CHIVALRY. 



CKvulrr. 



ibcotifia 



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ihr subject, in grater or let* degree, of almost every 

 writer, during the period tt which it flourished, it might 

 have born naturally imagined, would have been described, 

 and could therefore have been detected in it* infancy. 

 This, however, ii not the ca*e. Almost every distin- 

 fuitiiasg feature of it may indeed be found in the man- 

 Men and inttitutions of different nations, and at very 

 early period* ; but chivalry, " properly so called, and 

 nder the idea of a distinct military order, conferred in 

 the way of investiture, and accompanied with the so- 

 lemnity of an oath, as deicribcd in the old historians and 

 romancers;" is not distinctly mentioned till it evidently 

 had attained its full form, and taken deep and extensive 

 root in almost every part of Europe. 



ID this obscurity and uncertainty of historical record, 

 several theories have been advanced, to account for the 

 origin of chivalry, and to fix the period, and the nation, 

 to which it owes its birth, or at least its full maturity. 

 Warburtou, in the Supplement to Jan-is' Preface to his 

 translation of Dun Quixotic, and in his final note to 

 Love'* Labour Lost, advances and maintains the hy- 

 pothesis, which had been previously thrown out by Ve- 

 lasquez, in his History of Spanish Poetry, that romance 

 rhime, and knighthood, eliminated with the Arabians, 

 and through them were introduced, first into Spain, and 

 afterwards intu France and the rest of Europe. Mallet, 

 in his I*troduilir>n to the History of Denmark, some- 

 times directly maintains the > pinion, and in other parts 

 of his work, throws out hints, which lead to the same 

 conclusion that chivalry originated with the Scandina- 

 vians. Percy, in his Krliqiii-t of Ancient Poetry, and 

 Pinkerton, in his Dissertation on the Goths an t Scythians, 

 mould into a regular and complete hypothesis the opi- 

 aion of Mallet ; the farmer supporting it with much in- 

 genuity and learning ; the latter, in his accustomed man- 

 ner, with dogmatic authority. War-ton, in the first Din- 

 ttrtation prefixed to his History if English Poetry ; and 

 occasionally and incidentally in the third section of the 

 Hittory, offers a modification, or rather an admixture of 

 the hyp thesis of Warburton and Mallet, tracing chi- 

 valry original y to the East, but deriving it from that 

 quarter, partly through the medium of the Arabians, on 

 thrir c'-nquest of Spain, and partly through Odin and 

 his followers, when they emigrated from Asia to the 

 north of Europe. Herder, also, in his Outlines of a 

 Philosophy if the History of Man, unkts and adopts the 

 two hypotheses, and ascribes the life and body which 

 was gives to chivalry, as ari-ing from a concurrence of 

 causes, proceeding from " two extremities of the earth," 

 from Arabia through Spain, and from the Normans on 

 their settlement in France. Lastly, a very learned and 

 ingenious writer in thr Monthly Magazine for February 

 1800, rejecting all the former liyjxjtliei.es, considers 

 Annorica, and the connected provinces of Britain, as the 

 countries which gave " the very decisive impulse to the 

 character of modern civilization," by the introduction of 

 romance, rhime, and knight 1 . <> ,1. 



In order that the respective merits of these different 

 Irypotheies may be examined with due candour, and up- 

 n sufficient ground, it will be proper to collect and ar- 

 range the traces of chivalry, which are to be found in 

 the nistory of the different countries, from which each 

 wypothesis derives its origin. Thus the whole weight 

 and h-anng of authority will be given to the opinions of 

 the writers we have named j and after an attentive and 

 comparative examination, we may be enabled to decide 

 on their respective merits, and probably to throw a new 

 and additional light on this important but obscure sub- 

 ject. Many of the traces of chivalry, which we shall 



notice and illustrate, have not been even incidentally al- Cbivtky. 

 luded to, by the authors, whose opinions they confirm ; '""V 1 * 

 in this respect, therefore, the plan we propose to follow 

 will be useful ; while to those who are anxious to in- 

 vestigate the manners of different and distant nations, and 

 by detecting similar opinions and usages among them, 

 to prove their affinity, the enquiry will be interesting 

 and important. 



'Before entering on this part of the subject, it may be 

 useful to rrcal to our recollection, wh.it are the distin- 

 guishing features of chivalry ; viz. a romantic spirit of 

 adventure, and love of arms ; courtesy of manners j the 

 point of honour; and a devoted and respectful attach- 

 ment to the female sex. There are subordinate points, 

 which naturally spring from this pervading spirit ; such 

 as a love of the show of war in times of peace, by 

 means of tournaments ; a strong and zealous attachment 

 among those who professed chivalry ; and the principal 

 and distinguishing ceremonies by which the privileges of 

 knighthood were conferred, and its duties rendered obli- 

 gatory. 



If we examine into the traces of chivalry, in the East, Traces ef 

 in order to appreciate what degree of plausibility is due chivalry i* 

 to the hypothesis of Warburton, the first circumstance ''" ""' 

 which strikes us, is the frequent mention and descrip- 

 tion in the poems and romances of the Arabians and Per- 

 sians, particularly in the Shah Name, of single combats. 

 The persons who engaged in them, like the heroes of 

 chivalry, were armed with complete coats of mail : they 

 had plumed helmets, spears, swords, maces, and shields, 

 and even the dagger, such a principal instrument in all 

 single combats among the knights of chivalry. With 

 respect to their armour, there was only one point i 

 which they differed : the bow and arrow was never 

 used by European knights, they being confined to the 

 infantry ; whereas the Asiatic champions, in addition to 

 the arms already mentioned, had also these weapons. 

 One combat is particularly mentioned by Persian wri- 

 ters, between twelve warriors of Persia and twelve of 

 Tartary ; and one of the Persian warriors seems, from 

 his name, to have been a knight errant, as he was know* 

 by the appellation of Reym K/iah, one who goes in 

 search of adventures. I)r Herbelot, also, in his Biklin- 

 thi'i/uf Orienlale, under the article Balthal, explains it 

 to mean a brave and valiant man, who went in search 

 of adventures, in the same manner as the knight errant* 

 of the ancient romances. 



In another respect, these combats in the East were 

 very similar to those which formed the glory and prin- 

 cipal employment of the knights of chivalry. The East- 

 ern heroes used great precautions to secure themselves 

 from spells and enchantments ; and in the West, before 

 the combat began, the champion took an oath, not ta 

 carry about him any herb, spell, or enchantment, by 

 which he might procure victory. 



On this point of resemblance, Warburton has offer- 

 ed a remark in his final note to Love't Labour Lost, 

 which pc i hap* ought to be considered, ratlur, however, 

 out of respect to that author's character for learning, 

 than on account of its relevancy and solidity. Of the 

 other illustrations and proofs winch he has brought tor-, 

 ward in support of hiH hypothi sis of the Eastern origin 

 of romance and chivalry, Mr Tyrwhitt has given a full 

 and satisfactory refutation; the one we are about to cite 

 and consider, has escaped the notice and ca>tij;atioii of 

 that acute writer. " Chivalry, (cay* Warburton), with- 

 out a Saracen, was so very lame and imperfect ;i thing, 

 that even the wooden image wh'ch turned round on an 

 axis and served the knighia to try their sword*, and 



