On This Day in History: September 19

The Black Prince and Chivalry

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The Black Prince. Oh, sounds badass. Did you give yourself this name? He actually was badass. His name was Edward, and he was the son of King Edward III of England and he was thought to be the greatest knight of the age, a very model of chivalry. But what the fuck is chivalry, and where did the idea come from?

--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: September 19, 1356--

Let’s “on this day” this motherfucker first. September 19, 1356 was the Battle of Poitiers which was part of the Hundred Years War and the Black Prince kicked the shit out of a much larger French force and captured the French king and his younger son and a bunch of the French nobility. Pwned! So, he was a badass knight but also chivalrous and he chivalrously shit himself to death from dysentery at the age of 45 so he never got to be king, but his son did, becoming Richard II. Let’s talk about this chivalry stuff now.

In 1066 in the Battle of Hastings people were starting to realize the awesome power of the mounted knight. Having a horse and armor and training wasn’t for poor peasants. These were elite members of society. And they were murderous fucking thugs.

Early knights were ruled by warlords and rewarded with spoils of conquest. They were motivated by rape and plunder. They also liked to set things on fire. They were so successful in their conquests that they seized lands and grew as a political force. People were afraid of them, including other elites. So, it was deemed they would be made respectable. Enter: codes of chivalry.

The word comes from the French chevalier, meaning horse soldier. The concept dated back from centuries earlier, but it was mostly about controlling a heavily armed force that was prone to violence by instilling loyalty to one’s lord and one’s companions. The goal was to create a more disciplined military rather than a bunch of heavily armed hoodlums doing whatever the fuck they wanted.

Then romantic fiction got involved, spinning tales of how these knights were the noble embodiment of piety, generosity, and mercy. And they were inspired to do great deeds to win the love of a beautiful young maiden. Blarf.

How much they actually followed such codes of chivalry was capricious. They’d be all oh yeah check us out we are these honorable and chivalrous knights and then they’d go on a rape and murder spree. It was hypocrisy reminiscent of modern-day evangelical Christians in America. Then, like now, those who suffered were mostly poor folks. Chivalry meant no raping noble women. Poor women were still fair game. And Muslims. We can wreck the shit out of them cuz heathens.

Even with the code, they were still destructive as fuck. Just less so toward their fellow elites. By the end of the 15thcentury the armored knight was being replaced by professional infantrymen, and the Age of Chivalry came to an end.

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