KNIGHT, (or Cnecht, Germ.), in feudal history, was originally an appellation or title given by the ancient Germans to their youth after being admitted to the privilege of bearing arms.
The passion for arms among the Germanic states, as described by Dr Stuart *, was carried to extremity. * View of It was amidst scenes of death and peril that the young Society in were educated: It was by valour and feats of prowess that the ambitious signalized their manhood. All their honours
Knight. honours they knew were allotted to the brave. The sword opened the path to glory. It was in the field that the ingenious and the noble flattered most their pride, and acquired an ascendancy. The strength of their bodies, and the vigour of their counsels, surrounded them with warriors, and lifted them to command.
But, among these nations, when the individual felt the call of valour, and wished to try his strength against an enemy, he could not of his own authority take the lance and the javelin. The admission of their youth to the privilege of bearing arms, was a matter of too much importance to be left to chance or their own choice. A form was invented by which they were advanced to that honour.
The council of the district, or of the canton to which the candidate belonged, was assembled. His age and his qualifications were inquired into; and if he was deemed worthy of being admitted to the privileges of a soldier, a chieftain, his father or one of his kindred, adorned him with a shield and the lance. In consequence of this solemnity, he prepared to distinguish himself; his mind opened to the cares of the public; and the domestic concerns, or the offices of the family from which he had sprung, were no longer the objects of his attention. To this ceremony, so simple and so interesting, the institution of knighthood is indebted for its rise.
Knighthood, however, as a system known under the denomination of CHIVALRY, is to be dated only from the 11th century. All Europe being reduced to a state of anarchy and confusion on the decline of the house of Charlemagne, every proprietor of a manor or lordship became a petty sovereign; the mansion house was fortified by a moat, defended by a guard, and called a castle. The governor had a party of 700 or 800 men at his command; and with these he used frequently to make excursions, which commonly ended in a battle with the lord of some petty state of the same kind, whose castle was then pillaged, and the women and treasures borne off by the conqueror. During this state of universal hostility, there were no friendly communications between the provinces, nor any high roads from one part of the kingdom to another: the wealthy traders, who then travelled from place to place with their merchandise and their families, were in perpetual danger; the lord of almost every castle extorted something from them on the road; and at last, some one more rapacious than the rest, seized upon the whole of the cargo, and bore off the women for his own use.
Thus castles became the warehouses of all kinds of rich merchandise, and the prisons of the distressed females whose fathers or lovers had been plundered or slain, and who being therefore seldom disposed to take the thief or murderer into favour, were in continual danger of a rape.
But as some are always distinguished by virtue in the most general defection, it happened that many lords infensibly associated to repress these follies of violence and rapine, to secure property, and protect the ladies. Among these were many lords of great fiefs; and the association was at length strengthened by a solemn vow, and received the sanction of a religious ceremony. As the first knights were men of the
highest rank, and the largest possessions, such having most to lose, and the least temptation to steal, the fraternity was regarded with a kind of reverence, even by those against whom it was formed. Admission into the order was deemed the highest honour: many extraordinary qualifications were required in a candidate, and many new ceremonies were added at his creation. After having failed from sinrise, confessed himself, and received the sacrament, he was dressed in a white tunic, and placed by himself at a side-table, where he was neither to speak, nor smile, nor to eat: while the knights and ladies, who were to perform the principal parts of the ceremony, were eating, drinking, and making merry at the great table. At night his armour was conveyed to the church where the ceremony was performed; and here having watched it till the morning, he advanced with his sword hanging about his neck, and received the benediction of the priest. He then kneeled down before the lady who was to put on his armour, who being assisted by persons of the first rank, buckled on his spurs, put a helmet on his head, and accoutred him with a coat of mail, a cuirass, bracelets, cuisses, and gauntlets.
Being thus armed cap-a-pee, the knight who dubbed him struck him three times over the shoulder with the flat side of his sword, in the name of God, St Michael, and St George. He was then obliged to watch all night in all his armour, with his sword girded, and his lance in his hand. From this time the knight devoted himself to the redress of those wrongs which "patient merit of the unworthy takes;" to secure merchants from the rapacious cruelty of banditti, and women from ravishers, to whose power they were by the particular confusion of the times continually exposed.
From this view of the origin of chivalry, it will be easy to account for the castle, the moat, and the bridge, which are found in romances; and as to the dwarf, he was a constant appendage to the rank and fortune of those times, and no castle therefore could be without him. The dwarf and buffoon were then introduced to kill time, as the card table is at present. It will also be easy to account for the multitude of captive ladies whom the knights, upon seizing a castle, set at liberty; and for the prodigious quantities of useless gold and silver vessels, rich stuffs, and other merchandise, with which many apartments in these castles are said to have been filled.
The principal lords who entered into the fraternity of knights, used to send their sons to each other to be educated, far from their parents, in the mystery of chivalry. These youths, before they arrived at the age of 21, were called bachelors, or bas chevaliers, inferior knights, and at that age were qualified to receive the order.
