Feminism in Literature | Women and Women's Writings from Antiquity Through the Middle Ages - Sophie Masson (Essay Date November 2002)

SOPHIE MASSON (ESSAY DATE NOVEMBER 2002)

SOURCE: Masson, Sophie. "The Mirror of Honour and Love: A Woman's View of Chivalry." Quadrant 46, no. 11 (November 2002): 56-59.

In the following essay, Masson stresses the importance of chivalry and its attendant virtues to the lives of European women during the Middle Ages.

Chivalry. Isn't that a bloke's thing? Isn't it to do with being a man-at-arms, with strapping on armour and sallying forth into the wildwood on your horse, your lady's token on your arm, to right wrongs and do great deeds? Isn't the only role of the woman in chivalry to be the inspirer, the muse of a paragon of the knightly virtues? Well, yes—and no. Chivalry was much more than that. And its ideals encompassed both sexes, actively.

As the French-derived term chivalry indicates—it is originally from chevalerie, literally meaning horsemanship—it came about as a means of...

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