In many respects the thirteenth century marked the zenith of knighthood. The values of knights as a group were proclaimed by sovereigns, princes, and barons. The kings of France were knighted (adoubés) before coronation, as it was with the young Louis IX, barely twelve years old on 29 November 1226. Naturally, the king assumed his place at the head of knights. So it is that when Joinville outlined his framework for illuminating the virtues of Saint Louis, he announced that ‘the second part shall speak of his great acts of chivalry and his great acts of arms’ (‘la seconde partie si parle de ses granz chevaleries et de ses granz faiz d‘armes’). Further on, his words were full of emotion when recalling the presence of King Louis clad in his armour while on crusade in Egypt: ‘Never have I seen such a beautiful man in arms!’ (‘Més onques si bel armé ne vi’). All the Capetian kings put their bodies on the line in combat: Philip II Augustus at Bouvines, Philip III at Tunis, Philip the Fair at Mons-en-Pevèle. Philip III was even tempted to participate in tournaments, that distraction beloved of knights but subject to aggressive proscription by the Church. At tournament as in battle, when the leader – king, baron – addressed himself to his knightly followers, recalled their titles, referring to them as ‘lords‘: this was an army of peers and comrades. Knights and priests formed the two elite groups of society, each with the right to be called ‘my lord’. During the thirteenth century, courtly literature, principally aimed at the knightly class, was in full bloom. Certain knights like Robert de Clari and Geoffroy de Villehardouin even became historians of the adventures they and their peers experienced while taking Constantinople in 1204. This image moreover was not just reflective of knighthood in France: tournaments were as popular north of the channel as south of it, and the kings of England were rightly considered paragons of chivalry, in the image of Richard the Lionheart, or, a century later, Edward I.11 And after all, did not the ‘Matter of Britain’ relay the exploits of Arthur and his knights?