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The Knight and Chivalry
The concept of chivalry is one of the central ideas of the medieval world, linking the practicalities of warfare to the highest levels of literary and religious idealism. One of the most elusive aspects of chivalry is its relationship with Christian belief, and this study draws parallels between the two, showing how, from the Church's changing attitude to war as reflected in the Crusades, the military orders emerged: Templars, Hospitallers and others - religious chivalry in action. The book also discusses how chivalry played its part in the realm of politics, the ideals of chivalry being clearly seen in the secular orders of knighthood founded by the princes of Western Europe, binding their allies to them with patronage and reward. First published in 1970, the book has been extensively revised to take account of research during the last 25 years.
424 pages, Paperback
First published September 7, 1970
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138 people want to read
About the author
Richard Barber
163 books31 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Richard William Barber is a prominent British historian who has been writing and publishing in the field of medieval history and literature ever since his student days. He has specialised in the Arthurian legend, beginning with a general survey, Arthur of Albion, in 1961, which is still in print in a revised edition. His other major interest is historical biography; he has published on Henry Plantagenet (1964) and among his other books is the standard biography of Edward the Black Prince, Edward Prince of Wales and Aquitaine. The interplay between history and literature was the theme of The Knight and Chivalry, for which he won the Somerset Maugham Prize in 1971 and he returned to this in The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief (2004); this was widely praised in the UK press, and had major reviews in The New York Times and The Washington Post.
His other career has been as a publisher. In 1969 he helped to found The Boydell Press, which later became Boydell & Brewer Ltd, one of the leading publishers in medieval studies, and he is currently group managing director. In 1989, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, in association with the University of Rochester, started the University of Rochester Press in upstate New York. The group currently publishes over 200 titles a year.
Richard William Barber is a prominent British historian who has been writing and publishing in the field of medieval history and literature ever since his student days. He has specialised in the Arthurian legend, beginning with a general survey, Arthur of Albion, in 1961, which is still in print in a revised edition. His other major interest is historical biography; he has published on Henry Plantagenet (1964) and among his other books is the standard biography of Edward the Black Prince, Edward Prince of Wales and Aquitaine. The interplay between history and literature was the theme of The Knight and Chivalry, for which he won the Somerset Maugham Prize in 1971 and he returned to this in The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief (2004); this was widely praised in the UK press, and had major reviews in The New York Times and The Washington Post.
His other career has been as a publisher. In 1969 he helped to found The Boydell Press, which later became Boydell & Brewer Ltd, one of the leading publishers in medieval studies, and he is currently group managing director. In 1989, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, in association with the University of Rochester, started the University of Rochester Press in upstate New York. The group currently publishes over 200 titles a year.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 5, 2025
British historian Richard Barber's account of knights in the chivalric age was published in 1970, yet the lovely truth about histories of this sort is that they are not time-sensitive. What matters most is the attack of the subject and the depth of the author's passion to comprehend. That Barber is completely fascinated by the medieval knight can be discerned on the very first page, and the lengths to which he will go in his effort to understand that life - not simply the profession but the life - is a wonder to behold.
I loved this book. While I have read more comprehensive studies of the quasi-religious military orders, I've yet to come across a more detailed account of what knighthood entailed; why a man chose it, what he might expect from it season to season; the accoutrements, the expenses, the skills and abilities required; the very rules of it all are here.
Part One lays the foundation of "the feudal warrior," and sketches his placement on the cultural canvas. Part Two pulls chivalry into the mix and is accompanied by an exploration of the literature that served in many ways to drive it. Part Three blends the man to the mission with a close look at tournaments from two angles - that of sport and that of politics. Part Four addresses chivalry and religion. (Here the Crusades begin to come into play.) Lastly, Part Five, examines chivalry and the state; what knights meant to monarchs, the secular orders, the scattered revivals of chivalry and the critics of its worth. There's genuine substance here, which I always appreciate, and a host of those oh-so-clever tangents that buttress a reader's enthusiasm:
As the dangers of the tournament decreased, it became a kind of substitute for real war, given the right circumstances. This was particularly true of the Hundred Years' War. When a truce or even a lull in the fighting occurred, there was often a tournament or pas d'armes to occupy the interval, whose sole object was to continue the war in another guise. We have already described the jousts at St. Inglevert; but the origins of the convention are much older. It can be traced back to episodes such as the famous Little Battle of Chalons in 1274, when Edward I challenged a hostile count to a tournament. In the course of it he himself fought a joust with the count, who, finding that Edward was getting the better of him, tried to drag him off his horse by clasping him round the body, which was a flagrant breach of the accepted rules. At this a riot developed...
It's a marvelous history for those intrigued with the age...and, quite frankly, if your plan is to write a multi-volume medieval fantasy, I don't know how you'd get a good one done without this.
