chevalier

I've been thinking of you, praying for Poland, and for the repose of the souls of the deceased, after the recent sequel to the tragedy at Katyn. We Hungarians cherish our friendship with the Polish people, cultivating a deep sense of gratitude towards Jozef Bem and other Polish heroes, who fought besides us and even spilled their blood for Hungarian freedom, in our war for independence in 1848-1849. General Bem, who was the top commander of the Hungarian army in the Transylvanian theater, and fought against the Habsburg (Austrian) and Kossack (Czarist) armies, is affectionately remembered as "Bem Apo" (Father Bem, Elder Bem) in our folk songs, and in poems of our great poet Sandor Petofi, who fought in Bem's army, and was killed by the Kossacks in 1849.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Bem

Chevalier, my friend - thanks for the invitation. You are in my thoughts and prayers, and please keep me in your prayers, too. Friendship is a miracle, it's one of those wonderful things that's out of this world. I believe friendship, like other forms of love, is a work of the Holy Spirit in us.

After all these years of chatting...we are finally ....officially...FRIENDS. Aw. haha Thank you for the friend request...I am humbled to be yours.

Thank you. I do have a feeling that this Easter will be blessed and special. It will also be a great relief. Already in less than one hour will the Easter Eve Mass start for me, during and after which, it will already be Easter.

And the same to you, also with thanks for genereous support (to put it mildly).

Wanted to wish you a very blessed and special Easter... You've come a long way this year...rejoice.

I'll be PMing you then because it would feel a bit too much like spilling my guts in public.

For now, let's just say that the concept is frequently used without historical understanding, often idealised beyond limits and gaps are being filled with imagination. It's often connected with a concept of "courtly love", which was actually profoundly heretical and condemned by the decent people of the age, not like it sat well with the Church either (it came from Muslim poets of the Iberian peninsula and troubadours from Provence and their disciples would spread it across the rest of Europe; it included a pattern of switching from some unnatural love without fruition to very real fruition with justifications following; justification of adultery did entail). On second thought, do you still need my own views if I say I agree with what they say here (Catholic Encyclopedia: chivalry)?

Bad news for you, Chev. The broad-based curriculum I have adopted, which I have christened "The Art of War" (after Sun Tsu's work) calls for supplementary materials in the form of understanding what exactly is "chivalry", especially as relates to Christianity, honor, and virtue. Would it be too much to ask for you to elaborate? I feel like picking your brain, although if you are too busy or would rather not, I understand.

Life is too short. I like you, so peace out.

Oh, and I thank you on behalf of all insolent jerks! Just kidding. Or am I? Nah, this was kidding. Or wasn't it? Will you ever know?

Everyone means something at least slightly different under chivalry and almost everyone is at least slightly wrong. But I won't continue with boring historical analysis.