{"id":33,"date":"2026-05-06T18:56:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T18:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unicorn-castle.org\/medievalisms\/?page_id=33"},"modified":"2026-05-06T18:56:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T18:56:48","slug":"knights-of-the-digital-age","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/unicorn-castle.org\/medievalisms\/contents\/knights-of-the-digital-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Knights of the Digital Age"},"content":{"rendered":"
by Carol Parrish <\/span>Jamison
\nGeorgia Southern University<\/h6>\n

Who says chivalry is dead?\u00a0Members of the Society for Creative Anachronisms<\/a> would certainly argue that chivalry is alive and well. This worldwide organization of medieval afficionados was established in 1966. In the SCA, members not only\u00a0 learn about, but\u00a0 participate in, medieval culture. The SCA sponsors events that include reenactments of tournaments and jousts, feasts, archery competitions, and other medieval-inspired events. Renaissance Fairs, despite the name, also reveal our fascination with medieval chivalry. Here, too, participants can watch reenactments of jousts and tournaments and mingle with cosplaying knights and damsels. You might also attend a Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament, where you can enjoy a medieval-inspired banquet and watch a faux tournament.<\/p>\n

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Post-medieval representations of knights are\u00a0 found in almost every genre of modern media: movies, video games, series, comic books, and anime.<\/p>\n

The Chivalric Code<\/strong><\/p>\n

The chivalric code, as defined by historian Maurice Keen, consisted of prowess, franchise, courtesy, loyalty, and generosity. How do our modern-day knights measure up? We\u2019ll consider a few modern-day knights (with special attention to George R. R. Martin’s Ser Duncan the Tall) alongside Keen’s definition of chivalry. Then, we\u2019ll take a look at medieval rules of chivalry found in chivalric manuals. These chivalric manuals not only describe fighting techniques but also define the rules of knighthood. As frames of references, we\u2019ll use Ramon Lull\u2019s 13th<\/sup> century Book of the Order of Chivalry<\/em> and Geoffroi de Charney\u2019s 14th<\/sup> century\u00a0A Knight\u2019s Own Book of Chivalry.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Franchise and Prowess<\/strong><\/p>\n

The knights of medieval romance are always good looking, and they are excellent fighters. They have a noble bearing and bloodline that sets them above the common man. Consider, for example, this description of the hero of King Horn, <\/em>an early thirteenth-century English manuscript:<\/p>\n

Bryht so ever eny glas
\nSo whit so eny lilye flour
\nSo rose red was his colour.
\nHe wes feyr ant eke bold
\nAnt of fifteyne wynter old. (14-18)<\/p>\n

Bloodline is requisite for knighthood in medieval romance. Knights of the digital age, on the other hand, often rise from humble beginnings. For instance, Martin’s Ser Duncan the Tall (Ser Dunk) is a lowly hedge knight (if he is a knight at all). Hedge knights are, in Martin’s world, poor poor knights who wander in search of service and often literally must sleep under hedges.\u00a0 The hedge knight\u00a0 falls in the cracks as he is from the lower, working estate, yet his duty is to fight.<\/p>\n

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FRANCHISE AND PHYSIQUE<\/strong><\/p>\n

The enhanced physical appearance and occasional supernatural powers of the knight in medieval romance make them comparable to modern superheroes and to the digital knights of video games. Armor was fashioned to enhance the knight\u2019s physique much in the way the superheroes like Batman and Superman sport costumes that enhance their physiques.<\/p>\n

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Similarly, the knights of many video games have unrealistic physiques that emphasize their prowess. Villains, on the other hand, are distorted in ways that make them appear almost monstrous. Take a look at this knight from the video game\u00a0Elden Ring<\/em>:<\/p>\n

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Contemporary portrayals of medieval battles and jousts vary in their success in mimicking historical rules of battle. In films, battle scenes tend to emphasize battle gore.\u00a0One of the more historically accurate duels appears in The Princess Bride. <\/em>The actors worked with a professional fencer and spent hours working on the fight scenes:<\/p>\n