What if I were to tell you dear readers that there was a time, when codes of chivalry were abundant in fiction? When writers and directors competed to make their characters as masculine as possible? What if I was to tell you that there was a time, when men were men and they were honoured for this?
“BULL!” You might shout, but I assure you there was a time, when this was the case in the Anglo-Sphere.
Notably, it wasn’t terribly long ago, as recent as the 90s and early 2000s saw chivalry depicted in a positive light. This was especially the case in Star Wars and the standalone 1996 movie Dragonheart (also a novel) (yes it has sequels, but none that truly follow the story of Bowen which stands fairly near to a standalone story). Thus, it was that Sci-Fi strangely enough, stood with Fantasy in the safe-guarding of the Medieval values of Chivalry.
Historically, it must be said that nothing kept the nobility or monarchy honest quite like Chivalry. Yes, there were times even when it was a pervasive belief system when men were men and thus dishonest. But it certainly went some way alongside Christianity towards ensuring that there was a belief in honour, there was respect for the rule of law and there was the foundations for culture, art and literature that still remains with us to this day.
Classically the three tenets of chivalry were fidelity to one’s lord (or laird if you’re Scottish ;) ), fidelity to God and fidelity to one’s lady.
These three founding stones are core and good, with the first one important not only out of respect for the chivalric epics that surrounded Charlemagne (or the later literary figure he inspired, King Arthur). But also due to the need for stability and for there to be a certain order in relationships. The respect and obedience due to one’s lord being important also due to how at the time the heads of a given area (be it a county, duchy or kingdom) having the returning obligation to support and aid his vassal.
How this gave birth to the later concept of patriotism/nationalism need not be touched too much upon. In the west there was a time when patriotism was itself a self-evident truth and one that all men aspired after and honoured. There was a time when men planted a seed knowing they would never rest beneath the tree that grew out of that acorn. A good example of chivalry historically, would be the French General/President Charles de Gaulle, the great hero of the 20th century who saved France from the Nazis and who’s tale reads more like an epic-adventure novel.
The second tenet of fidelity to God hearkens back to religion, and is self-explanatory and self-evidently important. The trouble here is that people have turned away from their religion (shame on them), with these people having done so in order to appear more fashionable and because their lives have become so fast-paced that they’ve no time for such things. There is much that can be said about this, and it is no place for myself to reprimand others on this front, and as religious sermons make for uncomfortable writing and reading I shall refrain from further elaboration on this front.
The third tenet is one that sadly much like the first two has fallen by the wayside. Ladies were once honoured, and treated with considerable respect and honour in this regard they were so treated due entirely to the esteem in which men held them in. Certainly there was some who did not abide by these ideals, but the truth was that in the West at least as represented by the Franco-British Empire of the 19th & early 20th century women were capable of inheriting land, property and were treated with respect and yet were still feminine.
What changed? Well for one thing, they were expected to behave and comport themselves in a manner as befits their sex just as men were expected to behave and comport themselves also in a befitting manner. In this regard it is a two way street, and contrary to what the red-pill schmucks might say the onus is as much on men comporting themselves with honour, chivalry and dignity in regards to women and with all the virtues of chivalry. That is if they expect women to behave themselves with the equivalent female virtues, and to respect their masculinity.
This leads nicely into my point on literary chivalry; we need to remember that men and women are different. There can be no bridging the gap. We must accept this, even as we must learn once again to honour one another again, with women needing to reconcile themselves to the forces that accorded them so much (chivalry, Christianity, Occidental civilisations, etc…).
In terms of literature, writers must be willing to engage in writing decent, well-developed female characters it is true, for ex; not only those to be found in say Lord of the Rings where Eowyns can be seen swinging swords but also those women who inhabit the world drawn into being by Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Virgil, Homer, De Troyes, Walter Scott, Alexandre Dumas & Victor Hugo. The great writers who established the literary traditions of to-day and who have transmitted chivalry from those who handed it to them, down into the next era, to the next generation (especially in the case of those writers of the 19th & 20th centuries).
Where God is concerned, literature must restore him to his place, to a certain high position. But if you do not wish to write of God himself, why not write with the values he taught through the Bible? Why not write of the Seven Cardinal Virtues that define Chivalry? Why not write of Honour? And most of all with pious characters in mind. A good example of a pious character would be Luke Skywalker. Not only pious but filially pious towards his father Anakin Skywalker. Another ex; any of the leads of the Hammer Horror movies. There’s also the 4 Mousquetaires by Alexandre Dumas. Or in the case of a more modern piece of cinema/literature; Prior Philip from Pillars of the Earth.
All of these characters represent different aspects of Chivalry, but they are most of all pious. Piety is integral as it means faith in something larger than thyself. If all a character believes in is themselves, they are inherently selfish and it boxes them in. One must always write characters different from oneself, or to represent an ideal you should wish to aspire after (i.e. Superman, whom is Hope itself or at least goodness personified, and represents a figure always keen to redeem all around himself and thus gives men something to aspire after).
In terms of literature, to get back to the first tenet this one has been the most neglected oddly enough. And it is one that our cultures need to learn to respect in some capacity also. This is not to say that we must bow our heads to states, or have characters that do this, for the rebel for a cause is a good character and represents a truer form of loyalty than a simple-minded ‘yes-man’. Rambo is a good example of a patriot loyal to the cause of his nation, same goes for Rocky, and both are not empty-headed yes men.
In the case of writing for your own stories, do so with the mind-set of say Batman, or as said Rambo & Rocky, but also of the likes of Gawain. For some reason, the chivalrous, pious knight has become a mocked, hated and rejected archetype when at one time none stood higher and prouder in the world of literature, than he.
I hope folks didn’t mind this semi-rambling analysis of the nature of chivalry, I hope to zero in on fictional ones if this article proves popular and to analyse specifically those of Star Wars (for there are a few interesting codes of Chivalry from that universe), Dragonheart and any others send my way. I also intend to analyse the Seven Virtues, to go into detail on them and how they can be relevant to writers of fiction and the importance they play in our cultures.
Well said.