A delicate and respectful gallantry, even in the days of Tacitus, marked the Gothic nations ; and was deem ed a necessary appendage, as it was almost always the proof of enterprise and valour. If the knights of chi valry, fur the sake of their favourite ladies, went in quest or adventures, and sought victory and renown in foreign lands, and in the midst of difficulty and clanger, so also did the Scandinavian heroes. The ode of Reg ner Lodbrof, so renowned in Scandinavian story, pre sents us with an instance of gallantry very similar to those which are found in the romances of chivalry, and which we know to have been inculcated by the spirit of that institution. A Swedish princess was forcibly de tained by one of her father's captains in an impregnable fortress. He that should rescue the lady, was promised by her father her hand in marriage. Regner undertook and succeeded in the enterprize, and obtained the lady. In the song of chivalry, written by Harold the Valiant, which as Warton justly observes, has the romantic air of a set of stanzas composed by a provincial Troubadour, he enumerates and describes all the different feats of va lour and enterprize, which he had performed for the pur pose of obtaining the favour of his mistress.
As respect for the female sex is one of the principal points of resemblance between the manners of the Scan dinavian nations and the institutions of chivalry, it may further be remarked, that, according to the testimony of Salvian, the Goths, when they became masters of the Roman provinces, not only abstained from violating the chastity of the women, but, by their example, and the serenity of their discipline, rendered the Romans them selves chaste. To protect the chastity of the women was one of the principal articles in the vow that was ta ken by a knight, when he was admitted into the order of chivalry.
There are still one or two other circumstances of in ferior importance, and of a detached nature, by means of which the manners of the Scandinavian tribes may be connected with the institutions and ceremonies of chivalry. When a knight entered on any engagement, to the per formance of which he bound himself by a solemn vow, he put chains sometimes on his arm, and sometimes on his foot, which he durst not remove till he had fulfilled his vow, or till he could transfer them to another knight, whom he had overcome in battle or single combat. 'Fa citus, in his account of the manners of the Germans, re lates that the Catti, a tribe of that nation, wore a ring, which they viewed as ignominious, and from which they could not be liberated, till they had distinguished them selves by the slaughter of an enemy.
In the History of Charles and Gryiner, Swedish kings, and of Hialmar, the son of Ilarci, King Tharmlancl, which evidently describes the manners of Scandinavia during the continuance of the Pagan religion, and in times preceding the tenth century, proposes to Grvmcr to enter into strict brotherly confederacy, which Was evidently of the same nature as those fraternities in arms which occur so frequently in the history of chivalry in France and England. Keysler, in his ?ntiquitates
Sentewrionales, informs us, that thc ceremonies used in entering into those fraternities were similar to those em ployed in the days of chivalry ; and the most singular and remarkable of those ceremonies, the admixture of the blood of those who were to compose the brotherhood, is described by Hcrodotus, as having been usual among thc Scythians, the ancestors of the Goths, on the same occasion.
It now remains to examine the manners and institu lions of Armorien, in order that we may be enabled to detect in them whatever traces they may exhibit of the features of chivalry. The name of Armorica is suppos ed to be of Celtic origin, and to signify the country near the sea ; for more than 800 years, under that appella tion, was comprehended all that part of France which is bounded by the Seine on the east, the Loire on the south, and the sea on the north and the west ; including there fore Brittany, the greatest part of Normandy, Alain, Perehe, and the northern part of Anjou and of Tourraine. In a more strict and limited sense, however, Armorica comprehended that province of France, which, from the end of the fourth century, was called Brittany.
The inhabitants of this part of France are of Celtic origin ; and, in comparing their manners and institutions with those of chivalry, we must therefore have recourse to what we know of the manners and institutions of the Celtic tribes in general, as well as of those of Armorica in particular.
Among the Celtic nations, as well as among those of eastern and northern origin, feats of arms were a regular and honourable employment. The Oryda of the IVelsh, like the knights of chivalry, rose to that rank through different degrees of honour, and were admitted into it by a ceremony very similar to that which was used in chi valry. They were taught the use of arms ; and, like the knights errant, were clothed in green. The gold chain, which has already been noticed in treating of the manners of the Scandinavian nations, was used by the Celtic knights,—but rather as an ornament, and for the purpose of bestowing it as the prize of valour, or the reward of minstrelsy, than as the badge of an unperform ed vow. An order of men, similar to the Scalds of the northern nations and the minstrels of chivalry, were edu cated among the Welsh and the other Celtic tribes, for the purpose of indulging the passions of the Oryda for public recitations in rhyme.