as knights, mounted and equipped, was the common duty of
vassals; it implied no personal merit, it gave of itself a claim to no
civil privileges. But this knight-service founded upon a feudal
obligation is to be carefully distinguished from that superior chivalry,
in which all was independent and voluntary. The latter, in fact, could
hardly flourish in its full perfection till the military service of
feudal tenure began to decline; namely, in the thirteenth century. The
origin of this personal chivalry I should incline to refer to the
ancient usage of voluntary commendation, which I have mentioned in a
former chapter. Men commended themselves, that is, did homage and
professed attachment to a prince or lord; generally indeed for
protection or the hope of reward, but sometimes probably for the sake of
distinguishing themselves in his quarrels. When they received pay, which
must have been the usual case, they were literally his soldiers, or
stipendiary troops. Those who could afford to exert their valour without
recompense were like the knights of whom we read in romance, who served
a foreign master through love, or thirst of glory, or gratitude. The
extreme poverty of the lower nobility, arising from the subdivision of
fiefs, and the politic generosity of rich lords, made this connexion as
strong as that of territorial dependence. A younger brother, leaving the
paternal estate, in which he took a slender share, might look to wealth
and dignity in the service of a powerful count. Knighthood, which he
could not claim as his legal right, became the object of his chief
ambition. It raised him in the scale of society, equalling him in dress,
in arms, and in title, to the rich landholders. As it was due to his
merit, it did much more than equal him to those who had no pretensions
but from wealth; and the territorial knights became by degrees ashamed
of assuming the title till they could challenge it by real desert.

[Sidenote: Effect of the crusades on chivalry.]

This class of noble and gallant cavaliers serving commonly for pay, but
on the most honourable footing, became far more numerous through the
crusades; a great epoch in the history of European society. In these
wars, as all feudal service was out of the question, it was necessary
for the richer barons to take into their pay as many knights as they
could afford to maintain; speculating, so far as such motives operated,
on an influence with the leaders of the expeditio