It was clearly a forerunner of today’s corporate Code of Conduct. The Pentecostal Oath formed the basis for the Knight’s conduct at Camelot and beyond. The Oath specifies both positive and negative conduct that is, what a Knight might do but also what conduct he should not engage in. In Malory’s telling, after the Knights swore the Oath, they were provided titles and lands by the King. Interestingly, the Oath first appeared in Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur and in none of the prior incarnations of the legend. And every year were they sworn at the high feast of Pentecost.” (Le Morte d’Arthur, pp 115-116) Unto this were all the knights sworn of the Table Round, both old and young. Also, that no man take no battles in a wrongful quarrel for no law, ne for no world’s goods. The Oath stated, “ The king established all his knights, and gave them that were of lands not rich, he gave them lands, and charged them never to do outrageousity nor murder, and always to flee treason also, by no mean to be cruel, but to give mercy unto him that asketh mercy, upon pain of forfeiture of their worship and lordship of King Arthur for evermore and always to do ladies, damosels, and gentlewomen succor upon pain of death. The King required each one of them to swear an oath, called the Pentecostal Oath, which was Arthur’s ideal for a chivalric knight. He helped create this legend, in large part, by establishing a Code of Conduct for the Knights of the Round Table. One thing for which King Arthur is remembered are his chivalric knights. I have been studying the legend of King Arthur and thought it would be good idea to have a week of blog posts around the legend of King Arthur, the Roundtable and his knights.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |