History Professor Charles Wood discussed "Froissart's Chronicles: Memorial Field and the Concept of Chivalry" for the eighth annual Presidential Lecture Wednesday afternoon in Alumni Hall.
The Presidential Lecture series was established by College President James Freedman when he became president eight years ago. Freedman said he started the series to "let distinguished members of the faculty share their work with the entire Dartmouth community" and to "... stimulate intellectual communication."
Freedman chooses the lecturer each year, with advice from the deans. Usually the lecture is given in the winter but it was moved up because Freedman leaves at the start of winter for a six-month sabbatical.
Wood, a graduate of Harvard University, joined the Dartmouth faculty in 1964, and teaches the "Medieval History and Literature" course in the history department. He is a specialist on medieval Europe and has written or edited five books.
Wood used slides to discuss life in medieval Europe and how the concept of chivalry that we have of medieval times is not exactly how it was back then. "The 19th century concept of chivalry is a bit wide of the mark," Wood said.
He used the book "Chronicles" by Jean Froissart to illustrate his point. Froissart was a 14th century French historian and poet, and his book provides an account of European affairs during the Hundred Years' War.
Wood contrasted the chivalric notions people have of the medieval ages with the stark reality of war in World War I. "The horrors of World War I killed off the chivalric glory of the battlefield ... there is nothing more frightening than the depersonalized anonymity of the deaths in World War I," he said.
Because of the death of chivalry on the battlefield with the war, this led to the rise in the 1920s of chivalry on the football field, Wood said.
"There, the heroes were daring and gallant and could still save the day," Wood said, "and the Victorian concept of chivalry still endured."
Wood also talked about Dartmouth's own Memorial Field. "It is a way of honoring those who fell in WWI ... if you look around you will see plaques from different classes memorializing fallen classmates."
Wood ended using Froissart's Chronicles as an analog to Memorial Field. "It is not about wars but about chivalry -- which is how one plays the game."
