Chivalry Paperback – February 11, 2005

Keen does an outstanding job of exploring the concept of "chivalry" in the middle ages. To a degree, this book is essential for a well rounded understanding of the era (it is included on Cantor's Canon of 150 books about the middle ages that every student should read). On the other hand, I'm not convinced that this book doesn't overlap, to a significant degree, with volume two of Marc Bloch's "Feudal Society". Nor, for that matter, was I particularly impressed with the writing style. In fact, I would call this book a snoozer, and I'm not using that term lightly.Keen's basic analysis revolves around three interrelated aspects/facets of chivalry: social, military and ecclesiastical. So, if someone asks you "What's Chivalry?" you can feel pretty save by answering, "it was a value held by segments of the land owning classes in europe during the middle ages. it had different aspects that had various degrees of importance over the time period in question. These aspects include social, military and ecclesiastical."Anything more then that and you'll actually have to read the book. One fact that suprised me was the lengths to which the church went to to discourage tournaments.

A much thicker book than I thought 253 pages. Full of teachings examples and comparisons todays society..... but when buying used be sure to look at a description of the condition. Because mine came full of a student's underlines and note drawings. Which is very annoying

At first the book is dry. But that only takes a page or two to get beyond and discover that most, if not all, of the questions that a person could ask related to the subject are covered in this brilliantly written resource. If you are a student of Chivalry, or have even a passing fancy, pick this up... it is indispensable.

Very good and thorough review of the topic. Helped with Brit Lit term paper

This book had some interesting points, but assumed a lot of prior knowledge in the topics. He often quoted other authors I haven't read up on, doing his own book a disservice. I had to buy it for a class, and we spent most of the time trying to expand upon the fairly dense topics that weren't properly fleshed out in the book.

Historically interesting with lessons that we in the modern day should appreciate and learn from.

When most of us think of chivalry, an image of an errant knight off to rescue a damsel in distress is usually the first thing that comes to mind. This is a romanticized image, of course, and, though not wholly inaccurate, does represent at least a part of the concept of chivalry. But there is so much more to it. In essence (according to Keen), chivalry was an entire value system that governed the lives of the whole noble class in medieval Europe. It focused around three main facets of life: war, noble standing, and religion. Keen does a wonderful job in this book of analyzing chivalry based on first-hand accounts--poems, literature, and chivalric handbooks from the high and late Middle Ages. His explanation of chivalry is detailed and thorough, and presents a number of arguments that most people would not consider when thinking about the chivalric code. The most obvious elements are treated--the tournament, the crusades, heraldry, etc--and many not so obvious subjects are given attention as well.Overall, this book is pretty well-written. It serves as a very valuable resource for any student of the Middle Ages, or as a good introduction to the practice of chivalry to the casual student.

Far from knights errant in shining armour, Keen shows the reality of the life of a medieval nobleman in the Middle Ages. His scholarship is first-rate as he explains the origins, purpose, pagentry and mythology surrounding the medieval social ideal. Very interesting and highly recommended.

as a university student having chivalry as a central theme. Maurice Keen has written a balanced book ,which combines teh institutional nature of the church and how external organisations affected the development of chivalry. Not to mention the secular nature of how chivalry came to be through myths and legends. for any student or reader who wants to learn about the ideology of knighthood, this book is a great overview and provides all the relevant information

unread but comprehensive & good reference book

A little dated in its writing style, but the definitive work on this topic.

I'm German, so this could have been tough (even though I'm studying English) - but it wasn't. It was quite easy to understand and, although it was a bit wishy-washy and dry at times, it was very useful to me. I was writing a paper on St. George and Chivalry, and this was an important work in my list of secondary literature.It contains the (secular) origins of chivalry, chivalric performances such as dubbing and tournaments, the code of knighthood with its values a.s.o - it's therefore a good compendium!

the best book on chivalry - no more to say than that!. It is the best book on the subject. a master piece by a master historian.