Chivalric Education in the Middle Ages By JAN BROEKHOFF

Physical education has always been held in high esteem at times in which a society recognizes the need for physi- cal action. In militant societies physical education has often been reduced to physical training for the purpose of military expansion. When the need for action forms part of a more inclusive ethical ideal, however, physical educa- tion represents more than preparation for war; it becomes an integrative force in the development of the ideal man.

As the French historian Marrou in- dicates, the technical progress of a so- ciety as well as its ideals and values are normally reflected by the way in which older generations educate the young.15:17 In a sense, then, education presents a capsule form of society as a whole and reflects the everlasting tension between ethical ideal and everyday reality. For

About the Author

Jan Broekhoff, Ph.D., was born in The Netherlands. After graduating from the Academy of Physical Education in Amster- dam, he served in the Royal Dutch Army as a sports and recreation officer. He re- ceived his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Oregon, where he passed through the ranks from teaching and re- search assistant to Instructor and then to Assistant Professor. He was supervisor of Dr. H. Harrison Clarke's "Medford Boys' Growth Study" and director of a Title I11 project aimed at innovations in curriculum design. He is now an Associate Professor of Physical Education at the University of Toledo. His special interests are the anthro- pological and philosophical foundations of physical education.

example, when old king Peleus exhorts his son Achilles "at& d P w ~ E ; c ~ v

~ I T C ~ ~ O ~ O V ZPF".~va~ ~AAcov" (always to strive for the first place and to be superior to his peers), he expresses the quintessence of the chivalrous society of nobles described by Such a competitive spirit, guided by (EP~7rj (arete), the ineffable combination of physical prowess and courtly moral- ity, pervaded classical Greek civiliza- tion and lay at the origin of the XaAoX6.Va61a (kalokagathia), the ideal of the fifth century B.C. This ideal, to be "beautiful as well as good," was no longer the ideal of only the noble war- rior but was a part of the literature, art, and philosophy of the common people as well. In education it was reflected by a period, however short, in which there was harmony between "music for the soul" and "gymnastics for the body."

In contrast to the era of classical Greece, the Middle Ages have seldom evoked the enthusiasm of the historians of physical education. The dominanl position of the Church, with its empha- sis on spiritual values and the life hereafter, seemed to contradict the cultivation of physical ideals. Yet there is a curious parallel between medieval and classical times in that both pro- duced ideals with a strong acclaim for physical prowess in an aristocratic set- ting. In the following sections we shall first trace the development of the

Chivalric Education in the Middle Ages 25

chivalric ideal of the Middle Ages and secondly indicate how this ideal was reflected in the education of the knight. Then we shall outline the influence of the chivalric ideal upon later periods of history.

The Ideal of Chivalry

The precise origin of the chivalric practices of the Middle Ages remains rather obscure. Several authors trace it to the Germanic tribes that moved across the Rhine into Roman territory and developed a system of landowner- ship. Undoubtedly many of the chival- ric principles were well established during the reign of Charlemagne, al- though the rise of chivalry in France is generally placed after the tenth century. After a culmination of the chivalric order during the time of the Crusades, historians have noted signs of its decline in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.Cr.14 Despite this de- cay of chivalric practices, the ideal of the nobility continued to influence so- ciety long after feudalism and the no- bility had lost their importance for the structure of ~ 0 c i e t y . l ~ : ~ ~

In a time in which warfare was the order of the day, the knight's most valued characteristic was physical prowess. It was natural for the cheva- lier to risk his life in battle as well as in the tournament, so that it was hard to distinguish between game and reality. The chivalric code was rooted in the feudal relations which tied the knight to his lord and to those who needed his protection. To his lord the vassal owed undivided loyalty, and his largesse was determined in large part

by the way in which he treated his serfs. Brute physical force was elevated to a higher level by the principle of courtesy, which revealed itself not only as politeness in social relations, but also in the knight's attitude during battle. The French nobles showed dis- dain for archers, because they deemed it below their dignity to kill an enemy from a distance. "This," they said, "would rob the chevaliers of any means to show their p r o ~ e s s . " ~ ~ : ~ ~ Whereas feudal strife was caused mainly by the desire for domination and material profit, the chivalric code demanded that the knight wage battle for the nobler motive of glory: the wish to live on in mem01y.l~:~~

The feudal ideals of knighthood were at all times strongly influenced by the teachings of the Church, and the clergy never rested in its efforts to bring the unruly nobility into the fold of religion. From the blending of feu- dal and religious ideals developed the kind of chivalry which found its poetic expression in the chansons de geste. On the basis of these poems, LCon Gautier wrote his monumental book La Chevalerie, in which chivalry is de- fined as "the Christian form of the military condition," and the chevalier as "the Christian so l~ l ie r . "~~:~~ The knight is cast in the role of the virtu- ous Defender of the Faith, who an- swers the call of the Church to crusade against the infidels.

