Brigid went and did it again, she took a set of values that have been conveniently edited over and reset the bar for all of us.
The “code” is written in slightly different form in different pieces of literature, but it all has these things in common – courage, loyalty, respect, honor, finishing everything you start and never refusing a necessary battle regardless of the odds.
Widows and orphans were cared for. In days of old, the helpless were looked after, but you worked or you did not eat. There were three orders in society: oratores (those who pray), bellatores (those who fight), and laborares (those who work). Those that prayed, lived beyond simply, not riding around in limos in $1500 suits while telling their followers on national TV to “send more money”. The welfare class, that’s rapidly becoming a huge chunk of our “modern” society, didn’t exist. If you were physically capable, you pulled your weight. Or you died. The knight did not fight for the lazy, but for those who by station, age, or gender were not able to fight for themselves. There was faith in a higher power, but not so heavenly driven, that a man was useless on earth.
If only I had 1/10th of her writing skill. Read the whole thing (with your thinking cap on) and leave her a quick thank you in the comments.