Episode #17： The Code of Chivalry With Scott Farrell
Episode Stats
Summary
Scott Farrell, Director of Chivalry Today, discusses the history, literature, and philosophy of the code of chivalry, and how modern men and women can use chivalry to influence business, politics, love, and relationships.
Transcript
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Hello, Brett here. Before we get to today's show, got a quick favor to ask of you. If you've been
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check out a particular episode if you think they'd get something out of it. Thank you for
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your support and now on to the show. Brett McKay here and welcome to another episode of the Art of
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Manliness podcast. Now at the Art of Manliness, we talk a lot about the importance of being a
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gentleman. And one aspect of that means being a chivalrous man. But for most of us living in the
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21st century, being chivalrous means opening the door for a lady. And that's probably about it.
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What else does chivalry mean? And what's its history in relation to manliness? Well, our guest
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today will help us answer those questions. His name is Scott Farrell, and he's the director of
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Chivalry Today. Chivalry Today explores the history, literature, and philosophy of the Code of
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Chivalry and shows how modern men and women can use chivalry to influence business,
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politics, love, and relationships. Scott has written several articles and has contributed
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to several books on the subject of chivalry and the legend of King Arthur. In addition to writing
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about chivalry, Scott provides presentations on the history and the modern application of the Code
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of Chivalry to businesses, schools, and couples. And you can find out more info about Scott's work at
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chivalrytoday.com. Scott, welcome to the show. Thank you, Brett. Great to be here. Well,
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thanks for taking time to speak to us today. So, Scott, to start off, what exactly is chivalry? I
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mean, is it just opening doors for ladies or standing up when they walk into a room, or is
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there something more to it? Well, you've hit on exactly what our perception of chivalry is,
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which is sort of that heightened and possibly even a little bit absurd sense of manners. But to really
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understand the full breadth of chivalry, we need to go back several hundred years and understand that
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chivalry back in the Middle Ages was a warrior's code of honor, not unlike the code of Bushido that
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many people are familiar with from Japanese culture and the code of the samurai. The code of
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chivalry was very much the same sort of thing for the knights, the warrior class of medieval Europe.
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And it was sort of an understanding that with their elevated sense in the society of the time
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and their abilities as warriors, as heavily armed and elite warriors, along with that came a greater
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responsibility to conduct themselves with a sense of restraint and courtesy and awareness of their
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abilities. And so, really, that is where we get the complete sense of chivalry as a warrior's code of
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honor in, and really more of what we would almost call today as a fully rounded code of ethics, is really
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And so you mentioned that, you know, we all know chivalry kind of got its start with the Middle Ages,
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because I think we often associate it with knights and slaying dragons and things. But this is a time of,
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you know, moral and intellectual darkness. And you said that chivalry, code of chivalry kind of came up to
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provide a code of ethics to the warrior class. But it seemed like a really heightened code of
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ethics for the time. I mean, was, did the code of chivalry develop in reaction to the, I guess,
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the moral, just darkness that was facing the land, the world in that time? Or was it something else?
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The Middle Ages was not quite, you know, really as dark as it's sometimes portrayed. But it was very
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much an era of kind of individualism, of the, with the, you know, not to get too much into a history
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lesson here, but with this, with the, with the overall structure of a greater civilization, the
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Roman Empire kind of gone, it was sort of left to, you know, in some way, everybody kind of was on
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their own. And, you know, for a while, things looked pretty grim. But what evolved was sort of a
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sense that, you know, in a vacuum of any other sort of greater authority, everybody needs to be
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responsible for themselves and do their part to make society a safe, a stable, a pleasant place
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to be. And that was the role that the warrior, the knight, was kind of cast into. And so in that
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way, yes, it was sort of, chivalry was sort of a reaction to the society and the social
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expectations or lack thereof at the time. And so it is kind of, that is kind of where we get that
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sort of hardy individualist sense of the code of chivalry, you know, and, you know, at its heart,
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that is, you know, almost like it is what the Boy Scout code is drawn from. Be prepared. Be prepared
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for anything. Be ready to do anything that you're called upon to do. And, yeah, that is very much
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kind of in that, in response to that, that sense of what the world was like in the Middle Ages.
