Editing Chivalry (section)

===Themes of chivalric literature===
In [[medieval literature]], chivalry can be classified into three overlapping areas:
#Duties to countrymen and fellow Christians: this includes mercy, courage, valour, fairness, protection of the weak and the poor, and the servant-hood of the knight to his lord. This also includes being willing to give one's life for another's; whether for a poor man or his lord.
#Duties to God: this includes being faithful to God, protecting the innocent, being faithful to the church, being the champion of good against evil, being generous, and obeying God above the feudal lord.
#Duties to women: this is probably the most familiar aspect of chivalry. This includes what is often called courtly love—the idea that the knight is to serve a lady, and after her all other ladies—and a general gentleness and graciousness to all women.

Different weight given to different areas produced different strands of chivalry:
;warrior chivalry: in which a knight's chief duty is to his lord, as exemplified by Sir [[Gawain]] in ''[[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]'' and ''[[The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle]]''
;religious chivalry: in which a knight's chief duty is to protect the innocent and serve God, as exemplified by Sir [[Galahad]] or Sir [[Percival]] in the [[Holy Grail|Grail legends]]
;courtly love chivalry: in which a knight's chief duty is to his own lady, and after her, all ladies, as exemplified by Sir [[Lancelot]] in his love for Queen [[Guinevere]] or Sir [[Tristan]] in his love for [[Iseult]]