a woman of the same class;
2) a middle-class man and a noblewoman;
3) a middle-class man and an aristocratic woman;
4) an aristocrat and a woman of the middle class;
5) a nobleman and a noblewoman;
6) a nobleman and a woman of the middle class;
7) an aristocrat and an ordinary noblewoman;
8) an aristocrat and a woman of the same class.

From the eight dialogues mentioned above, a certain moral and everyday code emerges. Love is a form of struggle. Women have some power over men, but this power has been condescendingly given to them by men themselves. You cannot openly deny them the fulfillment of any desires, but you can deceive them. Love requires money and a generous nature. Poverty is humiliating for a self-respecting person. There is no talk here about the sanctity of the family, and love between spouses does not serve as an excuse for avoiding love outside of marriage. Furthermore: as the aristocrat convinces an ordinary noblewoman, from the definition of love it follows that there cannot be love between spouses. It can’t, because love requires secrets and furtive kisses. Love, moreover, is impossible without jealousy, that is, without constant anxiety about how not to lose your beloved, and in marriage there is nothing like that.

The Church, as you know, tried to use knighthood to its advantage. But the Christian shell of chivalry was extremely thin. Instead of humility - pride, instead of forgiveness - revenge, complete disrespect for other people's lives, softened only by the fact that in the ease with which the errant knight chopped off the heads of the opponents he encountered along the way, something not entirely serious is felt. Sinful actions from the point of view of the church could easily be forgiven by entering a monastery in one’s declining years. Since this seemed too burdensome, it was possible to escape in an easier way; It was enough to dress the deceased knight in a monastic robe.

At God's court (ordeals), God allowed himself to be easily deceived when it came to testing the innocence of a treacherous wife. As you know, Isolde, who had to hold a red-hot bar of iron during the ordeal, came out of this ordeal with honor, swearing that no one held her in the arms except her legal husband, King Mark, and the beggar pilgrim who had just carried her through the quagmire and which was Tristan in disguise.

“A lot of pretense was required in order to maintain Everyday life a fiction of the knightly ideal,” wrote J. Huizinga. Chivalry was criticized by the clergy of that time, minstrels, townspeople, peasants and the knights themselves. The knights were accused of greed, of attacks on travelers, of robbing churches, of breaking oaths, of debauchery, of beating wives, of not following the rules required during fights, of disrespect for the lives of hostages, of ruining opponents with excessive ransom amounts, of turning tournaments into a profitable trade - hunting for the armor, weapons and horse of a defeated knight. They regretted the ignorance of the knights, who were mostly illiterate and had to send for a cleric when they received a letter. There is no doubt that the knightly ideal was not intellectual. But he expected a rich emotional life. Men dried up with melancholy and lost their minds if they did not keep their word; easily burst into tears. And for women, losing consciousness was a couple of trifles, dying of love was a trifle. It is interesting to compare this exhibitionism with the restraint in the manifestation of feelings characteristic of the Icelandic sagas. However, the heyday of the courtly romance was the 12th century; starting from the 14th century, knightly ideology was taken less and less seriously.”

M. Ossovskaya “Knightly ethos and its varieties.” Chapter “The Knight in the Middle Ages” (excerpts).

An interesting story about knights, about knightly qualities and traditions of the knightly movement. The history of the knights

Code of ethics of modern young man has been formed for more than one century. Gradually, norms and rules of male behavior were developed, an idea was formed about certain character traits that should be developed in oneself from childhood, and about unacceptable shortcomings that must be steadfastly gotten rid of, and the opinion about the necessary moral qualities and moral foundations of the stronger sex was strengthened.

The formation of this code began during the transition from the ancient world to the Middle Ages, at the turn of the VI-VII centuries. n. e., when the vast territory of the once powerful Roman Empire was attacked by the barbarian cavalry of the Goths from the north and, together with a huge army, the power of the harsh and merciless Roman law fell, giving way to anarchy and arbitrariness. Under these conditions, only a warrior, a strong and fearless person, capable of covering vast distances on his faithful war horse, dressed in armor that glittered in the sun (by the way, weighing dozens of kilograms), could restore order, punish offenders and punish the guilty. It is not surprising that such a person inspired awe in the poor peasants of medieval Europe, who were often subjected to severe oppression by local feudal lords.

The first rites of solemn initiation into warriors existed already in the era of Charlemagne (8th century AD), although the very concept of knighthood, inextricably linked with a certain initiation rite that had already been established by that time, arose much later - in the 11th century.

❧ In the era of Charlemagne, a young man who decided to choose the glorious path of a warrior was solemnly girded with a sword and dressed in military armor, from that moment he became not only the defender of the country, but also the keeper of the faith and royal law.

With great enthusiasm, the young knights fought against the outrages, numerous robberies and assaults committed by local barons, and restored the legality of royal law.