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Now, going a little bit more about the history of chivalry, can you explain the transformation
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Sure, yeah. And, you know, yeah, even just talking a little bit about this history here, you really
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can kind of get a sense of just how much is behind that very kind of simplistic concept of chivalry.
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I mean, we're talking about a concept that has evolved and developed with society over the course
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of six or seven hundred years, or even a little bit more, depending on what your definition of
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the Middle Ages is. But chivalry in the medieval sense, again, was started as kind of a warrior's
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code of honor. It emphasized the knight's role as a protector initially, as a protector of the church,
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the church who was going around doing charitable works, trying to save people's souls. And the knight
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was the protector of the clerics and the church and the people who worshiped in the church. And
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therefore, the knight then kind of became, by default, a protector of all those who were weak,
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who needed help, who were, you know, in harm's way, in danger. And so from that medieval sense
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of the knight's duties, again, we get that sense that chivalry is the code of somebody who helps
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people in need, who goes out of his way, even maybe goes into harm's way, to help others. And
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from that, it became something of a military and a political sense. And the code of chivalry became,
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throughout the later periods, became more of what we think of as the law of arms, a military code
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that encompasses things as simple, but as foundational of the fact that, like, for example,
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you don't shoot at someone who's waving a white flag of truce. You know, we think about,
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we think, we still think of that sort of thing in conjunction with our military and even,
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in some ways, political standards today. And then, of course, you know, throughout the Victorian
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and even in the early 20th century, chivalry, as society again continued to change, chivalry
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kind of became that, you know, as your listeners are probably aware, that kind of gentlemanly art,
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that sense of the art of being a gentleman that would once have been expected of the rich,
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and aristocratic status of gentleman kind of became filtered down to everyone, to every
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gentleman as, you know, that we are kind of became born equal. That sense of gentlemanly behavior,
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that sense of courtesy, gallantry, nobility, kind of became part of middle-class life, and everyone
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was expected to be a gentleman. So that's kind of the progress of chivalry from, you know,
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Now, going back to the Middle Ages, you talk about it was the code of the warrior class.
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How did someone become a part of the warrior class, and how were they taught this code of chivalry?
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I mean, they get like, they had to go to school and like, you know, sit with their scroll or whatever
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they used back then and like read. I mean, how was this passed on to them?
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Yeah, well, and again, this is a subject that we could, you know, do a lengthy lecture on right
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here. But by and large, in the Middle Ages, as you kind of mentioned, you know, there was not a
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time of great literacy. Most people could read and write probably a small amount, but most learning
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was done, especially of the warrior class, as literally just a one-on-one kind of understanding.
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From some of the writings of the Middle Ages, we can see that there were knights in the period
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who wrote their thoughts about what chivalry was, what it was to be a noble and honorable
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warrior. And, you know, they took this very seriously. This is a very sincere part of their
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lives that they were writing about. But, you know, much like being kind of a big brother or a mentor
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today, this was something that was passed on in the one-on-one from generation to generation.
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It was something that was learned very much by example. There was, you know, very much an
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understanding of, you know, you've got to practice what you preach. You've got to put your money where
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your mouth is. That learning a code of honor isn't something that you can say, you know, be nice and
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honorable and then go around and do things that are corrupt and unethical. You've got to live by
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your standards in order to, you know, in order to really make that a strong part of a society.
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And that's exactly how these things were, how these ideals were taught in the Middle Ages.
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You know, and we can still see today that, you know, that really is the strongest way of teaching
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someone, of bringing someone up and kind of instilling good ideals in the next generation.
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And we talk about, you know, the code of chivalry. And a lot of times when I hear the word code,
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I'm a law student or law grad, and I hear code, and I think enumerated things. Is there like an
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enumerated list of what makes up the code of chivalry? Are there certain values or virtues that,
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you know, a chivalrous man was supposed to live by?
