Chivalry Essay Example

Chivalry Essay Slaying dragons, fighting for honor, rescuing damsels-surely, these must make a knight.Georges Duby, in his work William Marshal:The Flower of Chivalry, challenges this stereotypical fairytale presumption by examining the demands and intricacy of the knights code of chivalry.This code, which played such an influential part in the choices made by the knights of old, still echoes in current customs. Completely immersed in the idea of chivalry from the earliest days of childhood, the demands of chivalry lived and breathed within each knight.Each story he heard, every song he sang emanated the rules of the ethic (86).Loyalty stood foremost among the requirements.A man was expected to keep his word, never betraying his sworn faith (86). But such an expectation was not always the truth, as the knight measured his loyalty according to a strict hierarchical framework (86). Should loyalties conflict, the knightfirst remained loyal to those closet to him politically.Faith owed to more distant allies proved rather flexible when eclipsed by stronger ties (86).With this hierarchical loyalty, no one could take offense at being displaced by a closer commitment (86). Stepping 800 years into the future, relations continue to emphasize the importance of loyalty.Siblings stand up and fight for each other.Husbands and wives take vows to remain loyal to each other.Sports players bond both on and off the practice field.All kinds of clubs, groups, and even gangs not only count on, but also depend on the loyalty of their members for survival.In addition to forming such personal loyalties, we as Americans weave ties to intangible elements.We swear allegiance to the American principle, rather than to an individual such as the President.We remain loyal to religious ideas instead of a particular priest or pastor.Through the adoption of these loyalties, our present society steps beyond the knight Chivalry Essay Example Chivalry Essay In the medieval period kings appointed knights, these knights pledged to follow the Code of Chivalry.I am lady Stephine of Blanchard; I have chosen a vow of courtesy for one week.Courtesy is one of the virtues of the knights Code of Chivalry. I have a sinecure part time job working at a local coffee shop.On Saturday one of my regular customers came in with a gravitas look of depression and dejection.I asked what the problem was and asked if I could help; trying to alleviate his problems, but the customer wouldnt reveal any details making me feel like I had only agitated the problem.He just said he felt like crawling into bed, pulling the sheets up over his head and staying there for a few years.I knew exactly how he felt. Before he left, I handed him a bag along with his coffee.He looked at me ambiguously because he hadnt ordered anything but coffee.He opened the bag and saw I had given him his favorite type of doughnut.Its on me, I told him prodigally.Have a nice day. My kind deed w as becoming perceptible as he smiled and thanked me before turning and heading out the door. As the days passed I had plenty of complaining customers, but anytime I felt depressed or frustrated, I thought back to the man from that day and how consequential kindness made his bad day so much brighter and its leavening brightens my day too. Wednesday I had to stop by Winn-Dixie on my way home to pick up a gallon of milk for my mom. As I was leaving the store I noticed a tenuous elderly woman attempting to push her shopping cart across the parking lot.The jovial woman was having immense trouble completing her task, so I sat my bag to the side and helped the lady and her shopping cart to the car.I would have been successful at completing my vow of courtesy by helping the lady except for the dissension when we reached the car, sitting in the drivers seat was a procrustean young woman