The Five Institutions of the Middle Ages Mind your manners! Yes, my lord. To civilize is to Christianize! I work and I pay, I pray and I pay, I die and I pay. God wills it! Rich and poor alike in the Middle Ages were controlled by five specific institutions: the code of chivalry, the feudal system, Charlemagne, the manorial system and the Catholic Church. To encounter them was inevitable, to avoid them: impossible! Firstly, the code of chivalry was a code of behaviour for the upper class embodying all the qualities and characteristics of the ideal or perfect knight. He should be bold and brave, yet gentle, considerate, wise and courteous. Obviously, th