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Yeah, that's a really interesting thing, because there is no, as you say, in kind of a legal sense,
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there's no uniform code of chivalry. There's nothing that you can go to and say,
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well, on page 298, you know, subsection one, paragraph eight of the code of chivalry, it says
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this. The code of chivalry was interpreted differently by every knight in the Middle Ages. And again,
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even through some of the writings that we can see from these knights of 14th, 15th, 16th centuries,
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we can see that every one of them has a little bit of a different take on what it means to be
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an honorable warrior, or what it means to be a good servant of a lord or a king, of what it means to be
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a protector of the weak. But there are some themes that emerge throughout all of those individual
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interpretations. And there's an awareness of, for example, an appreciation of what they would have
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called prowess. Probably that's really the highest standard of what you might think of as a code of
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chivalry, which is simply an appreciation of people who take the time and effort to do what it takes to
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be their best at whatever it is they're doing, whether it's in battle, whether it's in tournament,
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whether it's as a spiritual, you know, religious aspect of their lives, whatever it is to always
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strive to be their best. That was really a mark of respect among those people who write about
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chivalry, with that respect for that sense of prowess. Other ideals, you know, again, kind of
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come through as universal themes, loyalty, to be loyal, to stand by your word and do what you said
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you were going to do, but also to have, you know, a sense of compassion, a sense of prudence, of being
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a, you know, a shrewd and wise judge of what needs to be done in a given situation. So that, you know,
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there was an awareness also that, you know, blind loyalty doesn't necessarily make someone a good
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person. So these are the kind of state themes that come through that we can see that kind of make up
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that general, that kind of nebulous concept of chivalry and honor.
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Hmm. Very interesting. Now, Scott, this is a, I guess, a statement we hear a lot in these modern
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times, but, you know, that chivalry is dead. Is that the case? Is chivalry dead? Or if it is dead,
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Right. Well, you know, I think what we're talking about here really kind of lends a different
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perspective, even to that question, because, you know, you think about how long this concept
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of chivalry has been around since, you know, the 10th or 11th century. And I think it's
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silly to think that something that's been around for, you know, the better part of a millennium
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could be dead. But it's a little bit like saying, you know, to look around and see the kind of
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things that are going on in the world today and say, well, government is dead. Well, I think chivalry
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maybe the perception is that it's dead if you look for the ideals, the presentations of chivalry
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from another generation in the world today, it's easy to think that maybe chivalry is
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dead. And, you know, a good example that I try to give, one that you mentioned in the
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opening there, is one of the concepts of chivalry as a gentlemanly guide is that a gentleman always
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stands when a lady enters the room. Well, back in the day when most people sat around their
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parlors in the evening and had, you know, had a conversation in a quiet smoking room or something
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that sort of thing certainly was a good demonstration of good manners and good etiquette.
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But imagine today in a crowded coffee shop or a busy restaurant trying to stand every time a woman
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enters the room. It's just not practical and it's not the sort of thing that would be expected today.