So honourable was the origin of an institution, commonly considered as the result of caprice and the source of extravagance; but which, on the contrary, rose naturally from the state of society in those times, and had a very serious effect in refining the manners of the European nations. Valour, humanity, courtesy, justice, honour, were its characteristics: and to these were added religion; which, by infusing a large portion of enthusiastic zeal, carried them all to a romantic excess, wonderfully suited to the genius of the age, and
Knight. and productive of the greatest and most permanent effects both upon policy and manners. War was carried on with less ferocity, when humanity, no less than courage, came to be deemed the ornament of knighthood, and knighthood a distinction superior to royalty, and an honour which princes were proud to receive from the hands of private gentlemen: more gentle and polished manners were introduced, when courtesy was recommended as the most amiable of knightly virtues, and every knight devoted himself to the service of a lady: violence and oppression decreased, when it was accounted meritorious to check and to punish them: a scrupulous adherence to truth, with the most religious attention to fulfil every engagement, but particularly those between the sexes as more easily violated, became the distinguishing character of a gentleman, because chivalry was regarded as the school of honour, and inculcated the most delicate sensibility with respect to that point; and valour, seconded by so many motives of love, religion, and virtue, became altogether irresistible.
That the spirit of chivalry sometimes rose to an extravagant height, and had often a pernicious tendency, must however be allowed. In Spain, under the influence of a romantic gallantry, it gave birth to a series of wild adventures which have been deservedly ridiculed: in the train of Norman ambition, it extinguished the liberties of England, and deluged Italy in blood; and at the call of superstition, and as the engine of papal power, it desolated Asia under the banner of the cross. But these ought not to be considered as arguments against an institution laudable in itself, and necessary at the time of its foundation; and those who pretend to despise it, the advocates of ancient barbarism and ancient rusticity, ought to remember, that chivalry not only first taught mankind to carry the civilities of peace into the operations of war, and to mingle politeness with the use of the sword; but roused the soul from its lethargy, invigorated the human character even while it softened it, and produced exploits which antiquity cannot parallel. Nor ought they to forget, that it gave variety, elegance, and pleasure, to the intercourse of life, by making women a more essential part of society; and is therefore entitled to our gratitude, though the point of honour, and the refinements in gallantry, its more doubtful effects, should be excluded from the improvement of modern manners. For,
To illustrate this topic more particularly, we may observe, that women, among the ancient Greeks and Romans, seem to have been considered merely as objects of sensuality, or of domestic convenience: they were devoted to a state of seclusion and obscurity, had few attentions paid them, and were permitted to take as little share in the conversation as in the general commerce of life. But the northern nations, who paid a kind of devotion to the softer sex, even in their native forests, had no sooner settled themselves in the provinces of the Roman empire, than the female character began to assume new consequence. Those fierce barbarians, who seemed to thirst only for blood, who involved in one undistinguishing ruin the monuments of ancient grandeur and ancient ingenuity, and who devoted to the flames the knowledge of ages, always forbore to offer any violence to the women. They
Knight. brought along with them the respectful gallantry of the north, which had power even to restrain their savage ferocity; and they introduced into the west of Europe a generosity of sentiment, and a complaisance toward the ladies, to which the most polished nations of antiquity were strangers.—These sentiments of generous gallantry were fostered by the institution of chivalry, which lifted women yet higher in the scale of life. Instead of being nobody in society, she became his primum mobile. Every knight devoting himself to danger, declared himself the humble servant of some lady, and that lady was often the object of his love. Her honour was supposed to be intimately connected with his, and her smile was the reward of his valour: for her he attacked, for her he defended, and for her he shed his blood. Courage, animated by so powerful a motive, lost sight of every thing but enterprise: incredible toils were cheerfully endured, incredible actions were performed, and adventures seemingly fabulous were more than realized. The effect was reciprocal. Women, proud of their influence, became worthy of the heroism which they had inspired: they were not to be approached but by the high minded and the brave; and men then could only be admitted to the bosom of the chaste fair, after proving their fidelity and affection by years of perseverance and of peril.
Again, As to the change which took place in the operations of war, it may be observed, that the perfect hero of antiquity was superior to fear, but he made use of every artifice to annoy his enemy: impelled by animosity and hostile passion, like the savage in the American woods, he was only anxious of attaining his end, without regarding whether fraud or force were the means. But the true knight or modern hero of the middle ages, who seems in all his encounters to have had his eye on the judicial combat or judgement of God, had an equal contempt for stratagem and danger. He disdained to take advantage of his enemy: he desired only to see him, and to combat him upon equal terms, trusting that heaven would declare in behalf of the just; and as he professed only to vindicate the cause of religion, of injured beauty, or oppressed innocence, he was further confirmed in this enthusiastic opinion by his own heated imagination. Strongly persuaded that the decision must be in his favour, he fought as if under the influence of divine inspiration rather than of military ardour. Thus the system of chivalry, by a singular combination of manners, blended the heroic and sanctified characters, united devotion and valour, zeal and gallantry, and reconciled the love of God and of the ladies.
Chivalry flourished most during the time of the croisades. From these holy wars it followed, that new fraternities of knighthood were invented: hence the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, the Hospitalers, Templars, and an infinite number of religious orders. Various other orders were at length instituted by sovereign princes: the Garter, by Edward III. of England; the Golden Fleece, by Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy; and St Michael, by Louis XI. of France. From this time ancient chivalry declined to an empty name; when sovereign princes established regular companies in their armies, knights bannerets were no more, though it was still thought an honour to
Knight. to be dubbed by a great prince or victorious hero; and all who professed arms without knighthood assumed the title of squire.
There is scarce a prince in Europe that has not thought fit to institute an order of knighthood; and the simple title of knight, which the kings of Britain confer on private subjects, is a derivation from ancient chivalry, although very remote from its source. See Knight-Bachelor.