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Article: The mirror of honour and love: a woman's view of chivalry. (History).(Column)
- Article from:
- Quadrant
- Article date:
- November 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Quadrant Magazine Company, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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CHIVALRY. Isn't that a bloke's thing? Isn't it to do with being a man-at-arms, with strapping on armour and sallying forth into the wildwood on your horse, your lady's token on your arm, to right wrongs and do great deeds? Isn't the only role of the woman in chivalry to be the inspirer, the muse of a paragon of the knightly virtues? Well, yes--and no. Chivalry was much more than that. And its ideals encompassed both sexes, actively.
As the French-derived term chivalry indicates--it is originally from chevalerie, literally meaning horsemanship--it came about as a means of codifying and disciplining a mounted order of military types. Mounted men-at-arms--knights, ...