Osprey - General Military - Knight - The Warrior and ... - Brego-weard

Indeed similar conversations were probably common to such meetings; their Chapters
were, after all, formal meetings to discuss such matters as arose between members of
the Order. There must have been informal discussions and debates as well, and one
can easily imagine such conversations taking place over the dining table after a day
on the tournament field. More than any of the written works on chivalry these
informal discussions would have been the key vehicle for the transmission of the
constantly evolving chivalric ethos.
CHIVALRY ON DISPLAY - HERALDRY,
BANNERS AND BADGES
One of the key aspects ot the chivalric ethos was that the warrior enhanced his status
and position by performing acts of martial prowess. It was not sufficient that such
deeds be done, it was also necessary that they be witnessed and recognized. It can be
no coincidence that at the same period as the chivalric ethos was coalescing and
knights began to think of themselves as a distinctive caste within society that heraldic
display also developed. These personal emblems, supposedly unique to the individual
warrior, ensured that their deeds could be witnessed across the battlefield by friend
and foe alike. This was certainly how they were perceived as originating. In the late
14th -century text on heraldry, the Tract at ad de Armid by Johannes de Bado Aureo,
this initial use of heraldry was traced to antiquity where, at the siege of Troy, Johannes
writes, 'The Trojans of royal blood adopted distinctive colours so that they might be
recognized from the walls, and their deeds and prowess in combat noticed'. The clear
display of his arms ensured that the warrior's participation in battle was noted and
any deeds of great note would be witnessed and remembered by his fellow knights or
by the heralds who are often described as standing on the sidelines of the battle
recording such matters. It is from such remembrances that men like Froissart were
able to draw up their chronicles.
The ability to identify the enemy force served an important tactical function,
allowing a commander to better judge where the greatest strength of his opponents
might be found. It also fulfilled an important social one. Recognition of the identity,
status and prowess of the opposition enabled the knight perhaps to choose his
opponents with an eye to winning renown himself or avoiding a combat in which he
would be outclassed. A knight of great notoriety made himself a target for those who
would increase their own renown by defeating him, but he might also deter attack.
At the battle of Bouvines Eudo of Burgundy used this to his advantage, putting on a
CHIVALRY: THE KNIGHTLY CODE -