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CHIVALRY. 



the age of chivalry. Their strength is the same ; their 

 direction only is changed. Is it courage wliich has 

 departed ? The soldier, who steadily marches up to 

 the jaws of a battery, can hardly be considered less 

 brave than the knights of former days, who cased 

 tlieir bodies in steefto meet far less formidable means 

 of destruction. The late wars in Europe abound with 

 displays of valour, wluch may compete with any re- 

 corded in history or romance. In the battle of Dres- 

 den, the emperor Napoleon (as Oldeleben relates in 

 his account of Napoleon's campaign in Saxony), being 

 seated before the Pirna gate, and seeing the artiller- 

 ists in a redoubt shrink from serving the cannon, be- 

 cause the Prussian riflemen shot every man who pre- 

 sented himself, turned to his old guard, and said, 

 " Show them how Frenchmen behave in battle ;" 

 when some of the soldiers addressed immediately 

 sprang upon the redoubt, and marched up and down, 

 111 fullview of the enemy, till they were shot. Of 

 cliivalric self-sacrifice, we can hardly find a more 

 striking instance than that of a Prussian officer of the 

 corps of colonel Schill (q. v.), who when his comrades 

 were condemned to death at Wesel, by a French 

 court-martial, for a military expedition in contraven- 

 tion of the existing peace, refused the pardon which 

 was preferred to him alone by Napoleon, and prefer- 

 red to die with his fellow soldiers. Are we referred to 

 the enthusiastic self-devotion which crowded the 

 plains of Palestine with the thousands of European 

 chivalry, eager to shed their blood for the tomb of 

 their Saviour ? We say the same spirit in our days 

 has chosen a nobler direction : the adventurers who 

 expose themselves to every peril in the cause of sci- 

 ence and human improvement, the Humboldts, Clap- 

 pertons, Burckhardts, display equal heroism in a 

 worthier cause. We would not govern ourselves by 

 so narrow a theory of utility as to refuse to acknow- 

 ledge what was really great and sublime in the spirit 

 of chivalry, but we cannot admit that the virtues of 

 the chivalric age have vanished, because they now 

 appear with less show and gorgeousness. 



To explain the nature and origin of chivalry, we 

 must consider the character of thfe ancient German 

 tribes. The warlike spirit was common to them with 

 other barbarous nations ; but there were certain traits 

 in their character peculiarly their own. Among these 

 was their esteem for women. This is dwelt upon by 

 Tacitus, and is sufficiently apparent from the early 

 native German historians. This regard for the female 

 sex was diffused by them through every country into 

 which they spread, though with considerable differ- 

 ence in the forms in which it developed itself. In 

 France, it became that refined gallantry, for which 

 the nation has been so long conspicuous ; in Spain, 

 it assumed a more romantic and glowing character, 

 displaying much of the fire of Oriental feeling ; in 

 Germany itself, it became faithful and tender attach- 

 ment to the wedded wife. Undoubtedly the Chris- 

 tian religion assisted in developing this feeling of es- 

 teem for the female sex in those times, particularly 

 by the adoration of the Virgin, which was taught as 

 a part of it. The constant reverence of this deified 

 image of chastity and female purity must have had a 

 great effect. We do not conceive, however, that 

 the elevated condition of women can be referred 

 entirely to the Christian religion, as we see that it 

 has not produced this effect in the instance of na- 

 tions who have had no opportunity of imbibing the 

 Teutonic spirit; and many Asiatic nations recog- 

 nise that feature of this religion, to which we have 

 attributed so much efficacy, (namely the birth of the 

 being whom they worship from a virgin,) and yet 

 keep their wjomen in a very degraded condition. We 

 may be told, in answer to our claim of the peculiar 

 regard for the female as a characteristic of the Teu- 



tonic tribes, that women were held in high esteem 

 by the Romans. It is true that wives and mothers 

 were treated with great regard by the Romans, and 

 the history of no nation affords more numerous in- 

 stances of female nobleness ; but this esteem was 

 rendered to them, not as females, but as the faith- 

 ful companions and patriotic mothers of citizens. It 

 had somewhat of a political cast. But this was not 

 the case with the Germans. There is another trait 

 of the German character, which deserves to be con- 

 sidered in this connexion, which is very apparent 

 in their literature, and the lives of many individu- 

 als; we mean that indefinite thirst for something 

 superior to the realities of life, that sehnen, to use 

 their own word, which hardly admits of translation, 

 which has produced among them at the same time 

 so much excellence and so much extravagance. 

 These three traits of the Teutonic race, their warlike 

 spirit, then- esteem for women, and their indefinable 

 thirst for superhuman greatness, together with the 

 influence of the feudal system and of the Roman 

 Catholic religion, afford an explanation of the spirit 

 of chivalry an institution which, to many observers, 

 appears like an isolated point in history, and leaves 

 them in doubt whether to despise it as foolish, or 

 admire it as sublime. The feudal system divided the 

 Christian Teutonic tribes into masses, the members 

 of which were united, indeed, by some political ties, 

 but had little of that intimate connexion which bound 

 men together in the communities of antiquity, and 

 has produced like effects in our own and a few pre- 

 ceding ages. They still preserved, in a great mea- 

 sure, the independence of barbarians. There was. 

 however, one strong bond of union, which gave con- 

 sistency to the whole aggregate ; we mean the Ro- 

 man Catholic religion, which has lost much of its 

 connecting power, in proportion as other ties, chiefly 

 those of a common civilization, have gained strength. 

 The influence of this religion was of great service 

 to mankind during the ages of ignorance and violence, 

 by giving coherency to the links of the social chain, 

 which were continually in danger of parting. To 

 this cause is to be ascribed the great uniformity of 

 character which prevailed during the ages of chivalry. 

 The feudal system, besides, enabled the gentry to live 

 on the labours of the oppressed peasants, without the 

 necessity of providing for their own support, and to 

 indulge the love of adventures incident to their war- 

 like and ambitious character. If we now combine 

 the characteristics which we have been considering 

 a warlike spirit, a lofty devotion to the female sex, 

 an [indefinable thirst for glory, connected with feudal 

 independence, elevation above the drudgery of daily 

 toil, and a uniformity of character and purpose, in- 

 spired by the influence of a common religion we 

 obtain a tolerable view of the chivalric character. 

 This character had not yet quite developed itself in 

 the age of Charlemagne. The courage exhibited by 

 the warriors of his age was rather the courage of in- 

 dividuals in bodies. The independence, the individua- 

 lity of character, which distinguished the errant 

 knight who sought far and wide for adventures to be 

 achieved by his single arm, was the growth of a lat- 

 er period. The use of the war-horse, which formed 

 so essential an instrument of the son of chivalry, was 

 not common among the Germans until the tune of 

 their wars with the Huns. They were indeed ac- 

 quainted with it before, and Tacitus mentions it in 

 his account of Germany ; but it was not in common 

 use among them till the period we have mentioned. 

 After it was introduced, cavalry was considered 

 among them, as among all nations in the early stages 

 of their progress, much superior to infantry, which 

 was, in feet, despised, until the successes of the Swiss 

 demonstrated its superiority. In the eleventh century, 



