60 MARRIAGE AND HEREDITY 



with quasi-divine or angelic qualities. The virginity 

 ideal of the Church had no place in the chivalric creed. 

 The cavalier indeed generally selected as the object 

 of his devotion a married woman, and the fact of the 

 lady having already a champion or a dozen champions 

 at her beck and call was no bar to the formation of 

 new ties of the same tender kind. Women who en- 

 joyed a reputation for beauty had knights in their 

 service by the score. On the other hand, plain women, 

 whose need of protection might be greater, were no 

 doubt neglected or overlooked. 



It was in the south of France, and chiefly in Pro- 

 vence, that the principles of chivalry found their 

 earliest and fullest development. In other parts of 

 France, and in Germany and England, feudality and 

 chivalry remained legally distinct. The possession 

 of feudal privileges was essential to knighthood in 

 the North ; it was only by royal favour that a 

 northern " villain " or commoner could be elevated to 

 knightly rank. But the cavaliers of Provence were 

 recruited from all ranks of society ; of 500 whose 

 names have been preserved not more than one-half 

 belonged to the feudal classes, many of them being 

 simple troubadours, extremely poor, and depending 

 for a livelihood upon their poetic faculty or the 



