"Stephen Cole" wrote in message
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Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Stephen Cole wrote:
Trying to use children with cancer as political ammunition is beneath
contempt Steve.

I'm in favour of children with cancer having an unbroken supply of
medication. Why aren't you, Brian?

Just children, then? Other cancer patients don't matter?


Women and children first, OM. First law of chivalry. HTH.

Not really.

Codes of chivalry originated as codes of conduct for knights from the
12 century onwards. And only ever applied to knights and nobles.
At that time most well born female offspring were married off
at the age of 12 or 13. These were all financial arrangements
so as to keep family lines going. Sometimes the groom and bride
first met at the alter. *Such marriages might not be consummated for
years (which has been the source of some confusion later on re
ages of consent etc).

So not too dissimilar to the arranged marriages still common
in some cultures.

A big component in chivalry was the idea of "Courtly Love" - knights
composing romantic songs and poems to beautiful maidens. The
only problem with this was that the beautiful maidens to whom
such songs were addressed were often of necessity already
the wives of other knights

Another component of chivalry was the conduct of knights on the
battlefield. This was a set of rules that when fighting other knights on
the battlefield all fights were conducted with honour with no cheating
and knights didn't kill each other needlessly but took each other
prisoner and held each other to ransom or for subsequent exchange.
It also meant that knights thus taken prisoner didn't try and escape
on their honour (unlike modern POW's) and so often lived in the
relative luxury to which they were accustomed until their rellies
picked up the tab.

Chivalry only ever applied to knights.It certainly didn't apply to
the peasantry who were simply sword fodder on the battlefield and a
source of rent at home. So that when capturing besieged towns which
had refused to surrender it was not unknown for all the inhabitants,
men women, children and the infirm to be put to the sword or at least
to the club. While all the knights stayed in their tents outside
toasting one another or writing love poems to each others wives.

And similar considerations obviously applied to heathens with no
conception of Christianity let alone chivalry.

Quite how this evolved to the modern conception of chivalry is
another matter.


michael adams

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