Mind-Munitions

The Chivalric Code 69
If a knight knew that, if captured, he would be spared rather than
killed (whether out of chivalry or for a ransom) he was less likely to
fight ferociously to the death. When Christian fought against
heathens, however, it was quite a different story (although mercenaries
employed by the counts of Flanders between 1297 and 1302
were criticized by the chroniclers for their lack of mercy towards
Christian men of war, who, when they were captured, were treated
‘no better than dogs’). During the Crusades, when soldiers were
fighting far from home, flight was often as dangerous as battle and
some sources testify to the view that it was better to die trying to
defend yourself than it was attempting to flee in a hostile country.
As in antiquity, panic was not uncommon.
War, as Phillipe Contamine has put it, is ‘a cultural phenomenon’.
The way a war is fought is invariably determined by the
prevailing set of moral standards which influence the individuals
involved. During the Middle Ages, once heavy cavalry became the
predominant arm of warfare, military training of knights was
turned into high art. As one English chronicler who described the
training of Henry II’s sons put it:
No athlete can fight tenaciously who has never received any blows …
the oftener he falls, the more determinedly he must spring to his feet
again. Anyone who can do that can engage in battle confidently.
Strength gained by practice is invaluable … the price of sweat is well
paid where the Temples of Victory stand.
And not just in terms of glory. War was a good way of making
money: ‘There is going to be fighting here! Now I shall get rich!’,
shouted one impoverished knight before a campaign. Before the
battle of Doryleum in 1097 the knights encouraged each other with
the words: ‘Be of one mind in your belief in Christ and in the victory of
the Holy Cross, because you will become rich today, if God wills.’ It is
important also to remember that the knightly class was small when
compared to the mass of the European population. It was therefore
comparatively easy for ideas and values about the way to behave in
battle or in tournaments to spread throughout a restricted educated
ruling class of nobles who all spoke the same language.
In this respect, literature played an important part in determining
the chivalric mentality amongst the aristocratic nobility. One
noble advised his son to read classic texts to discover the meaning
of honour, although ‘for stronger reasons, we who are Christians