Forged in the Shadow of MarsIn Forged in the Shadow of Mars, Peter W. Sposato traces chivalry's powerful influence on the mentalit and behavior of a sizeable segment of the elite in late medieval Florence. He finds that the strenuous knights and men at arms of the Florentine chivalric elitea cultural community comprised of men from both traditional and newly emerged elite lineagesembraced a chivalric ideology that was fundamentally martial and violent. Chivalry helped to shape a