I loved this book. While I have read more comprehensive studies of the quasi-religious military orders, I've yet to come across a more detailed account of what knighthood entailed; why a man chose it, what he might expect from it season to season; the accoutrements, the expenses, the skills and abilities required; the very rules of it all are here.
Part One lays the foundation of "the feudal warrior," and sketches his placement on the cultural canvas. Part Two pulls chivalry into the mix and is accompanied by an exploration of the literature that served in many ways to drive it. Part Three blends the man to the mission with a close look at tournaments from two angles - that of sport and that of politics. Part Four addresses chivalry and religion. (Here the Crusades begin to come into play.) Lastly, Part Five, examines chivalry and the state; what knights meant to monarchs, the secular orders, the scattered revivals of chivalry and the critics of its worth. There's genuine substance here, which I always appreciate, and a host of those oh-so-clever tangents that buttress a reader's enthusiasm:
As the dangers of the tournament decreased, it became a kind of substitute for real war, given the right circumstances. This was particularly true of the Hundred Years' War. When a truce or even a lull in the fighting occurred, there was often a tournament or pas d'armes to occupy the interval, whose sole object was to continue the war in another guise. We have already described the jousts at St. Inglevert; but the origins of the convention are much older. It can be traced back to episodes such as the famous Little Battle of Chalons in 1274, when Edward I challenged a hostile count to a tournament. In the course of it he himself fought a joust with the count, who, finding that Edward was getting the better of him, tried to drag him off his horse by clasping him round the body, which was a flagrant breach of the accepted rules. At this a riot developed...
It's a marvelous history for those intrigued with the age...and, quite frankly, if your plan is to write a multi-volume medieval fantasy, I don't know how you'd get a good one done without this.
September 14, 2021
As it turns out, I am writing this review about a month after finishing this book, so this will not be the most comprehensive review I have ever written. That being said, The Knight and Chivalry by Richard Barber did make a strong impression on me while reading it, for both good and bad reasons.
On the positive side, I appreciated the depth of the author’s knowledge and the way the book confronts a very mythologized subject with a straightforward approach intent on discussing real historical and literary evidence. I enjoyed how Barber traced the development of the knightly class and how it evolved over time. The three chapters tracing the histories of the military orders (the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller, and the Teutonic Knights) were particularly interesting to me because I had never read seriously about them before. There is also a very interesting chapter on the role of tournaments. I've included an excerpt from this chapter below:
When discussing chivalry, Barber’s main source of information is poetry: the chansons de geste and their successors. After initially reading about the origins of knighthood, I was rather unprepared for the text to become an analysis of medieval poetry. I actually found Barber’s discussions of this poetry more interesting than I thought I would. At the same time, I often felt lost, having come into this book with no prior knowledge of either the poetry or the jargon of chivalry. Incidentally, this survey of medieval poetry gave me some insight into Wagner's operas from the 19th century as well as some of Tolkien’s writing.
While I enjoyed Barber’s literary criticism of chivalry, I was unsatisfied by how he relegated the entire discussion of chivalry to the chansons de geste as opposed to its actual practice in reality. In fact, Barber seemed to use the three military orders of knighthood as evidence that the real application of chivalry was incompatible with who knights actually were, as though there were no other knights besides those in the three orders. To me, this argument was over-simplifying matters, as it was ignoring the existence of secular knights.
One of the other aspects of the book which could have been improved in my opinion was its organization. It felt more like a series of in-depth essays or articles on different but closely related subjects rather than a cohesive entity. Another aspect which could be troublesome for readers is the degree to which Barber presupposes the reader’s knowledge on general medieval history. My final critique is that the book, unsurprisingly, focuses mostly on Western European nations, with a particular focus on England at times.
Overall, Richard Barber’s The Knight and Chivalry is an in-depth study of these two important aspects of Medieval Europe. Although academic in tone and detail, it is still accessible to those who possess only a basic knowledge of this time period. It has certainly given me a much more sophisticated understanding of knighthood in terms of both its ideals and its reality.
On the positive side, I appreciated the depth of the author’s knowledge and the way the book confronts a very mythologized subject with a straightforward approach intent on discussing real historical and literary evidence. I enjoyed how Barber traced the development of the knightly class and how it evolved over time. The three chapters tracing the histories of the military orders (the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller, and the Teutonic Knights) were particularly interesting to me because I had never read seriously about them before. There is also a very interesting chapter on the role of tournaments. I've included an excerpt from this chapter below:
When discussing chivalry, Barber’s main source of information is poetry: the chansons de geste and their successors. After initially reading about the origins of knighthood, I was rather unprepared for the text to become an analysis of medieval poetry. I actually found Barber’s discussions of this poetry more interesting than I thought I would. At the same time, I often felt lost, having come into this book with no prior knowledge of either the poetry or the jargon of chivalry. Incidentally, this survey of medieval poetry gave me some insight into Wagner's operas from the 19th century as well as some of Tolkien’s writing.
