UVM Theses and Dissertations
Format:
Print
Author:
Davis, James Keith
Dept./Program:
English
Year:
2013
Degree:
M.A.
Abstract:
With this thesis, I aim to explore the chivalry across two time periods in English literary history. The first time period spans the lifetime of Sir Thomas Malory (1415-1471) and the second time period spans the lifetime of Sir Edmund Spenser (1552-1599). The former is regularly called the late Middle Ages, and the later the English Renaissance. Each of these periods saw serious challenges to the ideas, institutions, and members of chivalry in England. Malory's chivalry dealt with the reduced value of knights on the battlefield, the failures of the crusades, a bad reputation for knight, and the need for definitions concerning the new scular landscape of chivalry. Spenser's chivalry had to contend with the vilification of the institution's Catholic foundations, the very real trouble of the pursuit of individual chivalric glory versus the centralization of power under the monarchy, the utter removal of the knight from the front lines of the battlefield, and the erosion of values and morals in the institution of chivalry because of their removal from the battlefield.
Both of these men were knights themselves, and both claimed an honored and noble heritage. Both men were scholars, and had clearly read the great works of the past that described chivalry as a glorious pursuit filled with honorable deeds and virtuous actions. Each of these men must have wanted their own knighthood to have the same tenor, and having looked at the state of affairs and problems besetting their institution were clearly concerned. Malory and Spenser use their epics to grapple with their contemporary problems and offer solutions to their fellow knights.
It will be shown that Malory uses Le Morte Darthur to show knights how they can reclaim their reputation, find new ways to showcase their combat prowess, and new ways to find honor in secular activities. He also uses the text to provide a general moral reinforcement that combines notions of secular chivalry with a new type of religious chivalry. Finally, he makes an authoritative English version of the Arthur Legends to rival France's Vulgate Cycle.
It will also be shown how Spenser uses The Faerie Queene to separate chivalry from its Catholic foundation and re-root it in the auspices of English Protestantism. Spenser also uses Arthur to showcase how a knight can still pursue individual glory while also bringing glory to his monarch by questing for rather than despite the monarch. He also indexes and catalogs the virtues of chivalry into a system of symbols that can be applied to the changed role of the knight. Additionally, Spenser uses his book to show his fellow knights how they should apply those symbols and virtues to their own lives so that they might not stray so far from what their institution once stood for.
Both of these authors had a lot at stake when they sat down to write their texts. Each saw serious threats made against the institution they belonged to, and each hoped to answer those threats with one of chivalry's most honored traditions: literature. As long as men took up arms under the banner of chivalry, they would be written about, and their legacy would live on. Both of these men added to that tradition.
Both of these men were knights themselves, and both claimed an honored and noble heritage. Both men were scholars, and had clearly read the great works of the past that described chivalry as a glorious pursuit filled with honorable deeds and virtuous actions. Each of these men must have wanted their own knighthood to have the same tenor, and having looked at the state of affairs and problems besetting their institution were clearly concerned. Malory and Spenser use their epics to grapple with their contemporary problems and offer solutions to their fellow knights.
It will be shown that Malory uses Le Morte Darthur to show knights how they can reclaim their reputation, find new ways to showcase their combat prowess, and new ways to find honor in secular activities. He also uses the text to provide a general moral reinforcement that combines notions of secular chivalry with a new type of religious chivalry. Finally, he makes an authoritative English version of the Arthur Legends to rival France's Vulgate Cycle.
It will also be shown how Spenser uses The Faerie Queene to separate chivalry from its Catholic foundation and re-root it in the auspices of English Protestantism. Spenser also uses Arthur to showcase how a knight can still pursue individual glory while also bringing glory to his monarch by questing for rather than despite the monarch. He also indexes and catalogs the virtues of chivalry into a system of symbols that can be applied to the changed role of the knight. Additionally, Spenser uses his book to show his fellow knights how they should apply those symbols and virtues to their own lives so that they might not stray so far from what their institution once stood for.
Both of these authors had a lot at stake when they sat down to write their texts. Each saw serious threats made against the institution they belonged to, and each hoped to answer those threats with one of chivalry's most honored traditions: literature. As long as men took up arms under the banner of chivalry, they would be written about, and their legacy would live on. Both of these men added to that tradition.