Short answers, pulled from the story.
Chivalry & Sorcery was first published in 1977 by Fantasy Games Unlimited. It was created by Edward E. Simbalist and Wilf K. Backhaus, who designed it as an alternative to Dungeons & Dragons.
Chivalry & Sorcery is set in a realistic medieval world modeled on France in the 12th century, incorporating feudalism and the Catholic Church. The game features knights with rules for tournaments and courtly love, and a hierarchical priesthood capable of performing miracles.
Reviewers across multiple decades consistently described Chivalry & Sorcery as among the most complex role-playing games ever published. The magic system alone was described as involving a mind-numbing collection of tables, formulas, and rules, and the game's organization was widely criticized as poor and difficult to navigate.
Five editions of Chivalry & Sorcery have been published. The first four appeared between 1977 and 2000; the fifth edition was funded through a Kickstarter campaign that concluded on the 31st of July 2019 and the game shipped in February 2020.
Chivalry & Sorcery won the H.G. Wells award for All Time Best Ancient Medieval Rules in 1979.
Chivalry & Sorcery was more influential as a reference than as a played game. Multiple reviewers and historians noted that many people owned it for its ideas and historical detail rather than running campaigns with it, and one retrospective writer said he knew no one who actually played it, only people who drew on its ideas.