Books
and films have encouraged the idea of the 'knight in shining armour'
right up to the present day. He was courteous, loyal and brave, and
lived by a code of conduct. Always ready to rescue a 'damsel in
distress' or go on a quest, right wrongs and fight evil.
But,
as Horrible Histories Measly
Middle Ages
says, “These knights were big bullies who battered British peasants
into doing as they were told or fought for the king and battered
foreign peasants.”
So
how did the truth get so completely turned around?
Well,
it didn't. Both versions of knighthood actually existed at the same
time in the Middle Ages. That's not to say there were two different
kinds of knights (though there were bad knights) – a knight would
hold to the ideal at the same time as behaving in the most brutal
way.
It's
all because of King Arthur.
Around
1100, poems, songs and stories began to be written about a bygone
age, when all of society worked together for the good of all. The
peasants worked the land to provide food for everyone, the Church
looked after the spiritual needs of the people, and the knights
defended and protected them all.
Far
from believing this age was over and gone, medieval people considered
they were the faded remains of this great age. As stories grew, the
ideal took hold. Knights began to be 'dubbed' in a special ceremony,
and agreed to a code of behaviour, which included protecting the
weak.
Stories
like King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, Tristan and
Isolde, and Piers the Ploughman told knights how they should live.
Training for a knight not only involved rigorous physical training
but learning about the literature and culture of his class.
Mind
you, the medieval romances were also about forbidden love and
impossible quests to prove your devotion to your lady, who may be
married to someone else. Lancelot and Guinevere are a case in point.
Against
this ideal, was man's natural desire for wealth and power, and the
brutalising result of war, including the Crusades. The ideal was
impossible to live up to, but many knights made a valiant effort, and
certainly, away from the battlefield, displayed their courtly
manners.
One
last point is worth making. There was no clear delineation between
fact and fiction in the Middle Ages as there is today. History and
romance were both seen as vessels of truth, and not kept apart. So
'histories' written then would include the ideal as well as the
factual. In the case of knights, this accurately reflects the way
they endeavoured to live as well as their achievements.