Petrarch's
description of France after the battle of Poitiers; "I could not
believe that this was the same France which I had seen so rich and
flourishing. Nothing presented itself to my eyes but a fearful
solitude, land uncultivated, houses in ruins. Even the neighborhood of
Paris showed everywhere the marks of desolation and conflagration. The
streets are deserted, the roads overgrown with weeds, the whole is a
vast solitude."[4]

It is among the Northern conquerors that we must look for the origin of
the spirit of chivalry, which consisted first and chiefly in manly
valor exerted to obtain the favor of woman. Of this there is no trace
in any ancient civilization. Among the barbarous tribes of the North,
physical strength and military prowess were the qualities most
essential in a man, and woman naturally looked upon them as the merit
she most loved, especially as they were needed for her own protection.
But this condition is natural to all barbarous and warlike peoples, and
cannot by itself account for that sentiment which we call chivalric. To
the valor of the Goths were joined an extraordinary reverence and
respect for their women, due, as these feelings always must be, to
feminine chastity. The virtue for which the Northern women were
distinguished elevated them to a position to which the females of other
uncivilized nations never approached. It gave them a large influence in
both public and private affairs, and made them something to be won, not
bought. To obtain his wife the Northern warrior must have deserved her,
he must have given proofs that he was worthy of the woman who had
preserved her chastity inviolate, and for whom love must be mingled
with respect.[5] It is curious to observe how exactly these sentiments,
which existed at so early a period among the Gothic nations, were
continued into feudal times. Take, as one instance, the exclamation of
Regner Lodbrog, the famous Scandinavian chieftain, who about the year
860 rescued a princess from a fortress in which she was unjustly
confined, and received her hand as his reward: "I made to struggle in
the twilight that yellow haired chief, who passed his mornings among
the young maidens and loved to converse with widows. He who aspires to
the love of young virgins ought always to be foremost in the din of
arms!"[6] Compare to this a scene at Calais about the middle of the
fourteenth century. Edward III had just accomplished an adventure of
chivalry. Serving un