Chivalry, it is not to unusual to hear women talk whimsically about the days when such a thing supposedly existed, when a man would remove his cape to allow a lady to cross a puddle or a knight in shining armor would defend the innocent. But can chivalry be ‘gone with the wind’ if it never existed, at least not in its idealized form in the first place?

In movies and books alike, chivalrous actions are supposed to be the most noble that a man can perform. In every ideal form that is chivalry’s purpose, for men to be gentlemen and nothing but. In Chaucer’s novel “The Canterbury Tales”, he, in verse, describes a knight. An agile, brave, courageous, handsome, polite, humble, and intelligent man he portrays. But this idea is only that of the imagination, the idealized chivalrous knight that inhabit story books throughout the world. Chivalry did exist, however, not as it is usually imagined.

The idea of chivalry original rose to importance around the twelfth century. Its original progenitor was the church. At that time, holy wars were common place as was crime and the church had no way to support mercenaries without lowering its own reputation. Thus, the church conceived the idea of knights and chivalry. The most important aspect of chivalry was loyalty, this was a fierce quality that most knights possessed, but they only practiced it toward whomever they had sworn an oath. When a knight was knighted he grasped the hilt of his sword which had embedded in it a holy relic, in order that the knight be connected with heaven and that his vow be true. Usually, a knight would keep his vow to whom he had sworn it, but even this was not always true. Along with the idea of loyalty, many others accompanied chivalry.

Courtly love, a practice that was too make the knights loved by all the peasants that they would encounter. To practice this knights had to always look their best, be charming, and have a lithe attitude. In reality, knights to this to mean other less than respectable things. They dressed immaculately no matter what the cost and often payed for the clothing at the expense of peasants. Knights could often be found drunk in towns as they considered themselves happy when intoxicated. But the most atrocious perversion of this idea is that it was believed that love included that of a women and thus should be free to them. Knights would have very little qualms with raping or attempting to rape any person that they thought fit because they served the church and had to live by the idea of chivalry. Courtly love caused some men to be vain beyond belief, while others became philandering perverts interested in only the ‘love’ of a woman.

In other instances knights never showed any mercy. Often they would invade towns by telling the townspeople they would assist them, only when let through the gates proceed to slaughter every citizen, for they had made no oath of loyalty to them. Overall, the idea of chivalry is four parts out of five nothing but illusion. A well conceived one that the church needed to soften the fact that it was hiring men of questionable morality. Chivalry has never disappeared, it has always existed in its illusionary form, men act in the same manner as they have for centuries. Chivalry as we see it in the movies and popular novels has simply never existed. The idea of chivalry as we perceive it is as idealized as a perfect world, yet people still reminisce about the medieval times when such a thing supposedly existed as though it were reality. The reason for this is the fact that a chivalrous knight that can do no wrong makes for a much better story. At the end of this essay it can be decided that illusion is easier to believe than reality.