The Culture of Chivalric Renown: An Interview with chivalry scholar Brian Price

Dr. Brian R. Price, chivalry scholar and master swordsman, is a true Renaissance man (can you say that about a Medieval expert?)  In addition to his extensive understanding of chivalry and swordsmanship, Price also has decades of experience in Western Martial Arts and has been inducted into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame. We had the pleasure of talking with him about his many interests.

Brian Price:  During the “late” medieval period, what has been called the “calamitous” fourteenth century and into the fifteenth, European warfare underwent significant challenge. The Hundred Years War, fought between England and France from 1337-1453; the papal Schism; the Black Plague; and a series of failed crusading attempts all wrought changes on the battlefield. This kind of war put huge demands on the older feudal system, and brought in new types of men into the fray; knights were joined by a new kind of soldier, one who was more of the city or town than the country, who did not share the knight’s interest in renown, tournaments and jousts, as well as war. They learned from books rather than the more oral aristocratic culture (which also had books, but for a different kind of knowledge).

At the same time, urbanization and technological development brought new tools to the battlefield. The longbow long reigned supreme, but was joined by the crossbow, which anybody could use, and eventually the gun or gonne, which eventually put an end to armour. Siege engineers mined rather than stormed the walls, and society changed to become far more focused on the urban culture, where wealth came in liquid form. The knight’s place on the battlefield, and as a central figure in elite society, ebbed gradually but inexorably under these new stresses.

Along with this came changes in his armour, in the tournament, and in the joust. Armour first improved with bloomery furnaces that made larger billets of iron. In response to the gunpowder challenge, it first became thicker and then was gradually reduced. The feat of arms became less a matter of aristocratic renown-building as it came increasingly under royal control, a part of the efforts by governments to bring their own nobles to heel under royal authority. By the mid-fifteenth century, many feats more resembled judicial duels, save for a few outliers, like the princely festivals held in Burgundy and King Rene d’Anjou.

With these changes the knight’s armour kept a frenetic pace, but gradually slipped away, along with the knight’s battlefield predominance. He became instead the officer and gentleman, his chivalric and customary practice now became international law and the laws of war. All of this we can see in the armour so beautifully brought together in the Stibbert Collection.

BP:  I became entranced with J.R.R. Tolkien in middle school, which eventually brought me to wargaming and the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). From there, I became increasingly interested in how things were done originally; how the tournament worked and how armour functioned. Eventually, I gravitated also to chivalric culture and fighting techniques, fortunately partially reserved in manuscript form. Fast forward some years through Silicon Valley, and I was finishing my doctorate here at the University of North Texas. Today, after time in Afghanistan and Hawaii, I teach military history, strategy and planning at the Air Force’s Air Command & Staff College, at Maxwell AFB, in Alabama.

BP:  Using this sword in a systematic way is very much a martial art. I’ve always been drawn to scholarship and practice that complements actual use–I’ve been very fortunate to be able to do this with my medieval interests and in military history, actually taking part in the Afghan campaign, then writing about past, present and future war.

BP:  The knight is a distillation of Western mythography. Myths, by their nature, are part fiction and part truth, they are aspirational lessons. The idea of the knight, exemplified by his armour and his sword, stand for the best of what we can be, fighters for what is right, no matter the cost. It doesn’t mean being stupid in one’s pursuit, but one should bring the whole of the will to bear. It also allows for religion to play a part, for those who feel that calling, enabling the pursuit of right through means both secular and spiritual.

BP:  Courtesy is the piece of the chivalric character that should spring to mind, though some would say that even that is under challenge. Respect for one’s fellows is sorely missing today as well, but is the grease that makes society work—especially democratic ones.