In popular imagination few phenomena are as strongly associated with medieval society as knighthood and chivalry. At the same time, and due to a long tradition of differing national perspectives and ideological assumptions, few phenomena have continued to be the object of so much academic debate. In this volume leading scholars explore various aspects of knightly identity, taking into account both commonalities and particularities across Western Europe. Knighthood and Society in the High Middle Ages addresses how, between the eleventh and the early thirteenth centuries, knighthood evolved from a set of skills and a lifestyle that was typical of an emerging elite habitus, into the basis of a consciously expressed and idealised chivalric code of conduct. Chivalry, then, appears in this volume as the result of a process of noble identity formation, in which some five key factors are distinguished: knightly practices, lineage, crusading memories, gender roles, and chivalric didactics.

David Crouch is former Professor of Medieval History at the University of Hull and a Fellow of the British Academy.

Jeroen Deploige is Professor of Medieval History at Ghent University and member of the Belgian Royal Historical Commission.

Table des matières :

Acknowledgements 
David Crouch and Jeroen Deploige, Taking the Field: Knighthood and Society in the High Middle Ages 

Part I—Noble Warriors, Warring Nobles

Dominique Barthélemy, Chivalry in Feudal Society According to French Evidence
Jörg Peltzer, Knighthood in the Empire
Eljas Oksanen, Knights, Mercenaries and Paid Soldiers: Military Identities in the Anglo-Norman Regnum

Part II—Knighthood and Lineage 

Sara McDougall, The Chivalric Family 
Jean-François Nieus, Sigard’s Belt: The Family of Chocques and the Borders of Knighthood (ca. 980‒1100)

Part III—Martial Ideals in Crusading Memories

John D. Hosler, Knightly Ideals at the Siege of Acre, 1189‒1191
Nicholas L. PaulWriting the Knight, Staging the Crusader : Manasses of Hierges and the Monks of Brogne

Part IV—Women in Chivalric Representations

Louise J. Wilkinson, The Chivalric Woman
Nicolas Ruffini-Ronzani, The Knight, the Lady, and the Poet : Understanding Huon of Oisy’s Tournoiement des Dames (ca. 1185‒1189)

Part V—Didactics of Chivalry

Claudia Wittig, Teaching Chivalry in the Empire (ca. 1150‒1250)
David Crouch, When Was Chivalry? Evolution of a Code
Notes on Contributors
Index 

Informations pratiques :

Knighthood and Society in the High Middle Ages, dir. David Crouch et Jeroen Deploige, Leuven, Leuven University Press / Cornell University Press, 2020. 330 p. ISBN : 9789461662750. Prix : 45 euros.

Source : Leuven University Press