"She Gaff Hym Suche a Buffet": Active Damsels and the Gendered Economy of the Medieval Chivalric Romance

210 Pages·1999·8.473 MB·English

by  Patricia A. Nickinson

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The Pennsylvania State University
The Graduate School
The Department of English
"SHE GAFF HYM SUCHE A BUFFET":
ACTIVE DAMSELS AND THE GENDERED ECONOMY
OF THE MEDIEVAL CHIVALRIC ROMANCE
A Thesis in
English
by
Patricia A. Nickinson
© 1999 Patricia A. Nickinson
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
May 1999
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UMI Number: 9938031
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We approve the thesis of Patricia A. Nickinson.
Date of Signature
C u-6' U-k_
Caroline D. Eckhardt
Professor of English and Comparative Literature
Thesis Advisor
Chair of Committee
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Robert R. Edwards
Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature
Ronald E. Buckalew / /
Associate Professor Emeritus of English
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Alann EP. IKfnniioghhtt I
Professor Emeritus of French
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Susan K. Harris
Professor of English
Director of Graduate Studies in English
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Abstract
In the genre of medieval chivalric romances, there exists a codified pattern of
exchange between knights in shining armour and the distressed damsels whom they
rescue. This exchange is the basis of the "gendered economy," in which both sides of the
exchange have as "commodities" something the other needs. Damsels need protection
from threats to their safety and chastity. Knights need opportunities for displaying their
prowess and for gaining renown, and often for gaining estates and wives. Because the
chivalric romances are, in part, means for justifying knighthood's claims to social and
economic superiority, the knights in these tales must be able to provide protection or
some other aid which the damsels cannot provide for themselves.
This study explores how three ME chivalric romances, Beues of Hamtoun, The
Sowdone of Babylone, and the Alysaundir episode in Malory, initially appear to thwart
these generic conventions by presenting damsels who rescue themselves (or others)
through physically aggressive actions which would traditionally be reserved for knights.
Chaucer employs and extends the conventions of the gendered economy in two of his
Canterbury Tales, the Knight's Tale and the Franklin's Tale, tales which might have been
expected to challenge such conventions. What this thesis demonstrates is the persistent
nature of the gendered economy. Of these five texts, only the Sowdone of Babylone
actually subverts it.
This study, based on both genre and gender issues, also recognizes the narrative
influences of other literary and cultural elements on the conventions of the gendered
economy. The machinery of the gendered economy within each of these five romances is
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illuminated by comparative textual evidence of cultural attitudes from travel literature,
patristic commentary, parallel and source texts, manuscript illuminations, legends of
Troy, literary motifs, and exempla collections.
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V
“She GafFHym Suche a Buffet”:
Active Damsels and the Gendered Economy
Of the Medieval Chivalric Romance
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vi
Introduction 1
Chapter I: “She Gaff Hym Suche a Buffet”: Malory’s Tale of Alysaundir 22
le Orphelyne
Chapter 2: The Bloodthirsty Enamored Sarrasine: Floripas and The 46
Sowdone of Babylone
Chapter 3: “How mi3tow {janne maide be?” Josian the Chaste and 75
Bates ofH amtoun
Chapter 4: Chaucer’s Deboning of the Amazons: The Knight’s Tale 106
Chapter 5: Dorigen the Hesitant: Chaucer’s Franklin’s Tale 148
Conclusion 183
Works Cited 192
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Acknowledgments
I wish foremost to thank Professor Caroline D. Eckhardt and Professor Robert R.
Edwards for their unflagging support, gentle guidance, critical insights, encouragement,
and professional mentoring, through every draft of this study, as well as in the
opportunities I had, as a graduate student, to observe as they wrote and edited their own
scholarly editions and articles. Their editorial guidance with this study has much
improved my focus and my prose. Both have given far more generously of their time and
their wisdom than their busy schedules could afford. I wish to thank also the other
members of my committee, Professor Alan Knight and Professor Ron Buckaiew, who
met all my efforts with enthusiasm and provided valuable corrections. Their kindness and
their collegiality have eased many parts of this process. My thanks go as well to Professor
Vickie Ziegler, director of the PSU Center for Medieval Studies, whose encouragement
was most valuable. Finally, I am grateful for the enthusiasm, patience, and support my
parents and all the scattered members of my family have shown.
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Introduction
So turrit wc to the damsell of the caste 11, that whan Alysaundir le
Orphelyn had forjusted the four biyghtes she called hym to her and seyde thus:
"Sir knyght, wolte thou for my sake juste andfyght wyth a knyght of this
con trey, that is and hath bene longe an evyll neyghboure to me? His name is Sir
Malegryne, and he woll nat suffir me to be maryde in no matter. ”
"Damesell, ” seyde sir Alysaundir, "andhe com the whyle that lam here, I
woll fyght with hym. ”
Malory, Works, Book X
“Syr, for thou savyst my lyfe,
Castellys fyfty andfyve
Take Y will the til,
And my-selfe to be thy wyfe ”
Lybeaus Descomis, 2109-2112
Among medieval romance's more prominent legacies to our twentieth-century
cache of cultural cliches is the image of the damsel in distress being rescued by the knight
in shining armor. Modern imaginations may favor the dragon as the cause of distress and
danger, rather than the more medieval threats (in the romances) of unwanted suitors and
captivity by brutish knaves. Nonetheless, the persistent gender roles defined by the
distressed damsel and rescuing knight were essentially the same in the medieval English
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