Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.10, 2022

Chivalry and the Concept of Nobility in Western Europe in the Middle Ages

(Abstract)

Ni Shiguang

The nobility in medieval Western Europe had a concept of social obligation that reflected their social status and duties and was expressed in their thinking and culture in relation to society. Since most of the secular nobles were also knights, the social obligations they should assume and the way these should be discharged are clearly stated in three codes of knightly behavior produced in the 13th-14th centuries. At the intellectual level, a detailed analysis of these texts can show the general scope of the social obligations of nobles in the middle and late Middle Ages and allows us to grasp the high standards for carrying these out. The study of these issues will help us to understand the history of medieval Western Europe and the thought and culture of the medieval nobility at a deeper level.