Chivalry, properly so called, as has been already ob served, cannot be traced further back than the eleventh century. In the beginning of that century, the rudi ments of the laws of chivalry may he found in the deci sions of the famous Council of Clermont. About the year 1025, several prelates, and particularly the Arch bishop of Bourges, drew up a set of laws for the main tenance of order, and the protection of the weak ; which were afterwards submitted to, and confirmed by, the Council of Clermont. These laws every person of noble birth, when he had attained the age of twelve yearn, was obliged to submit himself to, by swearing to their obser vance before the bishop of his diocese. By the oath which he then took, he hound himself to defend and pro tect the oppressed, the widows, and orphans : to take under his especial care married and unmarried women of noble birth ; and to use his utmost endeavours to render travelling safe, and to destroy tyranny. Hence arose, as Boullainvilliers observes, in his History of the Ancient Government of France, the order and the laws of chival ry, and the honour attached to the name of knight. That the laws established by the Council of Clermont formed the rudiments of those laws, to which every per son submitted himself when he became a knight, is suffi ciently evident from the summary of the latter, which is given in the work entitled, Ordre de Chevalerie, as quo ted by Monsieur de Sainte Palaye, Office de chevalier est de nzaintenir femme*, veuves, ct orphelins, et homnzes mi 8aise.y et non fluissans.
Spain and France appear to have been the countries in which chivalry was first regularly formed into a sys tem, and where it flourished in its greatest splendour, magnificence, and purity. The natural character of the Spanish nation ; the necessity in which they were placed of exercising constant activity and enterprize, to secure themselves from their infidel invaders ; and the frequent opportunities and occasions for protecting and avenging the weak and defenceless, to which the state of their country for many centuries gave birth ; all conspired to the early establishment of chivalry among them. In France, the magnificence in which the barons lived, the pervading influence of the feudal system, which then was on a most sumptuous, extensive, and lasting foot ing ; and the regular institution of schools in the castles of the nobility, for initiating their youth into the rules and practices of chivalry, contributed to the same ef fect.
Germany, also, was an early seat of chivalry, and produced many knights, who practised it with the great est zeal, and in its utmost strictness and purity. In England, it was rather of later birth and slower growth; nor till the intercourse between this country and France became familiar and frequent, were the English knights of great celebrity.
We shall now proceed to give an account of the in stitutions of chivalry; of the education by which the young nobility were trained up to the duties and the ho nours of knighthood ; of the degrees through which each candidate for these honours was obliged to pass; of the ceremonies that were employed in making a knight ; of the armour which he was allowed or expected to wear; of the rights and privileges with which he was invested ; of the duties and virtues which he was called upon to practise ; of the feats of arms in which he em ployed his leisure, and indulged his passion for actual warfare ; of his amusements when not thus engaged ; of the causes and ceremonies of his degradation from knight hood ; of the manner in which his old age, when he was no longer fit for activity and enterprize, was spent; and of the ceremonies and honours attendant on his fu neral.
Those extravagancies of chivalry, knight-errantry, and the fraternities or brotherhoods, which proceeded from the passion for adventure and enterprize, and from ro mantic and fanatical ideas of love and gallantry, will also be noticed and described.
As the character and influence of the female sex were so very prominent and predominating in the age of chi valry, the education which they received, the part which they performed in calling forth and rewarding the vir tue or knighthood, and their general manners, habits, and employments, will be cursorily touched upon.
Lastly, the period and causes of the decline and tinction of chivalry, and the impression which it has left on the character of modern times, and on our mode and principles of intercourse with one another, will na turally form the subject of the concluding part of this article.
Till the age of seven years, children of a royal or noble birth, by a custom which appears to have been followed in the time of the Emperor Julian, and which continued in France till the Revolution, were entirely committed to the management and charge of the wo men. When they had attained that age, such as were destined for chivalry entered on that course of education, which was to prepare them for the enjoyment of its ho nours, and the performance of its duties. The scene of this education was either the castle of their father, of some of their relations, or of a neighbouring noble : in most cases the last was preferred, especially if in it were to be found youths of the same age, and preparing for the same object. It was not considered degrading for the most noble youths to receive their education and their maintenance from those who were not related to them: on the contrary, as they necessarily discharged certain offices of the household, in order to prepare themselves for the ranks of knighthood, the obligation was deemed mutual.