Knighthood in the Middle Ages
As mostly anyone can tell, not much is recorded from history from back when writing was rare. However, much is understood about knights in the Middle Ages. For example, the excerpt of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, translated by Burton Raffel, portrays character enhancement by expressing how Gawain thinks and behaves in effort to show the general traits and beliefs of knights in the Middle Ages.
The most important thing to the knights in the Middle Ages was religion and their faith. They lived by the Medieval Code of Chivalry. Just like the Bible’s commandments are important to those who are religious, the Code of Chivalry were 10 commandments important to them. The most important one was the first commandment, …show more content…
As you probably guessed, another trait that a knight had to have was bravery and no fear. This can be found in the story when Gawain stands as still as he can while the Green Knight swings an ax at his neck (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 94). In other words, a fearful man is a dishonest man and as I mentioned before, dishonesty was unwelcome. A man full of fear could also be un-loyal at time. For example, if a man is afraid of anything, then he wouldn’t go and fight to protect his fellows knights, or even his king. While those who were fighting for their king, they were proving themselves to be worthy of being a part of the Round Table by showing they were true knights. He who would not fight, was not a true knight. Not being a true knight would mean you shouldn’t be at the Round Table. They believed being at the Round Table was a great honor, so that’s where a knight wanted to be.
There isn’t much about knights that we know, but there’s also so much that we do know. So much that it can be found in not only the excerpt of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but also in so many other stories, our history books, and even online. Not everything can be found in this paper that you’re reading, but you can easily pick up a world history book and learn more. Everything we’ve learned about their traits and beliefs is a lot to get the general idea of Knights and Knighthood in the Middle
As mostly anyone can tell, not much is recorded from history from back when writing was rare. However, much is understood about knights in the Middle Ages. For example, the excerpt of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, translated by Burton Raffel, portrays character enhancement by expressing how Gawain thinks and behaves in effort to show the general traits and beliefs of knights in the Middle Ages.
The most important thing to the knights in the Middle Ages was religion and their faith. They lived by the Medieval Code of Chivalry. Just like the Bible’s commandments are important to those who are religious, the Code of Chivalry were 10 commandments important to them. The most important one was the first commandment, …show more content…
As you probably guessed, another trait that a knight had to have was bravery and no fear. This can be found in the story when Gawain stands as still as he can while the Green Knight swings an ax at his neck (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 94). In other words, a fearful man is a dishonest man and as I mentioned before, dishonesty was unwelcome. A man full of fear could also be un-loyal at time. For example, if a man is afraid of anything, then he wouldn’t go and fight to protect his fellows knights, or even his king. While those who were fighting for their king, they were proving themselves to be worthy of being a part of the Round Table by showing they were true knights. He who would not fight, was not a true knight. Not being a true knight would mean you shouldn’t be at the Round Table. They believed being at the Round Table was a great honor, so that’s where a knight wanted to be.
There isn’t much about knights that we know, but there’s also so much that we do know. So much that it can be found in not only the excerpt of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but also in so many other stories, our history books, and even online. Not everything can be found in this paper that you’re reading, but you can easily pick up a world history book and learn more. Everything we’ve learned about their traits and beliefs is a lot to get the general idea of Knights and Knighthood in the Middle