Radio: BBC Radio 4 In Our Time: Chivalry

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss chivalry, the moral code observed by knights of the Middle Ages. Chivalry originated in the military practices of aristocratic French and German soldiers, but developed into an elaborate system governing many different aspects of knightly behaviour. It influenced the conduct of medieval military campaigns and also had important religious and literary dimensions. It gave rise to the phenomenon of courtly love, the subject of much romance literature, as well as to the practice of heraldry. The remnants of the chivalric tradition linger in European culture even today.

Miri Rubin
Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History and Head of the School of History at Queen Mary, University of London

Matthew Strickland
Professor of Medieval History at the University of Glasgow

Laura Ashe
Associate Professor in English at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Worcester College