Fraternity of arms constituted an honoured tie among knights. They received the Sacrament together, exchanged armour, and from that time forth supported one another wherever they went, and at all hazards.
"From this day forward ever more
Neither fail, either for weal or wo,
To help other at need.
Brother be now true to me,
And I shall be as true to thee."
This brotherhood in arms, however, should perhaps be described as a revival of an ancient idea, whereas love, as it developed under the laws of chivalry, was a thing hitherto unknown to mankind. Doubtless there had been obscure precursors of the ideal, for many times must a new thought be uttered before the air vibrates with sufficient strength to awake answering movements in other minds. The first to think and feel a new world into existence—which is the ultimate mission of thinking and feeling—often leaves nothing but that new world behind him; neither name, nor fame, nor fortune. And so we shall never know in what noble hearts the true romantic love between man and woman first sprang into being.
The new mode of thought kindled generous impulses. Often fantastic, not to say ridiculous, they were always graceful and full of the flavour of romance.
"Many a knight," we are told, "would sally forth from a besieged town during a suspension of hostilities and demand whether there was any cavalier of the opposite host who, for love of his lady bright, would do any deed of arms."
"Now let us see if there be any amorous among you," was the usual conclusion of such a challenge. And out would come prancing some armoured knight from the gates of the city, and the two, with much ceremony of salutation, would fall to and hack each other to pieces with the utmost courtesy and mutual respect.