The index in this electronic text was not printed in the original book.
The index was copied from Volume II of the series.
TheHistory of Chivalry
or
Knighthood and its times.
By
Charles Mills, Esqr.
Author of the History of the Crusades
IN TWO VOLUMES.
Vol: I.
Engraved by A. Le Petit from a sketch by R. W. Sievier.
London.
Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green
MDCCCXXV.
PREFACE.
The propriety of my writing a History of Chivalry, as a companion to myHistory of the Crusades, was suggested to me by a friend whoseacquaintance with middle-age lore forms but a small portion of hisliterary attainments, and whose History of Italy shows his ability oftreating, as well as his skill in discovering, subjects not hithertodiscussed with the fulness which their importance merits.[1]
The works of Menestrier and Colombiere sleep in the dust of a few ancientlibraries; and there are only two other books whose express and entireobject is a delineation of the Institutions of chivalry. The first andbest known is the French work called “Mémoires sur l’ancienne Chevalerie;considérée comme un Etablissement[Pg iv] Politique et Militaire. Par M. de laCurne de Sainte Palaye, de l’Académie Françoise,” &c. 2 tom. 12mo. Paris,1759. The last half, however, of the second volume does not relate tochivalry, and therefore the learned Frenchman cannot be charged withtreating his subject at very great length.[2] It was his purpose todescribe the education which accomplished the youth for the distinction ofknighthood, and this part of his work he has performed with considerablesuccess. But he failed in his next endeavour, that of painting the martialgames of chivalry, for nothing can be more unsatisfactory than his accountof jousts and tournaments. As he wished to inform his readers of the usewhich was made in the battle field of the valour, skill, and experience ofknights, a description of some of the extraordinary and interestingbattles of the middle ages might have been expected. Here alsodisappointment is experienced; neither can any pleasure be derived fromperusing his examination of the causes[Pg v] which produced the decline andextinction of chivalry, and his account of the inconveniences whichcounterbalanced the advantages of the establishment.
Sainte Palaye was a very excellent French antiquarian; but the limitedscope of his studies disqualified him from the office of a generalhistorian of chivalry. The habits of his mind led him to treat ofknighthood as if it had been the ornament merely of his own country. Hevery rarely illustrates his principles by the literature of any othernation, much less did he attempt to trace their history through thevarious states of Europe. He has altogether kept out of sight manycharacteristic features of his subject. Scarcely any thing is advancedabout ancient armour; not a word on the religious and military orders; andbut a few pages, and those neither pleasing nor c