Gallantry
When we talk about gallantry, we are effectively talking about courage. This is a slightly difficult term to define, but it basically means being brave or standing up against something. Gallantry is generally considered to be a term to describe noble acts such as fighting in a war or standing up for justice. It is quite an archaic word, since it is no longer used as often as it used to be. However, a few hundred years ago it was one of the most important words in the English language. It embodied everything that men wanted to achieve in their life, and acts of gallantry were the defining moments in a man’s life. This made gallantry, or courage, an extremely desirable attribute in a number of different societies, and was especially prevalent in medieval times when there was a great deal of fighting. Countries would fight lengthy wars against each other, and so gallantry was a key part of every single aspect of the wars that were fought.
Gallantry used to be all about a sense of duty to a particular cause. This was generally duty to a king or a leader, but often was used to describe duty to your country. Although these days gallantry is very seldom used and has generally been replaced by the word courage, it actually has a much wider meaning than that. Gallantry really describes courage with a higher purpose. For example, someone could be courageous in their own personal battles, but acts of gallantry are not for personal battles, they are for larger scale things. It’s impossible to say exactly why gallantry stopped being used in the same way, but it’s probably just because of the natural progression of the English language which has seen many such words diluted.