" 

 ""the main thrust is a satire of romanticized ideas of chivalry and of the idealization..."" 

 I believe the above statement to be slightly - if not mostly - wrong.  The book's ""main thrust"" is far more of a jab at blind faith and the power of this faith, especially when wielded by the early Christian church.  Twain surely makes plenty fun of knights and their seemingly eccentric and ridiculous lifestyle, but the theme of the book as a whole puts far more of an emphasis on the exploitation of the gullibility and perhaps naivete of the Medieval mind by other ""magicians"" and, ultimately, the church.   >  Fishopolis"