There is no reason to doubt that the Church exerted a profound influence upon the ideals of the medieval aris- tocracy. Yet, even in the idealized chansons, the more secular concerns of

26 QUEST

men at arms are hardly disguised. When a virtuous knight is so absorbed in his prayers that he forgets about the tournament he has entered, his impa- tient squire can no longer restrain him- self and says:

Sire, par la sainte chair de Dieu L'heure passe de tournoyer, Et vous, que demeurez ici? Venez-vous-en, je vous en pri; Voulez-vous devenir hermite? Allons-en A notre mktier.13:47*

The emancipation of the woman of noble descent added still another di- mension to the ideal of chivalry, be- cause it led to acceptance of the idea that love could enhance the prowess of the chevalier. By the thirteenth cen- tury the idea of courtly love had af- fected the behavior of the nobleman. The good knight knew how to enter- tain a lady and how to make his own poetry. The poets of courtly love glori- fied heroic deeds in defense of a lady's honor and revived a mythical past by their tales of King Arthur and the Round Table. The new status of the woman lent an erotic character to the tournaments and undoubtedly con- tributed to their fierceness. As Painter indicates, "Woman had edged her way into the mind of the feudal male and had elevated and enlarged her place in society as he recognized it."16:143

In his excellent analysis of chivalric ideas and practices in medieval France, Painter concludes that the feudal, reli-

* Sir, by the holy flesh of God /The hour of the tournament goes by, /And you, why do you linger here? /Come along, I beg you; / Do you want to become a hermit? / Let us go about our business.

gious, and courtly ideas of chivalry were in fact incompatible. The Church, on the one hand, violently opposed the more extreme doctrines of courtly love, because they led of necessity to extra- marital relations. The chronicles of the late medieval period, on the other hand, give ample evidence that the feudal lords hardly ever conformed to the ideals of the Church or to the doctrines of courtly love. It is apparent that there was a great tension between real and ideal. As ideal of the beautiful life, chivalry could also assume the appearance of an ethical ideal by com- bining physical prowess with religious piety and virtue. Even at the core of this ideal, however, remained, as Hui- zinga expressed it, a great deal of "heroic fancy and romantic senti- ment."12:67

Chivalric Education

Public education, if one can speak of such education during the Middle Ages, was a function of the Church. In the monastery and cathedral schools, the curriculum consisted of the septem artes liberales (seven liberal arts), which were divided into the trivium of grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic and the quadrivium of arithmetic, ge- ometry, music, and astronomy. In this curriculum there was no place f o ~ physical education, although the fol- lowing lines from a "students' rule book" give evidence of some concern for the physical well-being of the stu- dents :

Das nicht die Schiiler allzusehre Beschwert werden mit der Lehre

Chivalric Education in the Middle Ages 27

So lIsst man sie stat it voran the illustrious Bertrand du Guesclin, All heilig Tag spielen gahn.2:145* constable of France during the Hun-

In its attempt to shape the nobility according to the ideals of the Church, the clergy emphasized the importance of the artes liberales in the education of young pages and squires. Such ef- forts are reflected in the Miroirs a m Primes (Mirrors for Princes), in which famous clergymen presented an ideal education for the prince as a model for all noblemen. In his treatise De Eruditione Filiorum Nobilium, for example, Vincent of Beauvais stresses humility, discipline, and obedience as desirable characteristics of the young noble, but he also points out that hu- man movement reveals the style of the bod^.^:*^

If ideally the young nobleman should be well versed in the artes liberales, the practical situation left much to be desired. From all evidence, illiteracy among the medieval aristocracy was widespread. It is said, for example, that

dred Years War, knew hardly how to write his own name. The long and arduous training to prepare the knight for his physical duties was obviously not conducive to intellectual pursuits. Eustache Deschamps, the fourteenth- century poet and chronicler, bewailed the fact that in his search for physical prowess the knight does everything for his body but nothing for his soul.13:179 Even during the late Middle Ages many amorous knights needed a clerk to record their poetry.2:147

The education of the young knight was in reality for the most part physical education. Petrus Alfonsus ( 1062- 1140) was probably the first to d e h e the aristocratic curriculum by intro- ducing the septem probitates as the knightly equivalent of the septem artes l iberale~.l~:~O~ These probitates, or knightly arts, which formed a com- pendium of the nobleman's education, are admirably described in Johannes Rothe's ~ e r - Ritterspiegel (Knight's

* SO students are not too much/Burdened Mirror) near the beginning of the with theory/One allows them in advance century: always/To go and play on all holy days.

