The _knight_, as the representative of European chivalry, comes to us in name at least from the German forests with the irrepressible Teutons.

_Chivalry_ in its rude form, however, was destined to pass through a refining and modifying process, and to obtain its name in France.

Its Norman characteristic is found in the young _ecuyer_ or squire, of Chaucer, who aspires to equal his father in station and renown; while the English type of the man-at-arms (_l'homme d'armes_) is found in their attendant yeoman, the _tiers etat_ of English chivalry, whose bills and bows served Edward III.
at Cressy and Poictiers, and, a little later, made Henry V.of England king of France in prospect, at Agincourt.

Chivalry, in its palmy days, was an institution of great merit and power; but its humanizing purpose now accomplished, it was beginning to decline.
What a speaking picture has Chaucer drawn of the knight, brave as a lion, prudent in counsel, but gentle as a woman.

His deeds of valor had been achieved, not at Cressy and Calais, but--what both chieftain and poet esteemed far nobler warfare--in battle with the infidel, at Algeciras, in Poland, in Prussia, and Russia.