Philip Augustus: or, the brothers in arms. The works / Rev. ... by the author. Vol. v.

  • George Payne Rainsford James
Date:
1845
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Philip Augustus: or, the brothers in arms. The works / Rev. ... by the author. Vol. v. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    selves to the defence of the oppressed, and placed the weak under the protection of their sword. Sinqde in their dress, austere in their morals, humble after victory, and linn in mis- fortune, in a short time they won for themselves immense renown. ‘‘ Popular gratitude, in its simple and credulous joy, fed itself with marvellous tales of their deeds of arms, exalted their valour, and united in its prayers its generous liberators with even the powers of Heaven. So natural is it for misfortune to deify those who bring it consolation. “ In those old times, as power was a right, courage was of course a virtue. These men, to whom was given, in the end, the name of Knights, carried this virtue to the highest degree. Cowardice was punished amongst them as an unpardonable crime ; falsehood they held in horror ; perfidy and breach of pro- mise they branded with infamy; nor have the most celebrated legislators of anticpiity anything comparable to their statutes. “ This league of warriors maintained itself for more than a century in all its pristine simplicity, because the circumstances amidst which it rose changed but slowly ; but when a great poli- tical and religious movement announced the revolution about to take ])lace in the minds of men, then chivalry took a legal form, and a rank amidst authorised institutions. “ The crusades, and the emancipation of the cities which marked the apogee of the feudal government, are the two events which most contributed to the destruction of chivalry. True it is, that then also it found its greatest splendour; but it lost its virtuous independence and its simplicity of manners. “ Kings soon found all the benefit they might derive from an armed association which should hold a middle place between the crown and those too })owcrful vassals who usurped all its prero- gatives. From that time, kings created knights, and bound them to the throne by all the forms used in feudal investiture. But the l)articular character of those distant times was the pride of pri- vileges; and the crown could not devise any, without the nobility arrogating to itself the same. Thus the possessors of the greater feofs hastened to imitate their monarch. Not only did they create knights, but this title, dear in a nation’s gratitude, became their hereditary privilege.* This invasion stopped not there ; * This is very doubtful in a strict sense, though, undoubtedly, many of the high feudatories received knighthood at the font.
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