The historical definition of chivalry would imply a summation of all Knights, Noblemen, and horsemen in Medieval times. Upon breaking down the old French origin of the word, “chivalry,” boils down to two French words, “chevalier” and “cheval,” which mean “knight” and “horse” in English respectively. In the past, this is all the word would imply. However, time has evolved humans’ perception of the word and changed its meaning accordingly.
In old French, the word “chivalry” might create the image in one’s mind likely to be recognized by most today as a “knight in shining armor.” This particular image expanded and evolved even further throughout feudal Europe in the 10th century. Mass amounts of violence plagued the Frankish Kingdoms at the time. Villages were filled with conflict: robbery, rape, assault, and murder. Feudal Knights entered these villages on their horses with good intentions to help innocent bystanders and facilitate more peace. To the innocent bystanders, these knights were their “knights in shining armor.” But not only that, it was so much more to them, these knights defined bravery, nobility, etc. The original concept implied these knights that helped protect civilians throughout their kingdoms; however, the idea quickly became a social elite standard. Peasants and all non-nobility did know or care to use chivalry.
Chivalries is the plural noun meaning courteous behavior, especially that of a man toward women. In modern times the term chivalry has been conflated with gentlemanly. The current idea of chivalry is the result of Sir Walter Scott, whose novels painted the picture of romantic knights during the middle ages. In the novels, the knights were described as honorous, courageous, and courteous to the “weaker sex”. This description has molded the modern concept of chivalry from a code of honor for knights to be courteous to women.
Chivalry was demonstrated mostly in medieval Europe. Other cultures and empires had very similar concepts for their soldiers and civilians to live by. The concept of rules setting a precedent for society is known as the Code of Conduct.
Japan’s code of conduct is known as Bushido, it was a code of morals for samurai. Similarities between these two concepts are evident when seeing the periods both took effect in. Bushido was created during feudal Japan to lead their samurai down a morally right path. However, Bushido isn't stemmed from religion, it is based heavily on Confucianism and Buddhism. The codes are written very differently due to the 10 commandments of chivalry being aimed toward very religious and socially elite people. Bushido was aimed at the samurai only and was used as a very sacred set of rules that had no religious connection. Even the 8 principles of bushido are very similar to the 10 commandments of Chivalry, both hold their loyalty and honor to the highest degree. The code was created in 749 and was used amongst the samurai it’ll 1945.
The catholic church created the concept of chivalry and it is apparent that it influenced the chivalry code of conduct. The major parallelism begins with the codes of conduct and rules they lived by. The ten commandments are a code of conduct for Judaism and Christianity providing a code for worshiping and morals. The 8th commandment of chivalry states - Thou shalt never lie, and shalt remain faithful to thy pledged word - this commandment is extremely comparable to the 9th commandment of the bible. These commandments order you to not lie to others and keep your word when promising, these rules are major cornerstones in the codes of conduct. Unlike the code of chivalry and bushido, the 10 commandments were made primarily for the common person. The religious commandments are simple to follow allowing millions of worshippers to follow these commandments.
In modern times chivalry has been perceived in a variety of ways by pop culture. The act of chivalry has been used in many tropes in films, animations, and literature. Three significant tropes are commonly used throughout our media. The first sub-category I will be addressing is Mook Chivalry, this form of chivalry is characterized through the way of combat. Mook chivalry follows a few guidelines such as no retreating, announcing a duel, and ganging up is dishonorable. These guidelines seem very abstract and unrealistic but, it's been portrayed throughout the media. For example, in Kill Bill Vol. 1, the Bride faces off against the crazy 88, during this battle the eighty-eight enemies only attack one at a time. Even though they have an advantage in numbers, they abide by their code and wait for their allies to die before attacking. The enemies proceed to attack the bride even though they stand no chance this exemplifies their no retreating moral. The main character is outnumbered but in the face of danger, she asks who will go first. The crazy 88 begin attacking one at a time showing their honor and respect towards the chival code.
The second sub-category that will be addressed is Chivalrous Pervert, which is characterized as a very women-obsessed knight who is willing to die for the protection of a woman. The chivalrous pervert is a very rule-abiding man who will go to extreme lengths to protect women but is extremely hypersexual towards them. A character who is portrayed like this is Sanji, from the manga One Piece. Sanji’s character is a hyperbole of perverted chivalry, when Sanji sees women he immediately has heart eyes, nose bleeds and in extreme cases turns to stone. The difference between him and a pervert is his morals on harming women. During the Enies Lobby arc, Sanji was defeated by a much weaker woman due to his morals. There have been many cases in the manga where Sanji is willing to die before harming a woman.
In conclusion, chivalry has devolved from its social standard for knights and has evolved into a common courtesy for people. Chivalry is still being portrayed throughout a multitude of media while also sharing a variety of similarities with other cultures and religions. Chivalry as a concept is rarely seen in society but will continue to be portrayed throughout literature and films.