Church and Knights

The influence of the church over the knights and the conception of chivalry is far more complicated than can be covered in a simple definition. Originally rough warriors, the milites were viewed as a danger to the local populace, who they frequently overran in their petty disputes and tourneys. The church preferred that the soldier's energy be put to holy use-soldiers of Christ defending the church with the sword even as the clergy defended the church with their minds and books. Although the church did affect the conception of ethical behavior for knights, adding the virtues of humility, defense of the weak and of women, piety, faith and chastity to the chivalric ethic. By preaching the Crusades at the Council of Claremont, the church did succeed in firing up the chivalry, many of whom were unemployed, with an energy and a common enemy, thus diverting their attention from factional disputes within Europe. Out of the Crusades came contact with the Eastern ways of life and organizations of religious knights organizing themselves along the lines of a sort of military monastaries, the Templars and Hospitallers.