While I enjoyed Barber’s literary criticism of chivalry, I was unsatisfied by how he relegated the entire discussion of chivalry to the chansons de geste as opposed to its actual practice in reality. In fact, Barber seemed to use the three military orders of knighthood as evidence that the real application of chivalry was incompatible with who knights actually were, as though there were no other knights besides those in the three orders. To me, this argument was over-simplifying matters, as it was ignoring the existence of secular knights.
One of the other aspects of the book which could have been improved in my opinion was its organization. It felt more like a series of in-depth essays or articles on different but closely related subjects rather than a cohesive entity. Another aspect which could be troublesome for readers is the degree to which Barber presupposes the reader’s knowledge on general medieval history. My final critique is that the book, unsurprisingly, focuses mostly on Western European nations, with a particular focus on England at times.
Overall, Richard Barber’s The Knight and Chivalry is an in-depth study of these two important aspects of Medieval Europe. Although academic in tone and detail, it is still accessible to those who possess only a basic knowledge of this time period. It has certainly given me a much more sophisticated understanding of knighthood in terms of both its ideals and its reality.
October 30, 2013
I found this book to be a fascinating history about where the concept of chivalry came from, and how it changed overtime. To discover how jousting tournaments and later on, duels were influenced by chivalry, made the section on tournaments more engaging. I enjoyed learning about what it meant to be a chivalric knight.
The reference to popular stories from that period are an excellent resource for literature to read for those interested in stories of chivalry.
There was also some interesting sections on the Templar Knights, Tuetonic Knights, and Spanish Orders with their codes of conduct. There is a brief overview of each group's history. It was interesting to read how chivalry influenced the behavior of these groups.
Barber provides an engaging combination of the history of chivalry, and the perspective people held about it. I would recommend this book to people who are interested in medieval history, and those interested in learning about knights. It was a well researched book, and the material was presented in a clear manner.
The reference to popular stories from that period are an excellent resource for literature to read for those interested in stories of chivalry.
There was also some interesting sections on the Templar Knights, Tuetonic Knights, and Spanish Orders with their codes of conduct. There is a brief overview of each group's history. It was interesting to read how chivalry influenced the behavior of these groups.
Barber provides an engaging combination of the history of chivalry, and the perspective people held about it. I would recommend this book to people who are interested in medieval history, and those interested in learning about knights. It was a well researched book, and the material was presented in a clear manner.
Read
July 20, 2022Read as a past winner of the Somerset-Maugham Prize, and as such this is an impressive achievement for an author who was only 29-30 at the time it was published. I say this as it's layers of literary and historical reading suggest a lifetime of scholarship.
I was largely uninitiated on Medieval courtly life, with my one point of reference 'Don Quixote' (of course). Reading Barber I can now better understand the context behind Cervantes's reputed masterpiece (I gave it 3/5, but recognise that familiarity with the in-jokes would probably have helped). Barber's survey helps chart the transition from mounted warrior to 'knight' from <1100>, and the impulses behind the formation of a distinct social and moral cadre in society. Spain is actually shown as an exception where the availability of horses allows an easier self-election into knighthood (cf. Quixote), as contrasting with the enoblement of British, French and German class distinctions.
The detail can seem extraneous in the telling, but Barber has exemplary clarity in summing up each chapter, which moves the reader forward at each stage. It becomes clear how the degeneration of knighthood can be linked to the formalisation of the European nation state, and associated professionalisation of armies. The foregoing fiascos on various crusades and even jousts exemplified how personal heroism often sat badly at odds with the likelihood of victory. Valour-vanity didn't disappear with the chivalric orders (cf Tennyson, or the war poets), but Barber is good on explaining why knighthood sunk away to only leave a tide mark of fantasy fiction.
I was largely uninitiated on Medieval courtly life, with my one point of reference 'Don Quixote' (of course). Reading Barber I can now better understand the context behind Cervantes's reputed masterpiece (I gave it 3/5, but recognise that familiarity with the in-jokes would probably have helped). Barber's survey helps chart the transition from mounted warrior to 'knight' from <1100>, and the impulses behind the formation of a distinct social and moral cadre in society. Spain is actually shown as an exception where the availability of horses allows an easier self-election into knighthood (cf. Quixote), as contrasting with the enoblement of British, French and German class distinctions.
The detail can seem extraneous in the telling, but Barber has exemplary clarity in summing up each chapter, which moves the reader forward at each stage. It becomes clear how the degeneration of knighthood can be linked to the formalisation of the European nation state, and associated professionalisation of armies. The foregoing fiascos on various crusades and even jousts exemplified how personal heroism often sat badly at odds with the likelihood of victory. Valour-vanity didn't disappear with the chivalric orders (cf Tennyson, or the war poets), but Barber is good on explaining why knighthood sunk away to only leave a tide mark of fantasy fiction.
February 23, 2025
Read this for my dissertation. Very interesting if a big outdated in some regards...
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews