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_Chivalry_ in its rude
form, however, was destined to pass through a refining and modifying
process, and to obtain its name in France. Its Norman characteristic is
found in the young _ecuyer_ or squire, of Chaucer, who aspires to equal
his father in station and renown; while the English type of the
man-at-arms (_l'homme d'armes_) is found in their attendant yeoman, the
_tiers etat_ of English chivalry, whose bills and bows served Edward III.
at Cressy and Poictiers, and, a little later, made Henry V. of England
king of France in prospect, at Agincourt. Chivalry, in its palmy days,
was an institution of great merit and power; but its humanizing purpose
now accomplished, it was beginning to decline.
What a speaking picture has Chaucer drawn of the knight, brave as a lion,
prudent in counsel, but gentle as a woman. His deeds of valor had been
achieved, not at Cressy and Calais, but--what both chieftain and poet
esteemed far nobler warfare--in battle with the infidel, at Algeciras, in
Poland, in Prussia, and Russia.


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