Times change, that much is evident considering the radical changes in beliefs, customs, rituals, attitudes, and values. These changes are quite evident comparing present day life with that of the medieval era. These changes have occurred for various reasons, such as new insights and technological advances, but there also seems to be a change to the peoples that practice these beliefs, customs, and rituals.

One of the most obvious changes is the idea of courtly love. In medieval times the idea of courtly love was one most usually associated with knights. The idea tells that the knight should show love to all to promote happiness and gaiety. In reality it caused men to make few lasting relationships and to act in a philandering manner. These actions although morally wrong were often overlooked because knights were considered to be above such concerns as morals. They were given different standards to live by because of their service to their kingdom and other chivalrous actions. In today’s society, no actions allow persons to be judged by a different set of rules.

If a person showed the same kind of courtly love today as knights showed in the medieval era they would be scorned and despised. The change of courtly love from an accepted idea to a deviant one is one of the many changes since the medieval era.

Another less positive change is the idea of chivalry and largess. The medieval era was governed by a moral code. This moral code was named chivalry and knights were its greatest practitioners. Although the idea of chivalry was mostly superficial at best, it did promote a moral goodness. Through largess, knights would often give large amounts of money in the form of gifts. In the modern world chivalrous actions, even the superficial ones are often very rare. Largess is made more rare because today’s society values the idea of giving a gift only to have one given in return. Thus, in modern society the idea of chivalry in its most idealistic form is dead.

The most realistic part of the medieval era that has not survived to the modern day is the idea of true loyalty. When a knight pledged his loyalty to a king or pope, he was bound to them. It is very rare that a knight would then act in a disloyal way to the person to whom which he had pledged his oath. His oath would be kept to only those he pledged it to. A knight had no difficulty in slaughtering those to whom he was not loyal. The modern world values materialism so much, that it seems loyalty itself is nothing more than a commodity.

Some events that do not take place any longer are great feasts given by kings for knights and jousting tournaments. Jousting tournaments were large events in which knights were often maimed or killed all for the sake of honor and money. Although sporting events are often held in the present day world, the goal is never to kill the opponent.

Times have indeed changed since the medieval era. Although many values such as chivalry, loyalty, courtly love, and a love of death have all but disappeared, a code of morals still holds strong. The idealistic knight is never found in modern society, but the idealistic knight never existed. A code of morals governs all humans to a point, but a simple change in what the code of morals is called does not mean the code does not exist. In the modern world there exists a modern goodness. In essence chivalry has not