Here are some more worthwhile books for the student of chivalry. See Part I if you missed it.
One of the themes that establishes itself in this list is aspiration. These are books for men with heroic hearts and eyes fixed upwards.
The History of William the Marshal
Born in 1146 into relative obscurity, the 4th son of a low-level aristocrat, William the Marshal drew the notice of the Plantagenets and served five Plantagenet kings faithfully and ferociously. When not fighting in actual battles, sieges, or crusades, William stayed busy dominating the tournament circuit, and earned such a reputation for prowess that some now consider him to be the greatest knight who ever lived, a real-life Lancelot (except that the rumors about infidelity with the queen were untrue in William’s case).
This history, written in the 1220s just after his death, is the story of his rise to greatness and is drawn from eye-witness accounts. Beyond his prowess, the Marshal was a model of loyalty and frankness, and every aspiring cavalier would do well to spend quality time with him.
Fwiw, William the Marshal is the inspiration for Heath Ledger’s character William Thatcher in A Knight’s Tale.
The Four Cardinal Virtues by Josef Pieper
Pieper’s book is an excellent place to turn in the study of the virtues. These four—prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance—are called cardinal (from the Latin term for "pertaining to a hinge”) virtues because they are the virtues on which other virtues hinge.
Prudence comes first on the list because it is the hinge of the hinges, “the cause of other virtues’ being virtues at all”:
For example, there may be a kind of instinctive governance of instinctual cravings; but only prudence transforms this instinctive governance into the virtue of temperance. Virtue is a ‘perfected ability’ of man as a spiritual person; and justice, fortitude, and temperance, as ‘abilities’ of the whole man, achieve their perfection only when they are founded upon prudence, that is to say upon the perfected ability to make right decisions.
Pieper’s book hits a difficult mark: it is both deeply philosophical, drawing heavily from the writings of Thomas Aquinas, and deeply practical. This book connects the head and heart better than any I’ve ever encountered, showing how clear thinking serves good living.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
I wanted to include literary novels on this list, but for the most part chivalry does not thrive in that genre. Novels seem to depict manhood in decline. Men often wander adrift; fathers are frequently absent, literally or figuratively; women tend to be the more interesting characters in these works.
One of the few great novelists interested in manhood, Jane Austen has good fun at the expense of male characters who miss the mark, but she goes beyond irony and offers actual examples of men who hit it. Her works are thus instructive and morally ambitious. Pride and Prejudice features a fascinating study of the ways masculinity goes wrong and how it might go right: Mr. Bennet (the negligent father), Mr. Wickham (the scheming cad), Mr. Collins (the clueless sychophant), and Mr. Darcy (misunderstood hero). Darcy’s growth as a man, his wholesome influence on the people he loves, his bold action during a crisis, his generosity, his self-restrained silence in not trumpeting his good deeds—all these have earned him a place in the hearts of millions of readers.
Religion and the Rise of Western Culture by Christopher Dawson
We would do well to understand the historical setting in which chivalry arose. It is the product of a very Christian age, and Christopher Dawson is perhaps the greatest cultural historian of that age. The thesis of this book is that we cannot understate the role of Christianity in the formation of the Western world.
Dawson has a fascinating chapter on chivalry, and in particular the tension between chivalry and cult of courtesy that made its way into medieval Europe from more exotic lands. Here the cult of courtesy is to be distinguished from the general demands that the knight have manners befitting the court; it has more to do with courtesy as glamorous decadence which directly opposes the hard-nosed code of the warrior. The chapter helps us draw distinctions between late-stage Arthurianism and the more noble chivalry of the Crusades and the Reconquista.
Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
One of the most important question to be asked of any man is, “How do you respond when you encounter human greatness?” Indifference, hatred, or love are the three options. Modern people tilt heavily toward the first two. We either yawn or we seek to debunk or undermine claims to greatness. Envy won’t allow us to let the deeds of great men stand, especially when those deeds show us to be, by comparison, inadequate.
Lord of the Rings is one of the best antidotes to these tendencies.
Few authors of recent centuries have been as concerned with greatness as Tolkien. He is truly ambitious for his readers, wanting to show us something more inspiring than “relatable” protagonists; he wants to show heroes and perhaps inspire something heroic in the hearts of readers. Case in point—here’s his description of Pip’s first encounter with Faramir as the captain re-enters Gondor:
Pippin pressed forward as they passed under the lamp beneath the gate-arch, and when he saw the pale face of Faramir he caught his breath. It was the face of one who has been assailed by a great fear or anguish, but has mastered it and now is quiet. Proud and grave he stood for a moment as he spoke to the guard, and Pippin gazing at him saw how closely he resembled his brother Boromir – whom Pippin had liked from the first, admiring the great man’s lordly but kindly manner. Yet suddenly for Faramir his heart was strangely moved with a feeling that he had not known before. Here was one with an air of high nobility such as Aragorn at times revealed, less high perhaps, yet also less incalculable and remote: one of the Kings of Men born into a later time, but touched with the wisdom and sadness of the Elder Race. He knew now why Beregond spoke his name with love. He was a captain that men would follow, that he would follow, even under the shadow of the black wings.
Pip sees Faramir’s excellence and he instantly loves him for it. I know of no passage in modern literature as aspirational as that.
Itinerary of Richard I and Others to the Holy Land by Geoffry de Vinsauf
Like William Marshal, Richard the Lionheart was a prodigy sent by God to show us what a man is capable of becoming. He is one of the greatest heroes in the history of the world. The descriptions of his heroism in this book are invigorating. He was not simply a man of legendary individual prowess, but a genius for tactics and strategy. Perhaps most importantly, he was a king who led from the front. Imagine the effect it had on his men to see their ferocious king risking everything in the fight.
Again, debunkers and soyjack historians will (predictably) contest the accuracy of these accounts of Richard’s greatness, which says more about them than about Richard. Here’s an idea: we could actually learn from great men and be inspired by them, rather than envy and undermine them.
Maxims of Christian Chivalry by Kenelm Henry Digby
Digby wrote a four-volume series called The Broad Stone of Honour. This volume is a radical abridgment of that work, making it in consequence a slightly disjointed read, mostly paragraph-length excerpts removed from the context and flow. That said, Digby hits some beautiful notes. His definition of chivalry is among the most memorable I’ve yet encountered:
Chivalry is only a name for that general spirit or state of mind which disposes men to heroic and generous actions and keeps them conversant with all that is beautiful and sublime in the intellectual and moral world.
Good words to meditate on.
Do you have a summary or a study guide to recommend alongside The Four Virtues by Pieper? I’m reading it and loving it, but some of it has me scratching my head.
Can't believe I followed on Twitter but never subscribed? I started reading CS Lewis this year, and because of that just finished the Song of Roland, and have started The Canterbury Tales and Le Morte D'Arthur. This surged my interest in chivalry - and now I've hit the gold mine!