While it is difficult to find precise rules laid down for the conduct of a knight, it is clear that a code is recognized, even though, in the stern tests of day to day life, it was rarely, faithfully lived up to. Amid all the treachery, greed, infidelity and cruelty there are to be found shining examples of courage, genteelness, understanding and mercy inspired by those rules that only a perfect man could live up to.

The Ten Rules of Chivalry

1. Thou shalt follow the dictates of moral conscience.
2. Thou shalt be willing to defend your values.
3. Thou shalt have respect  and pity for all weakness and steadfastness in defending them.
4. Thou shalt love thy country.
5. Thou shalt refuse to retreat before the enemy.
6. Thou shalt wage unceasing and merciless war against all that is evil.
7. Thou shalt obey the orders of those appointed above you, as long as those orders do not conflict with what you know to be just.
8. Thou shalt show loyalty to truth and to your pledged word.
9. Thou shalt be generous and giving of ones self.
10. Thou shalt be champion of the right and good at all times, and at all times oppose the forces of evil.

The picture of the true knight as a Christian soldier emerges clearly. Military glory and power were not enough. They must be gained and displayed in the service of the Church and of worthy ends. "It was not without reason," wrote St. Bernard, "that the soldier of Christ carries a sword; it is for the chastisement of the wicked and for the glory of the good." Among other attempts to define the rules of chivalry, Lord Tennyson's was the shortest and neatest: "Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow Christ the King."crystalwind.ca

Rules of Chivalrous Love

1. Thou shalt avoid avarice like the deadly pestilence and thou shalt embrace its opposite.
2. Thou shalt keep thyself chaste for the sake of her whom thou loves.
3. Thou shalt not knowingly strive to break up a correct love affair that someone is engaged in.
4. Thou shalt not choose for thy love anyone whom a natural sense of shame forbids thee to marry.
5. Be mindful completely to avoid falsehood.
6. Patience is the greatest virtue of love.
7. Being obedient in all things to the commands of ladies.
8. In giving and receiving love's solaces let modesty be ever present.
9. Thou shalt speak no evil.
10. Thou shalt not be a revealer of love affairs.
11. Thou shalt be in all things polite and courteous.

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