. Mediæval and modern history . l these virtues in their blameless lives and romantic enterprises, there weretoo many who wereknights only in pro-fession. An errantknight, as an oldwriter puns, with toomuch truth, was anarrant knave. An-other writer says,Deeds that woulddisgrace a thief, andacts of cruelty thatwould have disgusteda Hellenic tyrant ora Roman emperor,were common thingswith knights of thehighest lineage. But cruelty, treach-ery, untruthfulness,cowardice, baseness,and crime of every sort were opposed to the true spirit of chiv-alry; and the knight who was convicted of such faults
. Mediæval and modern history . l these virtues in their blameless lives and romantic enterprises, there weretoo many who wereknights only in pro-fession. An errantknight, as an oldwriter puns, with toomuch truth, was anarrant knave. An-other writer says,Deeds that woulddisgrace a thief, andacts of cruelty thatwould have disgusteda Hellenic tyrant ora Roman emperor,were common thingswith knights of thehighest lineage. But cruelty, treach-ery, untruthfulness,cowardice, baseness,and crime of every sort were opposed to the true spirit of chiv-alry; and the knight who was convicted of such faults could bepunished by expulsion from the order of knighthood, by whatwas known as the Ceremony of Degradation. In this ceremonythe spurs of the offending knight were struck off from his heelswith a heavy cleaver, his sword was broken, and his horses tailcut off. Then the disgraced knight was dressed in a burial robe,and the usual funeral ceremonies were performed over him, signify-ing that he was dead to the honors of Fig. 17. Degradation of a Knight. (Frag-ment of a woodcut dated 1565 ; after Lacroix) § 104] THE DECLINE OF CHIVALRY 93 104. The Decline of Chivalry. The fifteenth century was theevening of chivalry. The decline of the system resulted fromthe operation of the same causes that effected the overthrow offeudalism. The changes in the mode of warfare which helped todc5 away with the feudal baron and his mail-clad retainers likewisetended to destroy knight-errantry. And then as civilizationadvanced, new feelings and sentiments began to claim the atten-tion and to work upon the imagination of men. Persons ambitiousof distinction began to seek it in other ways than by adventures ofchivalry. Governments, too, became more regular, and the in-creased order and security of society rendered less needful theservices of the gallant knight in behalf of the weak and theoppressed. In a word, the extravagant performances of the knight-errantcarried into a practical and
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