I have trouble only with iv... but what is a "country"? Toss off the shallow notion that the country you must give your life for is the "nation state". That is a modernist fabrication. Your country is the community into which you were born, that gave you the customs, traditions, even laws that set you on that great quest of chivalrous life to which we are engaged. To slay the Dragon may well be to slay the nation state that is our oppressor.
Agreed—a great deal of prudence is required when your country has gone astray. Tolkien's Eomer is my favorite example of a man doing his best under such circumstances.
Great reading list. Let me suggest some chivalry-adjacent (so to speak) books: *The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise* by Dario Fernandez-Morera. A little dry-scholarly, but a good antidote to the false Christian-rube narrative about Spain. *Empires of the Sea* by Roger Crowley. A history written in dramatic fashion about Malta and Lepanto. Finally, *The Siege of the Alcázar* by Cecil D. Eby. 20th-century of course, but read and see if you agree that Col. Moscardó's leadership exemplified the principles of chivalry.
Excellent. I've read Fernandez-Morera and agree it's quite good. Recently ordered Siege of the Alcázar after reading Carroll's Last Crusade. Will investigate Crowley.
I bought The Four Cardinal Virtues because of this article and your book club. I plan on reading it this summer. I also ordered the Scanderbeg biography because of this list and your article.
I have trouble only with iv... but what is a "country"? Toss off the shallow notion that the country you must give your life for is the "nation state". That is a modernist fabrication. Your country is the community into which you were born, that gave you the customs, traditions, even laws that set you on that great quest of chivalrous life to which we are engaged. To slay the Dragon may well be to slay the nation state that is our oppressor.
Agreed—a great deal of prudence is required when your country has gone astray. Tolkien's Eomer is my favorite example of a man doing his best under such circumstances.
https://thechivalryguild.substack.com/p/a-heroic-introduction
Great reading list. Let me suggest some chivalry-adjacent (so to speak) books: *The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise* by Dario Fernandez-Morera. A little dry-scholarly, but a good antidote to the false Christian-rube narrative about Spain. *Empires of the Sea* by Roger Crowley. A history written in dramatic fashion about Malta and Lepanto. Finally, *The Siege of the Alcázar* by Cecil D. Eby. 20th-century of course, but read and see if you agree that Col. Moscardó's leadership exemplified the principles of chivalry.
Excellent. I've read Fernandez-Morera and agree it's quite good. Recently ordered Siege of the Alcázar after reading Carroll's Last Crusade. Will investigate Crowley.
Well I have long appreciated Pieper, but it would appear that I will have to order a few books. I am glad you've read Raymond Ibrahim.
Big fan of both--two of my biggest influences.
I bought The Four Cardinal Virtues because of this article and your book club. I plan on reading it this summer. I also ordered the Scanderbeg biography because of this list and your article.