Code of Honor Code of Honor Author Kelsie Tylka Supervising Editor Kate McPherson Editor Kate McPherson Copy Editor Leah Hamby Senior Encoder Leah Hamby Encoding and Metadata LEMDO Team Copyright Holder (Content) Kate McPherson Copyright Holder (XML and interface) University of Victoria Early Modern England Encyclopedia EMEE

Anthology Leads: Kate McPherson and Kate Moncrief.

 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Mitacs Globalink Research Internship Utah Valley University

Released with Early Modern England Encyclopedia 1.0a

 University of Victoria on the Linked Early Modern Drama Online Platform

Intellectual copyright in this entry is held by Kate McPherson on behalf of the contributors. Copyright on the TEI-XML markup is held by the University of Victoria on behalf of the LEMDO Team. The content and TEI-XML markup in this file are licensed under a CC BY-NC_ND 4.0 license. This file is freely downloadable without permission under the following conditions: (1) credit must be given to the authors, EMEE, and LEMDO in any subsequent use of the files and /or data; (2) this availability statement must remain in the file; (3) the content cannot be adapted or repurposed (except for quotations for the purposes of academic review and citation); and (4) commercial uses are not permitted without the knowledge and consent of the authors, EMEE, and LEMDO. Neither the content nor the code in this file is licensed for training large language models (LLMs), ingestion into an LLM, or any use in any artificial intelligence applications; such uses are considered to be commercial uses and are strictly prohibited.

Early Modern England Encyclopedia

By Kelsie Tylka, inspired by Michael Best’s Shakespeare’s Life and Times, Internet Shakespeare Editions

Encoded in TEI P5 according to the LEMDO Customization and Encoding Guidelines

This document uses Canadian English spelling

 Document Types All documents in LEMDO are either born-digital documents or primary documents. Within those two general categories, LEMDO offers additional ways to categorize a file. Born-digital Born-digital documents are anything other than primary texts Critical Critical material, such as a general introduction or a textual introduction. Responsibilities Responsibilities Author A person, family, or organization responsible for creating a work that is primarily textual in content, regardless of media type (e.g., printed text, spoken word, electronic text, tactile text) or genre (e.g., poems, novels, screenplays, blogs). Use also for persons, etc., creating a new work by paraphrasing, rewriting, or adapting works by another creator such that the modification has substantially changed the nature and content of the original or changed the medium of expression. LEMDO uses the term author in two contexts: (1) to indicate the author of a primary work or document (such as Hamlet), and (2) to indicate the author of a secondary text (such as the Critical Introduction to <title level="m">Hamlet, by David Bevington). Editor A person, family, or organization contributing to a resource by revising or elucidating the content, e.g., adding an introduction, notes, or other critical matter. An editor may also prepare a resource for production, publication, or distribution. For major revisions, adaptations, etc., that substantially change the nature and content of the original work, resulting in a new work, see author. LEMDO uses the general term editor only in edition metadata and only to indicate when a person is responsible for editing all parts of an edition. Otherwise, use the more granular terms to describe the precise nature of the editorial role. Supervising Editor An editor who supervises the work of a student editor. Copy Editor LEMDO uses the term owner for the person who checks facts, quotations, and citations; may make formatting changes; may convert from one citation style to another; may suggest wording changes; and enforces conformity with the project style guide. Markup Editor A person or organization performing the coding of SGML, HTML, or XML markup of metadata, text, etc. Gloss needed. Copyright Holder A person or organization to whom copy and legal rights have been granted or transferred for the intellectual content of a work. The copyright holder, although not necessarily the creator of the work, usually has the exclusive right to benefit financially from the sale and use of the work to which the associated copyright protection applies. Normally the editor is the copyright holder for an LEMDO edition. EMEE Keywords Culture Learn about the customs, beliefs, and daily lives of people in early modern England. Daily Life Chivalry Honour Published file. Updated metadata added Honour catref. proofed Review of article finished. updated author respStmt. swapped the desc and figDescs to be correct. added figure and image citation. Fixed capitalization in source titles. Created File. Michael Best Michael Best