So sint dit di sibin behendikeit di do werdin zcu allin gezcitin An eynen vollinkommen man geleid: her sal kunne wol geritin, Snel uf und abe gesitzcin, wol gedrabin und gerinnen, Ummegekerin und rnit witzcin von der erdin etmaz gewinnen.

Dy andir daz her kan geswimme und in dem wassir getuche, sich gewende und gecrimme uf dem rucke und uf dem buche.

The arts all seven which certainly at all times a perfect man will love are: he must ride well, be fast in and out of the saddle, trot well and canter and turn around and know how to pick something up from the ground.

The other, that he knows how to swim and dive into the water, knows how to turn and twist on his back and on his belly.

28 QUEST

di derte daz her kan geschissin The third, that he shoots well mit armborstin, buchsin und bogin; with crossbows, arm, and handbows; Dez mag her danne wol genissin these he may well use kegin forstin und den herzcogin. against princes and dukes.

Dy ferde daz her kan gestigin The fourth, that he can climb m e leitern ab dez nod tud, fast on ladders when necessary, Daz werdit wol nutzce in den crigin, that will be of use in war, an stangin, an seilin, daz ist ouch gud. in poles and ropes it is also good.

Dy funfte behendikeit mag ich sprechin The fifth art I shall speak of ist daz her kunne wol tornirin, is that he is good in tournament, Gestritin und ouch gestechin that he fights and tilts well und redelichin und recht geschustirin. and is honest and good in the joust.

Dy sechste behendikeit: mit dem ringin The sixth art is wrestling beide geschermen und gevechtin, also both fencing and fighting, Vor andirn luthin wit gespringin, beat others in the long jump mit der linkin hant also mit der rechtin. from the left as well as from the right.

Dy sibiide: wol gedinen zcu tische, The seventh art: he serves well at the table, getanzcin ouch und gehofiren, knows how to dance, has courtly manners, Daz bredspel em nicht lassin entwische does not shy away from board games und alliz daz en mag gezcirin. or other things that are proper for him.

17 :72-73

It is not dficult to see in this pro- gram of knightly education the reflec- tion of the feudal ideals of chivalry in which physical prowess played a major role. From a practical point of view, the nobleman's life depended on his physical skills and endurance. As Jusserand remarks, the dressing in a harness in these days was a physical exercise in itself. The reports of the chroniclers leave little doubt that the medieval knights were indeed in ex- cellent physical conditi~n.e*.~ Accord- ing to his biographer, Boucicaut, fa- mous chevalier and Marshall of France, could in his youth turn a somersault in full armor, except for his helmet, and scale the inside of a ladder equipped in harness by pulling himself up by the a r m ~ . l ~ : ~ ~

The education of the knight, how-

ever, went far beyond the immediate objectives of the development of skills and physical fitness. The knightly arts provided, above all, an opportunity for the development of the knight's character and the traits that were ad- mired in the true nobleman. In this respect, the educational setting was of utmost importance. Until his seventh year, a son of the nobility remained at home under the care of his mother. After this, he was often sent away from home to start his knightly education at the court of a powerful baron or sometimes of even the king. For seven years he served his lord as a page, and during this time he was initiated into the knightly arts and customs. At four- teen years of age, the young noble was promoted to the more prestigious position of squire. As such, he took

Chivalric Education in the Middle Ages 29

care of hi knight's horse and served as a shield bearer in battle. Some of the sons of the poorer nobility re- mained squires for their entire lives, because they lacked the money to equip themselves properly. Ideally, however, the squire was dubbed a knight at twenty-one years of age, after another seven-year period of s e r v i ~ e . ~ ~ . ~

The division of the time of educa- tion into seven-year periods, the seven liberal and knightly arts, form an ex- pression of the medieval tendency to regulate everything according to certain ideals. The spirit of casuistry, in which everything is isolated and referred to an ideal solution, was highly developed in the Middle Ages. All things had their proper places, and all forms of behavior were governed by definite rules. As Huizinga indicates, the strict casuistry and the establishment of for- mal rules were the only means of cre- ating a semblance of harmony between warfare and the chivalric ideal.12:246 The seven-year periods, however, re- mained an ideal classification from which there were frequent deviations. For example, Gautier sets the average age of admittance to knighthood be- fore the thirteenth century at fifteen instead of t~enty-one.lO:l~~

