Chivalry in the Renaissance

The transmutation of the medieval knight into Renaissance courtier or gentleman is one of the central problems for the student of chivalry in the Renaissance. The knight as a fighter and protector is replaced by a figure whose activities are mainly restricted to court spectacles and masques, it is in perceiving the shift of emphasis in the intervening centuries that the challenge to students of chivalry lies. These fourteen essays, originating from a conference arranged by the Society for Renaissance Studies in 1988, examine changes in chivalric institutions, ideas and ideals between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the ways in which the Renaissance regarded such chivalric matters.