The 17th-Century ideal of honor
Being Honorable
- Four Cardinal Virtues
- Prudence
- Temperance
- Justice
- Courage
- You were attributed or acquired honor based on your demonstration of certain chivalric values
- Valor/courage
- Largesse/generosity (liberalite)
- Loyalty
- Prowess (Bravery, physical strength, use of arms)
- AKA the “honnête homme”, whose qualities included:
- Moderate in all things
- Has qualities of good judgement
- Always is learning
- Knows how to choose his friends
- Will not tolerate abuse of himself or of those dear to him
- He has a “good heart”, “qualities of the heart”
- Grateful for the monarch because the monarch ensures order
- Has nobility of feeling
- Is passionate
- Can be in love like a crazy man, but not a fool
- A nobleman’s violent nature should be tamed by discretion
- A nobleman loves honor much more than his own life
- A lie was considered cowardice
- Men were supposed to fight to preserve a woman’s honor- if someone questioned a woman’s virtue a fight to the death could redeem it
- Men pledged to one another (brothers at arms sealed by swearing oaths or drinking each other’s blood) were supposed to fight for one another in the same way they would fight for the honor of a woman