I look upon Chivalry, as on some mighty river, which the fablings of
the poets have made immortal. It may have sprung up amidst rude rocks,
and blind deserts. But the noise and rapidity of its course, the extent
of country it adorns, and the towns and palaces it ennobles, may lead a
traveller out of his way, and invite him to take a view of those dark
caverns,
unde supernè
Plurimus Eridani per sylvam volvitur amnis.
I enter, without more words, on the subject I began to open to you in
my last letter.
The old inhabitants of these North-West parts of _Europe_ were
extremely given to the love and exercise of arms. The feats of
CHARLEMAGNE and our ARTHUR, in particular, were so famous as in later
times, when books of Chivalry were composed, to afford a principal
subject to the writers of them[44].
But CHIVALRY, properly so called, and under the idea of “a distinct
military order, conferred in the way of investiture, and accompanied
with the solemnity of an oath and other ceremonies, as described in the
old historians and romancers,” was of later date, and seems to have
sprung immediately out of the FEUDAL CONSTITUTION.
The first and most sensible effect of this constitution, which brought
about so mighty a change in the policies of _Europe_, was the erection
of a prodigious number of petty tyrannies. For, though the great barons
were closely tied to the service of their Prince by the conditions of
their tenure, yet the power which was given them by it over their own
numerous vassals was so great, that, in effect, they all set up for
themselves; affected an independency; and were, in truth, a sort of
absolute Sovereigns, at least with regard to one another. Hence, their
mutual aims and interests often interfering, the feudal state was, in a
good degree, a state of war: the feudal chiefs were in frequent enmity
with each other: the several combinations of feudal tenants were so
many separate armies under their head or chief: and their castles were
so many fortresses, as well as palaces, of these puny princes.
In this state of things one sees, that all imaginable encouragement was
to be given to the use of arms, under every different form of attack
and defence, according as the safety of these different communities, or
the ambition of their leaders, might require. And this condition of the
times, I suppose, gave rise to that military institution, which we know
by the name of CHIVALRY.
Further, there being little or no security to be had amidst so many
restless spirits and the clashing views of a neighbouring numerous and
independent nobility, the military discipline of their followers, even
in the intervals of peace, was not to be relaxed, and their ardour
suffered to grow cool, by a total disuse of martial exercises. And
hence the proper origin of JUSTS and TURNAMENTS; those images of war,
which were kept up in the castles of the barons, and, by an useful
policy, converted into the amusement of the knights, when their arms
were employed on no serious occasion.
I call this the _proper origin_ of Justs and Turnaments; for the date
of them is carried no higher, as far as I can find, even in _France_
(where unquestionably they made their first appearance) than the
year 1066; which was not till after the introduction of the feudal
government into that country. Soon after, indeed, we find them in
_England_ and in _Germany_; but not till the feudal policy had spread
itself in those parts, and had prepared the way for them.
You see, then, my notion is, that Chivalry was no absurd and freakish
institution, but the natural and even sober effect of the feudal
policy; whose turbulent genius breathed nothing but war, and was fierce
and military even in its amusements.
I leave you to revolve this idea in your own mind. You will find, I
believe, a reasonable foundation for it in the history of the feudal
times, and in the spirit of the feudal government.