Chivalry, Idiots and Historical Justification

In 1344 Edward III, disappointed at the dropping standards of chivalry amongst his knights, announced the formation of a new order of chivalry. The Order of the Round Table was designed to draw directly on the legends of King Arthur and his Knights to set an example of the kind of behaviour the King expected of his peers.

It was a nice idea, but it smacks of the kind of behaviour you expect of a grumpy old man. Odd for a King only 32 years old. Perhaps it was the start of a mid life crisis.

Where is this going I hear you ask?

Well it is simple.

There seems to be a section of the WMA community (I know, I know, it's a handy term though so I'm going to use it however hypocritical that makes me) that claims we can only ever truly master the arts we study if we also take on the ethical framework of those that practiced it originally. They claim that in order to learn to fight with a sword we must also give of our time to help those less fortunate than ourselves. They don't tell us how this helps, but they insist that it is necessary.

Perhaps they are right.

Perhaps we really do need to hand out food to the homeless so we can more effectively hit each other with swords.

Or perhaps not.

Perhaps the two are completely unconnected and these people are simply brainwashed by the myth of Bushido. That to be balanced fighters we also need to become better people. That we should study combat and flower arranging. That martial arts are a way of life that make us better people and the improvement in our ability to fight is simply a side effect of this personal improvement.

Of course this is utter crap.

If we want to give more to charity we don't go out and get into fights in the street so why is the converse true?

It isn't.

However it would seem that Edward III thought the same so maybe it's historical after all. It's worth bearing in mind however that The Order of The Round Table was never formed. It was never anything more than a whim.

Perhaps he was an idiot too.

Oh yeah.

Happy New Year.