Discourse Upon English Chivalry

The overseas scholars have done some researches on microscopic aspect of the English chivalry. They have discussed the subject specially on a certain aspect or a certain time, but they haven't taken the evolution of the English chivalry as a whole. The domestic scholars then mainly regard chivalry as the common martial and cultural phenomenon shared by the entire European countries. They concentrate on the macroscopic aspect of chivalry, but ignore the differences of chivalry among different countries. To make up the insufficiency, this thesis chooses English chivalry as its research object, trying to open up the ways to plant the chivalry into England, expound the exhibitions and developments of English chivalry clearly, and analyze the characters of English chivalry briefly.England was not the cradle of Chivalry. It originated from France in 8th century. There were two events relating to the ways how the Chivalry came across the English Channel from France to England. One was the Normans Conquer England in 1066, the other one was the marriage between Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II of England. William brought feudality into England. From then on, Knights as an estate appeared on the stage of England. At the same time, some behavior regulations and ideology in the battle from France were also introduced into England by Normans conquer. Another important part of chivalry was courtly love which was transferred into England by the marriage of Eleanor. Thanks to her contributions, a great many troubadours brought the idea of courtly love into the court of England.Following the establishment of the knight estate, chivalry including knights' life style, knights' behavior and etiquette regulations and knight' culture developed gradually. Knights had their own life styles. Before 16^th century, a man who wanted to be a knight had to receive two stages including page period and squire period of knights' education first. When he became a grow-up, he had to experience the ritual of being knighted. Only knights were entitled to take part in the tournament. When time passed, the life style of knights changed. The place where knights had received education changed from court to school. University education took place of traditional family education. Knights didn't have to be knighted anymore. Tournament was not a preparation for battle, but some kind of...