Many of the fictional chivalric books published in the Middle Ages contained a lot of subject matter based on love and courtship. However, historians believe that these books were intended for the knight himself as much as his lady, if not more so, judging by the gratuitous violence found in such works. It is even hypothesized that the relationship between two knights who were fighting against each other was held in as high regard as that of a knight and his lady, since some evidence is found of a belief in a sort of bond between the two warriors. Even being from very different backgrounds, they both shared the fact that they had each seen and participated in a lot of bloodshed (Kaeuper 32). Fictional books of chivalry were not meant to reflect exactly the life of a knight, as writers of the Middle Ages seldom had sufficient time or funds to travel around and research and interview knights. Rather, the books were prescriptive, showing how the knightly order should be embodied. Life began to imitate art at this point, and knights grew more and more toward this romantic ideal (Kaeuper 33).
Kaeuper, Richard W. Chivalry and Violence in Medieval Europe. New York: Oxford UP, 1999.
Kaeuper, Richard W. Chivalry and Violence in Medieval Europe. New York: Oxford UP, 1999.