Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/365

 Books and Science in the Middle Ages 267 begin to appear. These enjoyed great popularity in all western Europe for centuries, and they are by no means forgotten yet. Arthur, of whose historical existence no one can be quite sure, was supposed to have been king of Britain shortly after the Saxons gained a foothold in the island. Besides the long and elaborate epics, like Roland, and the romances in verse and prose, there were numberless short stories in verse, which usually dealt with the incidents of everyday life, especially with the comical ones. II. THE TROUBADOURS AND CHIVALRY 438. The Troubadours. Turning now to southern France, the beautiful songs of the troubadours, which were the glory of the Provencal tongue, reveal a gay and polished society at the courts of the numerous feudal princes. The troubadours traveled from court to court, not only in France but north into Germany and south into Italy, carrying with them the southern French poetry and customs. We have few examples of Provengal before the year noo, but from that time on, for two centuries, countless songs were written. 439. Chivalry. For the student of history the chief interest of the long poems of northern France and the songs of the South lies in the insight that they give into the ideals of this feudal period. These are usually summed up in the term chivalry, or knighthood. The knights play the chief role in all the medieval romances ; and since many of the troubadours belonged to the knightly class, they naturally have much to say of it in their songs. Chivalry was not a formal institution established at any par- ticular moment. Like feudalism, with which it was closely con- nected, it had no founder, but appeared spontaneously throughout western Europe to meet the needs and desires of the period. When the youth of good family had been carefully trained to ride his horse, use his sword, and manage his hawk in the hunt, he was made a knight by a ceremony in which the Church took part, although the knighthood was actually conferred by an older knight.