The aim of this book is to explore the practical consequences of chivalric codes in medieval Europe. Strickland strips away the romance of chivalry and exposes the systematic rationality that lay behind the antagonistic behavior of Europe's warrior aristocracy. It is easy enough to appreciate how the ravaging of enemy territory was a calculated act of war and profit, but Strickland shows how even chivalric codes, of which respite, ransom, and honorable treatment of opponents are but a few examples, were conventions adopted by the warrior caste to limit death and injury among themselves. That foot soldiers, crossbowmen, and Celtic pastoralists were not covered by these conventions is made brutally obvious by the mutual massacres that characterized relations between knights and plebeians. The codes were not always followed within the warrior aristocracy, of course, but such cases of abrogation were often either the consequences of a noble feud or tactical moves in the game of legitimation and coalition-building. When kings executed baronial rebels, Strickland argues, this implied that their rebellion had pushed them outside the covenants of chivalry.