Chivalry
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What examples of chivalry are present in the stories of Lancelot, Gawain, and Galahad?
"Once men were equal, but when envy and covetousness came into the world and men began to triumph over right, it became necessary to appoint defenders for the weak against the strong, and they were called knights. They were the tall and the strong, and the fair and the nimble, and the loyal and the valiant and the bold. A man thus chosen had to be "merciful without wickedness, affable without treachery, compassionate towards the suffering, and openhanded. He must be ready to succor the needy and to confound the robbers and murderers, a just judge without favor or hate. He must prefer death to dishonor. He must protect the holy church for she cannot defend herself." (Gies 79)
In the days of King Arthur, the set rules for knights were called the Codes of Chivalry. There are many different opinions about the meaning of Chivalry, but the actual definition is "the system or practices of knighthood; the spirit or character of the ideal knight." (Webster's Dictionary 92) These codes were developed by Leon Gautier, a French scholar who devoted his life to the study of the literature of Chivalry...