ssary in the perfect
stage of chivalry. Proofs, though rare and incidental, might be adduced
to show that in the time of Charlemagne, and even earlier, the sons of
monarchs at least did not assume manly arms without a regular
investiture. And in the eleventh century it is evident that this was a
general practice.[760]

This ceremony, however, would perhaps of itself have done little towards
forming that intrinsic principle which characterized the genuine
chivalry. But in the reign of Charlemagne we find a military distinction
that appears, in fact as well as in name, to have given birth to that
institution. Certain feudal tenants, and I suppose also alodial
proprietors, were bound to serve on horseback, equipped with the coat
of mail. These were called Caballarii, from which the word chevaliers is
an obvious corruption.[761] But he who fought on horseback, and had been
invested with peculiar arms in a solemn manner, wanted nothing more to
render him a knight. Chivalry therefore may, in a general sense, be
referred to the age of Charlemagne. We may, however, go further, and
observe that these distinctive advantages above ordinary combatants were
probably the sources of that remarkable valour and that keen thirst for
glory, which became the essential attributes of a knightly character.
For confidence in our skill and strength is the usual foundation of
courage; it is by feeling ourselves able to surmount common dangers,
that we become adventurous enough to encounter those of a more
extraordinary nature, and to which more glory is attached. The
reputation of superior personal prowess, so difficult to be attained in
the course of modern warfare, and so liable to erroneous
representations, was always within the reach of the stoutest knight, and
was founded on claims which could be measured with much accuracy. Such
is the subordination and mutual dependence in a modern army, that every
man must be content to divide his glory with his comrades, his general,
or his soldiers. But the soul of chivalry was individual honour, coveted
in so entire and absolute a perfection that it must not be shared with
an army or a nation. Most of the virtues it inspired were what we may
call independent, as opposed to those which are founded upon social
relations. The knights-errant of romance perform their best exploits
from the love of renown, or from a sort of abstract sense of justice,
rather than from any solicitude to promote the happiness