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Holy Warriors: The Religious Ideology of Chivalry (The Middle Ages Series) Paperback – February 5, 2014

by Richard W. Kaeuper (Author)

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The medieval code of chivalry demanded that warrior elites demonstrate fierce courage in battle, display prowess with weaponry, and avenge any strike against their honor. They were also required to be devout Christians. How, then, could knights pledge fealty to the Prince of Peace, who enjoined the faithful to turn the other cheek rather than seek vengeance and who taught that the meek, rather than glorious fighters in tournaments, shall inherit the earth? By what logic and language was knighthood valorized?

In Holy Warriors, Richard Kaeuper argues that while some clerics sanctified violence in defense of the Holy Church, others were sorely troubled by chivalric practices in everyday life. As elite laity, knights had theological ideas of their own. Soundly pious yet independent, knights proclaimed the validity of their bloody profession by selectively appropriating religious ideals. Their ideology emphasized meritorious suffering on campaign and in battle even as their violence enriched them and established their dominance. In a world of divinely ordained social orders, theirs was blessed, though many sensitive souls worried about the ultimate price of rapine and destruction.

Kaeuper examines how these paradoxical chivalric ideals were spread in a vast corpus of literature from exempla and chansons de geste to romance. Through these works, both clerics and lay military elites claimed God's blessing for knighthood while avoiding the contradictions inherent in their fusion of chivalry with a religion that looked back to the Sermon on the Mount for its ethical foundation.

Holy Warriors: The Religious Ideology of Chivalry (The Middle Ages Series)

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Product Details

Series: The Middle Ages Series
Paperback: 344 pages
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (February 5, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0812222970
ISBN-13: 978-0812222975
Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,539,194 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #9093 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Churches & Church Leadership > Church History
- #9136 in Books > History > World > Religious > Christianity
- #11106 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > History

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

Splendidly written and a pleasure ot read

By Christian G. Cameron on December 1, 2010

Format: Hardcover

Prof. Kaeuper's latest is a careful examination of the religious underpinnings of the chivalric world. It is NOT a book about Templars or Crusaders, per se, but rather, about the cultures and mentalities of the chivalric ordo and their clerical advocates and critics. Kaeuper's evocation of the major texts (like De Charny) and of the vast canon of chivalric literature (the chansons de geste and other poems) is skillfully used to support his thesis; his investigations into Medieval theology--or rather, into the practical applications of asceticism, for example, and their effect on the life and belief systems of the chivalric professionals) are masterful, well written, well argued.

I enjoyed the book and its arguments immensely, and I'd recommend it to anyone with more than a passing interest in chivalry. As Kaeuper includes most of the quotes he uses in the text, and utterly eschews academic jargon, the text is accessible to any reader.

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