It’s a basically a moral system to create heroism on and off the battlefield. While off the battlefield all of that aggression is put to the curb while still maintaining the respect and courtly manners – especially to women to show good faith that whenever dire times arrive he is dependable, not out of convenience but out of trust. If taken hostage they would be treated respectfully and ransomed. Knights were expected to fight, bravely, in combat. The knights of Europe wanted to step toward that behavior and try to embrace those romanticized songs. It goes back to the old romanticized story of a warrior (in this case a knight) goes through Hell and back to rescue a maiden in danger. If I had to describe Chivalry in one word I would choose Valiant. You weren’t supposed to abuse power but some Kings and Shogun did, Knights and samurai weren’t supposed to betray their lords but some did. With their codes they wouldn’t lose their humanity while doing their job. It was about maintaining honor and respect while enacting vicious and violent acts for the state. They were sworn by a medieval warrior code – the knights followed Chivalry and the samurai followed Bushido – one emphasized bravery while the other emphasized loyalty. These samurai and knights were sworn to fight for their regional lords, collect taxes and protect the people. The warrior classes were in between the landowners and the peasants. Duke’s and Daimyo ruled most of the land but they answered to the King/Emperor or Shogun, the high ruler who gave them their land and title. Between the 5th – 15th century they both came up with a similar feudal system and knightly code. Medieval Japan and Europe are two interesting social experiments. This is about the samurai and their code of Bushido and the Chivalry of the knights of Europe’s. A concept of a new structure to society with kings, knights and a committed code of valor and loyalty. Imagine the possibility of two people who don’t know of each others existence, who live on the other side of the planet and come up with the same original idea.
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