"A Knyght ther was, and that a worthy man,

That fro the tyme that he first bigan

To riden out, he loved chivalrie,

Trouthe and honour, fredom and curteisie."

The challenge of deciphering Middle English enhances, rather than obscures, the palpable nobility of Chaucer's heroic storyteller. Other travelers in "The Canterbury Tales" titillate their listeners with tales of deception, betrayal and infidelity. But the Knight speaks to our better angels, inspiring us with an exalted vision of duty, dignity and distinction while examining the interplay between joy and sorrow, pleasure and sacrifice, love and loss.

Our romantic fascination with armored warriors has rendered a vision clouded by nostalgic illusion. Many medieval knights were nothing more than mercenaries. In fact, Pope Urban II devised the First Crusade in large part to preserve the pastoral and civic stability in Western Europe by dispatching out-of-work knights beyond the borders of the continent.

Nonetheless, some knights did live up to the ideal. Their commitment to the chivalric code bound them to a higher calling, loftier purpose and more refined standard of personal conduct. Their missions, too, often reflected their quality of character, suggesting this week's addition to the Ethical Lexicon:

Errantry (er*rant*ry/ er-uhn-tree) noun

The quality, condition or fact of wandering; especially a roving in search of chivalrous adventure.

Knights errant were more than adventurers or soldiers. They saw themselves as agents of divine purpose, guided by the wild winds of fortune and the hand of providence. Whether St. George actually slayed the dragon or Sir Galahad ever found the Holy Grail is beside the point. Their legends drew upon the same spirit of virtue and valor found, for example, in Sir William Marshal, regarded as the Greatest Knight who Ever Lived.

Given up by his father as a hostage at age 6, Sir William overcame the unfavorable circumstances of his youth to earn fame, wealth and power with his military prowess. He was named Earl of Pembroke, served as regent for King Henry III, and became one of the creators and signatories of the Magna Carta. He continued his errantry past age 70 until, after his death, he was invested as a Knight Templar.

The bravery and gallantry demonstrated by knights of old provide us with more than military mythology. Their legacy of heroism motivates us to discover within ourselves the same kind of moral courage — not by taking up arms, but by confronting the practical and ethical challenges that await us on the road to majesty.

We naturally admire those stalwart souls who neither flee nor flinch when faced by swords, arrows, bullets or artillery on the field of battle. But what about more pedestrian forms of heroism: resisting temptations to manipulate the truth; refusing to profit through another's misfortune; remaining loyal to pure values under pressure from our peers?

Indeed, we eagerly condemn the excesses of the other side. But we earn ourselves far more credibility by holding our allies to account. Bill Maher and Bari Weiss are among the boldest standard bearers of the left willing to call out the ideological extremism of their own. It's harder to find iconoclasts on the right, except perhaps Liz Cheney, who torpedoed her own political career by daring to challenge Donald Trump.

To quote another mythic hero, Albus Dumbledore: "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends." At least as much, and likely more.

The sages of the Talmud teach: Who is wise? The one who conquers their impulses and inclinations. Even the most estimable quality of loyalty can lead us astray by blinding us to the corruption of our friends and confederates. How much more so can ugly traits like self-interest, stubbornness and ideological tunnel vision steer us toward moral chaos when we indulge them, no matter how convinced we are of our own good intentions.

By pursuing ethics and virtue, by traveling the path of courage and uncompromising integrity, we will find ourselves keeping company with antiquity's real knights errant on the road to genuine heroism.

See more by Yonason Goldson and features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists; visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Ember Navarro at Unsplash