Note 51 — Chapter III · THE SECOND CRUSADE
Reading edition
The ladies of the twelfth century did not merely thread pearls, and amuse themselves with other employments equally delicate and elegant. The sword, and not merely the tongue, decided their disputes. Of this practice Ordericus Vitalis, p. 687, has given a remarkable instance. The love of “brave gestes” was the passion of the ladies as well as of the knights of chivalry.