SPECIFICITY OF ATITUDE TO WEALTH IN THE CULTURE OF WESTERN EUROPEAN CHIVALRY

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the perception of wealth in medieval knightly culture. Material values and their accumulation are one of the most important elements in the history of mankind. Based on this, the study of attitudes towards wealth contributes to a deeper understanding of the value-worldview dominants that existed in different eras, cultures and social groups. The author considers the role of material values in the context of the specificity of professional activity and social status of chivalry. These aspects allow us to show the existence of an objective need for high incomes for the implementation of professional activities of the medieval European military elite.The work takes into account the peculiarities of the mentality of medieval Western European society. The worldview priorities of the military estate are given on the basis of works of chivalrous literature, which reflect the idea of the knights about themselves.In turn, these ethnic stereotypes served as a model of behavior in historical reality.Using the attitude to wealth as an example, the potential contradiction between the declared unity of chivalric identity and the different property and social status of representatives of the upper class is considered.Particular attention is paid to the category of chivalrous generosity, considered from the points of view of altruism and pragmatism. The influence of manifestations of acts of demonstrative generosity on the status of representatives of the military elite both within their class and in society as a whole is shown. The relationship of the formed knightly psychological attitude in relation to wealth with the specifics of the professional activity of this estate is noted.The article takes into account the role of the religious factor as the dominant element of the culture of medieval Europe. In this perspective, the perception of wealth in the chivalrous autostereotype is considered from the point of view of its conformity with Christian axiological attitudes related to material values and attitude to them.

Keywords

• wealth
• western europe
• history
• culture
• worldview
• behavioral stereotypes
• chivalry
• estate self-identification
• middle ages
• value priorities