HISTORIAN EXPLORES THE DARK SIDE OF CHIVALRY

Richard Kaeuper, professor of history, noted the contradiction as he read and analyzed close to 20,000 pages of chivalric literature over the past 10 years.

Medieval writers glorified and justified gruesome, bloody killing--depending on the cause and the combatant.

In his new book, Chivalry and Violence in Medieval Europe (Clarendon Press, Oxford), Kaeuper examines northwestern Europe between the 12th and 15th centuries, describing a complex and evolving society that needed a system of keeping order. Alongside kingship and the Church, chivalry in theory established that order, he notes, but it was an aristocratic code of honor that legitimized violence in certain circumstances, including defense of the touchy honor of the knights.

As examples, Kaeuper notes that the upper classes of the feudal hierarchy had the right to use violence when insulted; knights believed the only way to restore their honor was through physical violence. The Church and the emerging State wanted to contain and direct violence, but on the other hand urged the knights to use all means possible to reclaim the Holy Lands from the Turks during the Crusades and to smite the king's enemies.

Still, the Middle Ages can't be viewed simply as either the "dark ages" or as a romanticized time of courtly manners. "Medieval society is neither," says Kaeuper. "It's a developing society confronting violence in an age of tremendous growth," reflected in literature that realistically describes the circumstances of the time while stating how things should be.

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