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Knighthood

 

             The most prominent, and probably most recognizable, figure of the Middle Ages is the appearance of the knight and the way of life they brought about. Initially, knight service appeared in England as a result of the Norman Conquest; the invasion of England by William of Normandy in 1066. The army William used was hired on the promise of booty and fiefs following the war. The social structure that came about after the Norman Conquest placed the knight as a military figurehead, giving the knights a chance to move closer to the aristocracy that controlled them. Knight service was acquired by the payment of a fee. Initially the fee was commonly paid in land, called a fief, but as time progressed money became the most popular way to obtain a knight's service. These knights upheld ".the values of knightly devotion (especially to a lady), fortitude, and loyalty". Knights lived by the ideals of chivalry and expressed these values in their daily lives. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight incorporates the principles of chivalry into a seamless story told in the genre of Arthurian literature. The Camelot Project, at The University of Rochester maintains that "in the English tradition Gawain is the principal hero and the exemplar of courtesy and chivalry, as he is in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight". Chivalry can be defined, in simple terms, as a way of life. The devotion of oneself to upholding all that is just and true is the very heart of the chivalric code. The fact that people are imperfect exhibits to us that this code is idealistic, and in the tradition of all ideals, cannot be maintained.
             "A typical knight was seen as a fief holder who rendered homage and service to his lord in return for the fief. The lord might in turn be the fief-holding vassal of a higher lord, while the knight might be served by knightly vassals one step down on the feudal pyramid". In society at this time there were three main social divisions: the prayers (oratores), the fighters (bellatores), and the workers (laboratores).


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