l true. The question is whether knights always show courtesy or not. A knight could use his strength and wealth in doing good for those who were weaker and poorer or abuse their power. In reality, a knight did not always live up to these high ideals. Code of honor was applied only to members of his own high rank (sometimes). Knight often acted brutally toward people of lower rank or those whose lands they conquered and plundered. Chivalry in the later Medieval period did become a game for the ruling class. In the beginning, chivalry had been a code of behavior, which a knight had to live by. Knights were men on horses who had spent much of their time fighting. However, the increasing uses of hired soldiers and the introduction of gunpowder made knight less and less important in society. The role this played on chivalry was strong. It showed how chivalry evolved into a less valuable position and cause the decline also. Knights who fought on horseback with lance became a game. The nobility tried to display their fighting skills by staging elaborate tournaments. In the beginning, tournaments have served as war games that had keep knights at their peak of fighting efficiency. In the later medieval period however, there were often little differences between the games and reality of war. There were large bands of knights that engaged in bloody mock battles destroying many acres of good farmlands. Many knights were left wounded and dead. Later tournaments became less of a preparation for war than an elaborate pageant. In these elaborate tournaments, nobles worked desperately to impress one another. They amused by the decline of Western Europe. After, the European economy had begun to decline, an in 1247 the bubonic plague, which had appeared frequently in the 14th and 15th century, recurred. The plague had killed a large population. This helped to bring about disintegration of the feudal order. In the end it can be agr...
