The Age of Charity and Chivalry

Four decades ago, the concept of social entrepreneurship was a subject better discuss in the classroom and among our selves. Anything that helps development or humanity was lump in a singular concept called philanthropy or charity. Several thousands years ago, it was the Church or other religious entities who were expected to have some form of social engagement with communities. Just like anything, the concept of philanthropy, corporate social responsibility and social entrepreneurship went through its respective evolutions.

There are three Theological Virtues listed in the Bible: Faith, Hope and Love (or in Biblical context "charity"). Charity in the Biblical context is the perfection of the human spirit because acts of charity glorify and reflect the nature of God. Acts of charity are really driven more by personal action and the need for one person to come to the aid of another. Religious orders and like organizations around the 1400s have begun efforts to help the poor and in those times in Europe meant widows and orphans, the sick and the handicapped. Judaeo-Christian values have influenced warrior societies or fraternal organizations to take on responsibilities of protecting the Church, the Monarch and the communities who were constantly vulnerable to attacks from marauders and "pagan" tribes. The age of chivalry allowed Christian pilgrims to come to the aid of neighboring communities to either provide food or help rebuild communities damaged by war.

The concept of chivalry in the medieval ages must also be put in perspective. There's so much romanticized versions of chivalry in movies and books about knights and princes protecting "damsels" in distress, or fighting for their land or even their king. What most of these literature don't reveal is that it only works if the damsel in distress or the king is a Christian and the land is owned by one. In almost all likelihood the land is probably owned by the knight himself or by his principal, his king or his prince. In medieval ages, if one is not a Christian, you are really just another pagan to be tortured, burned, crucified, enslave or disemboweled.

Almsgiving, the act of giving money, material or personal time is the most common and visible form of charity. In the medieval times and quite surprisingly even today, this can also come in the form of taking care of the sick, visiting prisoners, checking on old people in their homes or paying ransom for prisoners. Charity was a risky business even in the Medieval ages. Institutions eventually evolved from these efforts of assisting the poor and these institutions were naturally and collectively called charities. In hindsight, you can observe that charities have responded directly on the adverse effects or pains of economic failures, war, political repression, ethnic cleansing, plagues, and a host of other social problems mainly consequences of human adventure (or misadventures to some.)