Michael Best is Professor Emeritus at the University of Victoria, BC. He founded the Internet Shakespeare Editions in 1996, and was Coordinating Editor until 2017, contributing two editions to the ISE: King John and King Lear (the latter also available in print from Broadview Press). In print, he has published editions of works of Elizabethan magic and huswifery, a collection of letters from the Australian goldfields, and Shakespeare on the Art of Love (2008). He contributed regular columns for the Shakespeare Newsletter on Electronic Shakespeares, and has written many articles and chapters for both print and online books and journals, principally on questions raised by the new medium in the editing and publication of texts. He has delivered papers and plenary lectures on electronic media and the Internet Shakespeare Editions at conferences in Canada, the USA, the UK, Spain, Australia, and Japan.

 Leah Hamby Leah Hamby

Leah Hamby is the primary encoder for the Early Modern England Encyclopedia. Aside from encoding, she also works as an editor for the project and contributed several articles of her own. She has been working on the EMEE since February 2023. As of February 2026, she is soon to graduate with honours from Utah Valley University with a major in history and a minor in creative writing. Her other work with the LEMDO program includes remediating William Kemp’s Kemp’s Nine Day’s Wonder for the Digital Renaissance Editions.

 Navarra Houldin Navarra Houldin

Training and Documentation Lead 2025–present. LEMDO project manager 2022–2025. Textual remediator 2021–present. Navarra Houldin (they/them) completed their BA with a major in history and minor in Spanish at the University of Victoria in 2022. Their primary research was on gender and sexuality in early modern Europe and Latin America. They are continuing their education through an MA program in Gender and Social Justice Studies at the University of Alberta where they will specialize in Digital Humanities.

 Kate McPherson Kate McPherson

Kate McPherson is Professor of English and Honors Program Director at Utah Valley University (Orem, UT, USA). In 2015, she began working to redevelop Shakespeare’s Life and Times, created by Michael Best, into the Early Modern England Encyclopedia. Her other publications include commentary on Pericles and The Comedy of Errors for the New Oxford Shakespeare (2016); the co-edited volumes Stages of Engagement: Drama and Religion in Post-Reformation England with James Mardock (Duquesne University Press, 2014) and Shakespeare Expressed: Page, Stage, and Classroom in Shakespeare and His Contemporaries, with Kathryn M. Moncrief and Sarah Enloe (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2013). With Kathryn M. Moncrief, Kate has also two edited collections, Performing Pedagogy in Early Modern England: Gender, Instruction, and Performance (Ashgate, 2011) and Performing Maternity in Early Modern England (Ashgate 2008). She has also published numerous articles on early modern maternity in scholarly journals. Kate participated in the 2008 National Endowment for the Humanities Institute, Shakespeare’s Blackfriars: The Study, the Stage, the Classroom, at the American Shakespeare Center. She also served as Play Seminar Director, a public humanities position, for the Utah Shakespeare Festival in 2017 and 2018.

 Kelsie Tylka Kelsie Tylka

Kelsie Tylka was a student at Utah Valley University.

 LEMDO Team The LEMDO Team is based at the University of Victoria and normally comprises the project director, the lead developer, project manager, junior developers(s), remediators, encoders, and remediating editors. University of Victoria https://www.uvic.ca/
Edward III Becomes Vicar to Emperor Ludwig by Virigil Master, c. 1410. Courtesy of Wikimedia. Public Domain.

The Code of Honor, also known as chivalry, was an aspect of the feudal system during the medieval period, one especially associated knights. This system involved a code of religious, social, and ethical beliefs and behaviors that a knight was expected to exhibit. Although this concept was introduced in literature in the French epic poem, The Song of Roland (circa 1100 CE), starting in 12th and 13th centuries it became an essential aspect of English culture and society for the elite classes which persisted into the early modern period.

