中世纪骑士的准则（中文+英文）

是骑士八大美德吧:谦卑(humility)、诚实(honesly)、怜悯(compassion)、英勇(valor)、公正(justice )、牺牲(sacrifice)、荣誉(honor)、精神(spirituality).

骑士宣言：

i will be kind to the weak.
i will be brave against the strong.
i will fight all who do wrong.
i will fight for those who cannot fight.
i will help those who call me for help.
i will harm no woman.
i will help my brother knight.
i will be true to my friends.
i will be faithful in love.
我将友好对待弱者
我将勇敢面对强者
我将和做错事的人战斗
我将为不能战斗者战斗
我将帮助那些请我帮助的人
我将不伤害女人
我将帮助骑士兄弟
我将忠诚对待朋友
我将真诚对待爱情

Chivalry

In the middle ages, the professional fighting men needed some sort of organization for their mutual benefit and protection and the noble and king needed sword of the professional fighting men. Out of this need, Chivalry was born.

As the system developed, it prescribed these fighting men definite rules, according these rules, they should be humble, they should behave properly, they should swear to faith to god and his king.

Many years past away, the noble and the king wanted more knight, so knight schools were founded. When a boy was about 7, he could go to school and learn to ride, and how to use sword and shield and the lance(马上用的长矛). In some schools, if a boy was lucky, he could learn reading and writing. When the boy was 14, he became a squire(侍从). He had to keep the knight’s amour and weapons clean, even wash clothes. He had to brush and feed the horses, and to help the knight all the time. When he was 20, if he had proved himself, he could be a knight. After a ceremony, his king would put a long sword on his shoulder, he was a real knight. Then he had many special weapons, a long sword was about twice length of a man’s arm and as heave as a bicycle; a mace(钉头锤) with heavy metal end that could break bones through amour and be used when fighting on foot; several lance, some of them were designed to break in tournament(比武大会); a shield, usually was leather covered and had a curved edge where a knight could rest his lance; an amour with a helmet and a horse amour, that must be polished usually. In holidays or other special days, knight would competed on the tournament field. They wore the sleeveless(无袖的) coat sewn with the badge(纹章) that belonged to their families and told the families’ history. Their horses wore corresponding clothes in the family colors. Some of them had coat of arms, on which the badge and colors belonged to a family, it was past down a father to his eldest son. Although tournaments were fun to most people, they were serious to the knights who provided the main interest, because it was a way of practicing the skills they would use in battle, and it was a matter of glory. One popular tournament event was the jousts(马上枪术比赛). Knights on the horses’ back rushed at each other with long lances. If a knight knocked his competitor out of the saddle, he won. If he broke his lance on the competitor’s shield, he could get points. In the jousts, death was possible, and recovery was a slow and painful business. The knight who won would earn the money and the knight who lost would lose his weapon and horse. The horse was as expensive as a Lincoln car today.

After many years’ fight, a knight could build a castle of his own if he was lucky enough. Before a knight built the castle, he had to dwell on the location. To the castle there were too many dangers. Catapult(投石机) could throw rocks and be used to send dead animals to spread disease; the battering ram(攻城锤) could break the gate; siege tower(攻城箭塔) let the attacking soldiers climb into the castle; and the worst was that the bombard(射石炮) in the latest years of middle ages could fire large stone balls which could break down the walls of castle. After the knight chose a location, the castle should be strong enough. The castle had to change as well when the bombard became better. There were more outer walls and ditches that keep the bombard far away from the walls. Before the gate there usually was moat that was a good defence.

哇，学到好多，谢谢！！！