| Courtesy To be courteous means to behave as if one were at court, to be courtly. This was an ideal to be better than was usual with knights. In the beginning, it had nothing whatever to do with behavior toward ladies or with what we call manners. Originally, courtesy meant the special consideration one knight showed to another. For example, a knight should always give his noble opponent an even chance, never attacking one who was unarmed. If you defeat a knight, you don't kill him; rather, you release him on his parole, his sworn word, with a promise to pay a ransom. This practice enabled many a knight errant to earn his keep at tournaments. The courteous knight honored brave opponents, recognizing prowess and courage. If a knight captured a great lord, he was expected to treat the man according to his rank. When the English captured King Jean at the Battle of Poitiers, they put him up in fine London quarters, allowed him to attend court functions, and permitted French visitors. That was courteous. Only later, from the 12th century on, courtesy was extended to the ladies and was expanded to the ethic of courtly love. We often use the word chivalry to mean only this, but the word chivalry is merely the French word for "knight" or "knighthood" and embraces all the qualities of that rank. Still later, the impulse of courtly love led to acquisition of the gentle arts, such as singing, dancing and poetry. By the late Middle Ages, we begin to see the transformation of the European aristocracy from knights to gentlemen; that is, a shift from an emphasis on warfare and its attendant skills and virtues, to an emphasis on peaceful pursuits. |