Rise of Chivalry

Chivalry was firmly established during the 50-year reign of King Edward III from 1327–1377. Under feudal law, a knight was required to meet certain obligations in order to keep their status and land. Edward III, a notable military figure, encouraged the rise of chivalry as a means of glorifying martial values. The Hundred Years’ War, a long and complex conflict between Edward’s family, the Plantagenets, and a series of French kings, created a warlike society, and therefore military ethics grew as a central anchor to society. The chivalric order also encouraged patriotism and loyalty in both knights and citizens.

Chivalric Code

The code itself and what it encompassed was never a set list of guidelines; however, acts of chivalry and what they represented was well-known to everyone in the elite classes during this time. Chivalry focused on a sense of bravery and honor in battle while also exhibiting devoutness, loyalty, and gallantry toward women. Earning knighthood became a deeply ritualized ceremony and identity involving both church and state. This status had evolved earlier as a particularly important aspect of the Crusades (1095–1291 CE), as the church sanctioned the knights to bear arms in the protection of the church.

Court of Chivalry

The importance of chivalry within the English society in the Middle Ages made it necessary for the king and the court to both monitor and judge a knight’s actions. This prompted the creation of the Court of Chivalry, which was presided over by the king, along with the Lord High Constable and Earl Marshal of England. These three powerful individuals could pass judgement on a knight outside of English common law, thus without a trial or jury. They could decide, based on a knight’s actions, whether the knight should keep their status and lands after being accused of a crime or dishonor. In the age of Edward III, this court was used regularly as a means of controlling the chivalric system. This court also awarded prizes based on admirable actions, with one of the most prestigious being the Order of the Garter. This award was established by Edward III and to this day is regarded as the one of the most prestigious awards in Britain. This Court of Chivalry still functions today, although it is rarely convened and deals mainly with issues regarding coats of arms. Men and women are now awarded the Order of the Garter for ceremonial purposes only based on a record of public service and only 24 individuals outside the royal family may hold the Order of the Garter at any given time.

Honor and Chivalry in Shakespeare

Many characters in early modern plays wrestle with the idea of honor. The question of honor in drama typically focuses on its definition and the conflict between physical versus moral prowess. This question is particularly prevalent in Shakespeare’s plays, with honor as a prevalent theme in Othello, Hamlet, The Winter’s Tale, Antony and Cleopatra, and Troilus and Cressida. In Henry IV, Part I, the theme of honor is mentioned throughout, from Hotspur to Falstaff. Falstaff famously questions the very meaning of honor in Act 5 Scene 1: What is honor? A word. What is in that word honor? What is that honor? Air. A trim reckoning. Who hath it? He that died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he hear it? No. 'Tis insensible, then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it. Therefore, I’ll none of it. Honor is a mere scutcheon.(5.1.137–147)

The question Falstaff asks is whether this idea of honor for soldiers is worth the pain and fear of what is required. In the end, he feels as though it is not. Falstaff’s feelings, while unpatriotic, give insight into the question of honor and what it meant in the early modern period.

Key Print Sources Hodgdon, Barabara. Honor and Arms: Elizabethan Neochivalric Culture and the Military Trades. in Henry the Fourth, Part One: Tests and Contexts, edited by Barabard Hodgdon. Bedford Books, 1997. Saul, Nigel. Chivalry in Medieval England. Harvard University Press, 2011. Taylor, Craig. Chivalry and the Ideals of Knighthood in France during the Hundred Years War. Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Key Online Sources Best, Michael. Chivalry and the Code of Honour. Shakespeare’s Life and Times.Internet Shakespeare Editions. University of Victoria. https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/society/court%20life/chivalry.html. Accessed 15 Oct. 2018. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. Chivalry. Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 30 Aug. 2016, https://www.britannica.com/topic/chivalry. Accessed 15 Oct. 2018. Highfield, J.R.L., and Thomas Frederick Tout. Edward III. Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 17 Jun. 2018, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edward-III-king-of-England. Accessed 15 Oct. 2018.
Image Source Master, Virgil. Edward III Becomes Vicar to Emperor Ludwig. c. 1410. Wikimedia. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Edward_III_becomes_Vicar_to_the_Emperor_Ludwig_V.jpg.