Chivalry

[RandomProddy]

[quote name='Aloysius' date='Aug 13 2004, 12:28 AM'] do they carry swords? [/quote]
I think the military knights (generally vice-admirals, major-generals and air vice-marshals and above) get knighted and are given the sword they are knighted with.

I've heard a story that the major-general in charge of 1st Armoured in the gulf signalled the incursion into iraq in 1991 by opening the hatch of his tank, drawing a sword and shouting "charge"...

Edited August 12, 2004 by RandomProddy

[Moosey]

*trips on own feet and falls on face* *looks up*....oh yea its dead...

[Aloysius]

Chivalry lives in me.

[Aloysius]

[b]Chivalry [/b](derived through the French cheval from the Latin caballus) as an institution is to be considered from three points of view: the military, the social, and the religious. We shall also here consider the history of chivalry as a whole.

[Aloysius]

[list][list][list][list][b][u]MILITARY[/u][/b]
[/list]
[/list]
[/list]
[/list]In the military sense, chivalry was the heavy cavalry of the Middle Ages which constituted the chief and most effective warlike force. The knight or chevalier was the professional soldier of the time; in medieval Latin, the ordinary word miles (soldier) was equivalent to "knight." This pre-eminence of cavalry was correlative with the decline of infantry on the battlefield. Four peculiarities distinguished the professional warrior: [list]
[*]his weapons;
[*]his horse;
[*]his attendants, and
[*]his flag.
[/list]

Edited August 13, 2004 by Aloysius

[Aloysius]

[b]Weapons [/b]

The medieval army was poorly equipped for long-distance fighting, and bows and crossbows were still employed, although the Church endeavored to prohibit their use, at least between Christian armies, as contrary to humanity. At all events, they were regarded as unfair in combat by the medieval knight. His only offensive weapons were the lance for the encounter and the sword for the close fight, weapons common to both light-armed and heavy cavalry. The characteristic distinction of the latter, which really constituted chivalry, lay in their defensive weapons, which varied with different periods. These weapons were always costly to get and heavy to bear, such as the brunia or hauberk of the Carlovingian Era, the coat of mail, which prevailed during the Crusades, and lastly the plate armor introduced in the fourteenth century.

[Aloysius]

[b]Horses [/b]

No knight was thought to be properly equipped without at least three horses:
[list]
[*]the battle horse, or dexterarius, which was led by hand, and used only for the onset (hence the saying, "to mount one's high horse"),
[*]a second horse, palfrey or courser, for the route, and
[*]the pack-horse for the luggage.
[/list]

Edited August 13, 2004 by Aloysius

[Aloysius]

[b]Attendants [/b]

The knight required several attendants:
[list]
[*]one to conduct the horses,
[*]another to bear the heaviest weapons, particularly the shield or escutcheon (scutum, hence scutarius, French escuyer, esquire);
[*]still another to aid his master to mount his battle horse or to raise him if dismounted;
[*]a fourth to guard prisoners, chiefly those of quality, for whom a high ransom was expected.
[/list]These attendants, who were of low condition, were not to be confounded with the armed retainers, who formed the escort of a knight. From the thirteenth century the squires also went armed and mounted and, passing from one grade to the other, were raised finally to knighthood.

[livingHimloud]

if that's what it takes to be a knight, then i have the pleasure of saying i have met many many knights this summer. there is nothing more flattering and charming than to treat other with respect, gentlemen would do well to remember that.
i'm afraid i have to work on my being a lady..... i really like chewing gum, public or otherwise. and i had no idea hugging people was bad. i do however have several books about etiquett. so i'm almost there.
melania

[Aloysius]

[b]Flags [/b]

Banners were also a distinctive mark of chivalry. They were attached to, and carried on, the lance. There was a sharp distinction between the pennon, a flag pointed or forked at the extremity, used by a single chevalier or bachelor as a personal ensign, and the banner, square in form, used as the ensign of a band and reserved to the baron or baronet in command of a group of at least ten knights, called a constabulary. Each flag or banner was emblazoned with the arms of its owner to distinguish one from another on the battlefield. These armorial bearings afterwards became hereditary and gave birth to the complicated science of heraldry.