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Chivalry and Violence in Medieval Europe Kindle Edition

by Richard W. Kaeuper (Author)

5 customer reviews

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This original and authoritative text reveals how chivalry was part of the problem of violence in medieval Europe, not merely its solution. The ideal was to internalize restraint in knights, but a close reading of chivalric literature shows chivalry also praised heroic violence by knights. This fascinating book lays bare the conflicts and paradoxes surrounding the concept of chivalry in medieval Europe.

Length: 352 pages

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Product Details

File Size: 4492 KB
Print Length: 352 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (December 23, 1999)
Publication Date: August 31, 1999
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B002DW9APE
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

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Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Not Enabled

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #282,704 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #197 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Violence in Society
- #350 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > World > Medieval
- #599 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Violence in Society

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Customer Reviews

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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful

How knights thought about knighthood

By A Customer on March 24, 2000

Format: Hardcover

Readers who enjoyed Maurice Keen's fine book *Chivalry* may well want to read this book, which approaches the same question, "What is chivalry?" from a somewhat different angle.
Kaeuper, who has long been interested in the question of public order in the later Middle Ages, argues in this book that it is a mistake to look at chivalry as an ideal which had only a positive impact. Yes, indeed, knights often fought to uphold law and religion, and believed it was their duty to do so; at the same time, knights believed they had an inherent right to exercise violence in whatever cause they chose, and sometimes for no other reason than to defend their own prickly honor.
In other words, chivalry was a troublesome and ambiguous ideal, as much problem as solution.
To illustrate this, Kaeuper takes the reader on a fascinating tour of all kinds of medieval chivalric literature. All of it, he says, was reformist in nature, even the romances which were primarily meant to entertain. But reform could mean many things: knights should control their violence; or, knights should remember that they are fighters first.
The best part of this book is the masterly way Kaeuper allows us to see all the different ways medieval writers and their audiences thought about knighthood. It is quite an achievement.

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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

Some things never change

By Dr. Carl Edwin Lindgren on August 31, 2005

Format: Hardcover

In Chivalry and Violence in Medieval Europe, Richard Kaeuper explores the concept of chivalry in an attempt to understand its true nature and place in medieval society. He takes into consideration the tendency of early writers and more modern historians to take a romantic view or a cynical view of chivalry based on prejudices. In his book, Kaeuper disputes a modern romanticized belief that chivalry was a positive and uncomplicated factor that helped to restrain men and that the problems with order in medieval society brought about by war and violence were not inherent in chivalry, but rather a lack of properly dispersed chivalric ideals. He argues that, "in the problem of public order the knights themselves played and ambivalent problematic role and that the guides to their conduct that chivalry provided were in themselves complex and problematic."(3)

To support his thesis, Kaeuper draws on a variety of medieval literature and histories, as well as some modern interpretation. He seeks to explain, through these sources, the concept of violence in medieval society, and to explain how that violence figured in the medieval social structure and in the minds of the knights who practiced it. Keauper recognizes, as do many of the medieval sources he quotes, that during the medieval period there was both licit and illicit violence. Licit violence was used to bring about order. He first turns to the Norman monk Orderic Vitalis who believed that violence for the right cause was acceptable. He quotes Vitalis who said, "Wrong must be done to put an end to a wrong thing."(13) He also refers to the French abbot Suger, who praised the royal use of force in the interest of order.Read more ›

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10 of 13 people found the following review helpful

the full monty

By A Customer on June 5, 2001

Format: Hardcover

I've taken a couple of Prof. Kaeuper's courses, and I got what I expected in this book. I can't speak for professional historians, but I can say that his style accomodates those less familiar with the time period. Indeed, you might find it to be kind of a grind at first, because the emphsais is on strict historical evidence rather than on any prevailing romantic notions about chivalry. This often dissapoints beginning students in this area, but I gurantee that the energy put in leaves one far more gratified. The reader can get a clear sense that the "Dark Ages" were immensely complex and active, and that this thing we call "chivalry" is essential to Western history -even the Western present- and is by no means something people did just so we can watch nifty movies.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

I feel that this is a very good read and anyone interested in Medieval Europe will like ...

By Mr. Bubles on October 6, 2014

Format: Paperback

Chivalry is a interesting book. I found it very educational in it's writing and it's scholar, Kaeuper. I just want to say that this still holds true even today. Not a lot has changed in Knighthood/Military. When the governments declare war the military has the right to do what they have to do to bring peace. Example will be his/her Majesty's military. They serve the queen and will do anything to protect the throne. All I am saying is that Chivarly still exist just in a different name. I feel that this is a very good read and anyone interested in Medieval Europe will like this.

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Loved this book

By Carey Fulks on May 14, 2013

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

This book was really helpful if you are doing a project like I was or if you are just interested in knights and how they were in real life like I am.

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