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But that doesn't mean that that underlying sense of respect and courtesy is dead. There are just
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different ways of showing it. You know, for example, you know, back in the day, they didn't
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have online electronic communications so that we can bring that sense of respectfulness to a new
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venue of our life by understanding and looking for ways that we can express courtesy, respect, kindness,
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compassion in online transactions and how we interact with people in chat rooms and email and that kind
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of thing. So I think that chivalry isn't dead. We just have to continue to look for it and its spirit
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in what we do in our modern world to understand how it still affects us and how crucial its need really
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is in those sorts of applications. Well, this is a perfect segue to my next question. What are some
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things that today's modern man can do to implement the Code of Chivalry? Well, I think first and most
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important, you really have to kind of look within yourself, understand that no sense of whatever
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you want to call it, chivalry, honor, ethics, integrity, no sense of that can be conveyed by a
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simple checklist of rules that you have to follow. What you have to look for in your everyday dealings
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is how can I express that? What can I do today in any given situation to show respect for someone,
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to demonstrate courtesy for the people that I'm going to come in contact with, to make life a
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little better for the people in the world around me? And once you start looking at the world like
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that, you start to see things that you can do to express that sense of chivalry in a very modern and
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contemporary way without having to be old-fashioned or stodgy or absurd. You know, one of the ways I
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think we can see that sort of thing, you know, again, is in the workplace to show respect and
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courtesy for your co-workers, your clients, customers, that sort of thing, standing up on it when you meet
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someone, you know, exchanging pleasant greetings. That's not anything that necessarily is, you know,
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biased by gender, or it's not sexist, but it is a way that you can express that sort of respectful,
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dignified behavior in a modern sense. And one of the things that I always try to tell people to keep in
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mind is that, you know, those little courtesies, the kind of things that we're talking about,
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opening a door for a lady, tipping your hat, standing up for when someone enters the room,
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all of those, the intent behind that is not so much to show some sort of deference or
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old-fashioned manners. It's a way of breaking out of our mentality of thinking only about what affects
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me and thinking about what can I do to help someone in the world around me? What can I do to show
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courtesy to someone around me? And so those little acts of courtesy, whether it's letting someone
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merge ahead of you on the freeway, or standing up when someone enters your office, or always making
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sure that you greet your children, your wife at the end of the day, all of those things are the first
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step towards being aware of what larger changes need to be made in the world, the sort of things that
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call on us to stand up for our beliefs, to do the right thing, to protect someone who is in need.
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All of those are the first steps in being aware and seeing those greater things that can be done
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to express a much larger sense of chivalry and a code of honor in a broader context of the world.
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Very interesting. Now, Scott, a criticism that's, I guess, leveled at chivalry, a modern one at least,
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is that it's sexist, or that it implies weakness in the female sex. How would you respond to that
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criticism, and do you even think modern women want to be treated with, I guess, the traditional
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Sure, sure, yeah. And I think it's a statement, really, that in many ways we kind of don't
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understand the historical society, the historical context that these sort of things come from.
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Women have never had a passive place in the concept of chivalry, but the fact of the matter is that
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in the Middle Ages, and even up until fairly recently in history, society wasn't really a place where
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any kind of equal roles of men and women could really be expressed. It was a world powered by
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muscle and brute force. And up until the modern, up until the luxuries of the modern day,
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we didn't really have the capability of men and women doing the same kinds of jobs.
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But chivalry gave women a great deal of authority, of prestige, of influence in that medieval world.
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They were the arbiters of chivalry. It was their job to make sure that the knights who were in the
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world around them didn't descend into selfishness, into egotism, into brutality and corruption.
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And so they played a very important but very different part in the code of chivalry in that
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historical sense. In a modern context where we do, in fact, have a world where at least we're coming
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much closer to real gender equality and equal treatment in society, I think that women can have
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just as much of a part of this aspect and the presentation of chivalry as any man. I mean,
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we expect women to be honorable, to be ethical, to be courteous and respectful. And I think that's
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great. I think it's great that women can, in fact, take as much of an active and present role in the
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expression of chivalry in today's world that they never have before. So, you know, I think that
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there's nothing about chivalry, about that sense of honor and respect that is inherently male. In
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today's world, I think that a woman can, and frankly should, be every bit as chivalrous as a man should
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be. Very interesting. Well, Scott, thank you for your time. It's been a pleasure.
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Great to be here, Brett. Thanks. And I sure hope your listeners enjoy learning a little bit more about
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Dakota Chivalry. Our guest today was Scott Farrell. Scott is the director of Chivalry Today, and you can
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find out more information about Scott's work at chivalrytoday.com.
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That wraps up another edition of the Art of Manliness podcast. For more manly tips and advice,
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make sure to check out the Art of Manliness website at artofmanliness.com. And until next week, stay manly.