In knights, the qualities of a true warrior were valued above all: courage, bravery, the ability to withstand adversity in difficult campaigns, the ability to make decisions and, even in the heat of battle, to remain calm and reasonable. But no less significant were loyalty to one’s overlord and the ability to keep one’s word: contracts were most often sealed only by an unbreakable oath, to betray which meant becoming an oathbreaker and an outcast in knightly society.

The first crusade took place in 1095, it was initiated by Pope Urban II, who wanted the liberation of the city of Jerusalem from Muslims and the proclamation of Christianity in the Holy Land (now Palestine).

At the initial stage of its formation, knighthood opposed anarchy, lawlessness, and oppression inflicted in a fragmented Europe struck by a serious illness of civil strife. But the gradually increasing strength of the knights itself required control, became uncontrollable, and they began to realize that they were chosen. And then the Catholic Church decided to turn this power for the good of religion, declared the knights to be the true patrons of the faith, whose calling is to protect all the powerlessly humiliated, unfortunate, insulted, and orphaned. For glorious deeds in the name of faith and for piety, the knights were guaranteed a happy afterlife, and on earth the rite of passage was filled with numerous sacred meanings and acquired increasing external pomp, which cast a cloak of mystery and enigma on each member of the emerging knightly orders.

It was no longer enough for the knights of the 11th century to have simple brute strength, determination, courage and loyalty; they were required to be able to pacify their spirit with will, to subordinate their lives to the service of a great goal, most often of a religious nature.

One after another, the Crusades were organized in defense of the Holy Sepulcher, in which warriors fought side by side against the Saracens for many months. Fighting in difficult desert conditions, under the scorching rays of the sun, with frequent dust storms, in a completely unusual environment for young men, required incredible endurance and strong male friendship. Over time, the knights who supported each other began to organize their own monastic orders, the most famous of which was the Order of the Templars.

❧ The Knights Templar (existed from 1119 to 1312) is considered the very first among religious military orders. This organization was very rich and influential and even served as a bank, although its main activity was the protection of Christians in the East after the Crusades.

Gradually, knights ceased to be just warriors and became the real elite of the secular society of medieval Europe, they developed a full-fledged set of rules and norms of behavior, a code of relationships with the fair sex. It must be said that education, the ability to speak beautifully and compose poetry were not valued among the courageous knights, hardened by constant campaigns. For this purpose, there were troubadours - free singers who accompanied the warriors and composed romantic poems about them, full of beautiful exaggerations. Thanks to such songs, the glory of the knights grew, and there were more and more people who wanted to join the brave-hearted warriors.

The code of honor of a true knight required that a warrior constantly perform feats, but the Crusades were not carried out every year. To demonstrate their skills, the knights organized tournaments, which attracted the entire flower of knighthood. In battle, the ability to masterfully wield weapons, dexterity, courage, resourcefulness and, of course, luck were demonstrated.

Tournaments alternated with merry feasts glorifying strength and courage.

Knightly love was as different from the feelings of an ordinary person, just as the knight himself was not like a peasant, and, undoubtedly, was subject to the harsh laws of the code of honor. First of all, the knight’s love had nothing to do with crude passion; it was purified by a high religious feeling, full of selfless loyalty and did not imply reciprocity at all.

The lady could be married, or there could be other equally insurmountable obstacles between the lovers - this did not extinguish the feelings, but, on the contrary, gave them a new color.

The knight’s love valued generosity, self-denial, providing constant protection and patronage to the chosen lady of his heart, as well as an irresistible desire to glorify her name throughout the land where the warrior’s foot set.

Each knight had his own motto written on his shield. A horse and a squire, and besides all this, he had to have his own lady of his heart - a girl in whose name the knight showed his valor.

Of course, an unmarried lady could eventually become the wife of a knight, but her freedom from other obligations was not an indispensable condition for him.

The knight's most terrible vices were lies, inability to keep his word, hypocrisy and treachery.

Accordingly, the opposite qualities were highly valued - truthfulness under any circumstances, a strong and indestructible word, respectful attitude to his comrades and respectful treatment of ladies, frankness and nobility.

For faithful service, knights received many privileges: they could sit in the presence of the king, they were given titles and land plots. Only knights could be armed with spears; the warrior’s chest was protected by double chain mail - all this was inaccessible to other classes.

Over time, the knights began to realize the fullness of their power, and the intensive growth in the number of monastic militant orders made chivalry a dangerous and uncontrollable force that threatened the strengthening of royal power. The blow dealt to the Templar Order, and then to the rest of the main strongholds of chivalry, broke this strength, and gradually the social stratum of the elite army faded away, leaving only numerous songs and complete magical miracles and the glorious exploits of the legend.

The very concept of “knight” has been transformed from a designation of a social class into a synonym for a noble and generous person who stands up for the defense of all the weak and offended.