The custom of barons, suzerains, and kings to educate the sons of their vassals dates back to the beginnings of chivalry and certainly enhanced the bonds of friendship and loyalty among the nobility. When Charlemagne slaps his nephew Roland in the face with his glove, the ultimate affront among knights, Roland jumps furiously for- ward to avenge this insult. At the last

moment, however, he restrains himself, remembering that Charlemagne "l'a nourri petit enfant" (nourished him as a chid). When Roland dies, his last thoughts are of his royal uncle, who educated him.10:106

The education of the chevalier was an education through example. The initiation into knighthood via the stages of page and squire was hard but never out of touch with reality. The young nobles witnessed the tourna- ments and battles first-hand and con- tinuously imitated the heroic feats of their lords. The competitive spirit among them was fierce, and it was not uncommon that a squire lost his life in a duel in which he tested the meth- ods of his fencing master with too much abandon. But there were always the lighter sides of courtly life in the less dangerous pastimes of hunting with falcons and playing the board games of chess and checkers. Pages and squires frequently mixed with the ladies and learned courtly manners by serving at table. The presence of women ameliorated the sober atmos- phere of physical training and yielded the cultural forms expressed in the courtly ideals of chivalry.

From Chevalier to Modern Gentleman

The chivalric ideals that put such a heavy stamp on medieval society were clearly reflected in the education of the knight. Throughout the up- bringing of the young nobleman, physi- cal education formed the integrative force which worked beyond the acqui- sition of physical skills and endurance to develop in him the characteristics

QUEST

of the true chevalier. The historical simcance of this aristocratic educa- tion, according to Adamson, is that it paved the way for the humanism of the classical r e ~ i v a l . ~ : ~ ~ ~ The courtier of Castiglione, for example, was a world apart from the medieval chev- alier, yet chivalric ideals and the knightly arts were at the core of his educatioa6

Far beyond the gentil homme of the Renaissance, the chivalric code as a "doctrine of courtesy" kept in£luencing the educational ideas of the socially prominent in Europe. The knightly arts featured prominently in the cur- riculum at the German Ritterakade- mien and found their way in the Philanthropina of the eighteenth cen- tury, announcing the advent of a re- newal of physical education." 4. ? Sim- ilar lines could be drawn to the English public schools and the emergence of the modem ideal of the gentleman. From a cultural-historical point of view, these developments show an in- teresting parallel with the ideals that arose in the chivalric Homeric society extending to the kalokagathia ideal of the f5f'th century B.C., even if only the bare outlines are visible.

The chivalric ideals of physical prowess, loyalty, generosity, courtesy, and glory have not lost their signifi- cance for modem society, but they are no longer the integrated ideal of a social 6lite. The disappearance of a distinct social group comparable to the medieval chevaliers coincided with the d8usion of chivalric principles. Many have considered this a great loss and share the medical scientist Carrel's

lament that our modern society is no longer capable of producing an kite that combines intelligence with imagi- nation and c ~ u r a g e . ~ : ~ ~

A look at modem programs of physical education would only confirm the absence of a societal ideal or set of ideals. Seldom do these programs carry s i e c a n t values beyond nar- rowly dehed hygienic and physical fitness objectives. The scientsc method applied to physical education has re- sulted in a knowledge explosion with regard to the different aspects of hu- man movement, but it has yet to con- tribute to the formation of ideas that would elevate physical education above prophylaxis and recreation. This is not surprising, because such ideas are of a normative nature and largely out of the scope of the scientific method.

The activities in our modem sport arenas seem to lie closest to the ideals of chivalry. Indeed, the clash of foot- ball teams could evoke the image of the medieval melke, in which bands of fierce knights engaged in semi-seri- ous battle. For the medieval chevalier, however, today's play signified tomor- row's reality, as the scene shifted from tournament to warfare. In modern sports the ideal of physical prowess and its derivatives has a compartmen- talized existence in a world of play no longer or not yet integrated with the serious affairs of society. No longer, because in earlier societies reality was just a shade removed from play. Not yet, because a society of the future, freed of the necessity to work for a living, may find a way to intermingle seriousness and play once again.

Chivalric Education i n the Middle Ages 31

REFERENCES

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5. Carrel, Alexis. Man, the Unknown. New York: Harper, 1935.

6. Castiglione, Baldesar. The Book o f the Courtier, tr. C. S. Singleton. New York: Doubleday, 1959.

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12. hizinga, 'J. Herfstij der Middelleeu- wen. Haarlem: Tjeenk Willink & Zoon N.V., 1957.

13. Jusserand, J. J. Les Sports e f Jeux d'- Exercise duns PAncienne Franw. Paris: Librairie Plon, 1901.

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15. Marrou, Henri I. Histoire de I%duca- tion duns Z'Antiquiib. Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1958.

16. Painter, Sidney. French Chivalry. Balti- more: Johns Hopkins Press, 1940.

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