CHIVALRY WITHOUT A HORSE: MILITARY HONOUR AND THE MODERN LAW OF ARMED CONFLICT
CHIVALRY WITHOUT A HORSE: MILITARY HONOUR AND THE MODERN LAW OF ARMED CONFLICT
Author(s): Rain Liivoja Subject(s): Criminal Law, International Law, Security and defense, Military policy, Peace and Conflict Studies
Published by: Kaitseväe Akadeemia (KVA)
Keywords: Military honour; law of armed conflict; war and chivalry; prisoners of war; Warfare;
Summary/Abstract: Chivalry conjures up an image of a medieval warrior in shining armour, riding into battle on a noble steed, to rescue a sleeping princess from a threeheaded dragon. Dragons aside, this popular image is fairly accurate. Chivalry in the broadest sense comprises the ethos of the knight – the mounted combatant that dominated the battlefields of Europe in the Middle Ages – and covers everything from battlefield conduct to courtly love. This association between the mounted warrior and chivalry goes as deep as etymology – in many languages the very word for “knight” is derived from the word for “horse”: thus, in French, chevalier comes from cheval, in Italian cavaliere from cavallo and in Spanish caballero from caballo.
Journal: EMA OCCASIONAL PAPERS (until May 2019: ENDC OCCASIONAL PAPERS)
- Issue Year: 2015
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 108-134
- Page Count: 26
- Language: English