The Chivalric Manual in Fifteenth-Century England [thesis]

407 Pages·1970·18.149 MB·English

by  Diane Bornstein

71-15,366
BORNSTEIN, Diane D., 1942-
TKE CHIVALRIC MANUAL IN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY
ENGLAND. [Portions of Text in French,
Latin and Middle English].
New York University, Ph.D., 1970
Language and Literature, general
University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan
THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED
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THE CHIVALRIC MANUAL IN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND
b.
by Diane!Bornstein
A dissertation in the Department of English submitted to
the faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Science in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy at New York University
October, 1970
Approved:
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS............................. iv
TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................... v
TABLE OF SYMBOLS........................... vi
PREFACE............................................ vii
CHAPTER
I. CHIVALRY IN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND . . . 1
The Tournament
Heraldry
Chivalric Literature
Chivalric Literature and the
Career of William Carton
II. CHIVALRIC MANUALS AND THEIR AUDIENCE . . . 87
III. CHIVALRIC MANUALS AS MILITARY
GUIDEBOOKS............................... 130
Vegetius* De re militari
1. De re militari in English Prose
2. Selections from De re militari in
Scottish Prose
3. Knyghthode and Bataile
Works Based Partially on De re militari
1. Christine de Pisan(s Livre des fais
d'armes et de chevalerie
ii
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2. William Worcester's Boke of Noblesse
3. William Caxton's Book of Fayttes of
Armes and of Chyvalrye
IV. CHIVALRIC MANUALS AS MORAL TREATISES . . . . 218
Ramon Lull's Libre del orde de cavayleria
1. The Livre de l'ordre de chevalerie
2. Sir Gilbert Hay's Buke of the Order
of Knychthede
3. William Caxton's Book of the Ordre of
Chivalry
Christine de Pisan's Epitre d'Othea a Hector
1. Stephen Scrope's Epistle of Othea to
Hector
2. Version of the Epistle of Othea to
Hector. attributed to
Anthony Babington
V. CHIVALRIC MANUALS IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURY
ENGLAND................. 313
BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................ 372
iii
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LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATE PAGE
I. Sir John Astley Jousting with
Another Knight ..................... IB
II. Sir J-hs. Talbot Offering His
Gift of a Chivalric Manuscript
to Queen Margaret . b7
III. Edward IV Wearing the Robe
of the Order of the
Golden Fleece . . . . . . . . ............. 61
IV. The Knight and The Squire,
from the Livre de l*ordre
de chevalerie.......................... . 62
V. Othea Sending Her Letter and
Hector Receiving It, from
the EpTtre d*Othea a Hector . . . . . . . 63
iv
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TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS
Bibliography Maurice J. Cockle, A Bibliography
of English Military Books up to
16U-2 and of Contemporary Foreign
Works, ed. H. D. Cockle, London,
1900.
Catalogue George F. Warner, ed. Catalogue of
British Museum, 3 vols., Oxford,
.
1921
DNB Dictionary of National Biography.
Oxford, 1908.
English Gentleman Ruth Kelso, The Doctrine of the English
Gentleman in the Sixteenth Century.
Urbana, Illinois, 1929*
ELN English Language Notas
Heraldry, Middle Anthony R. Wagner, Heralds and Heraldry
Ages in the Middle Ages. Oxford,
Heralds Anthony R. Wagner, Heralds of England:
A History of the Office and College
of Arms. London, 1967'.
JHI Journal of the History of Ideas
JRLB John Rylands Library Bulletin
Litferature George Doutrepoint, La litterature
fran$aise francaise A la cour des dues
de Bourgogne. Paris, 1909•
MED Middle English Dictionary, eds. H. Kurath
et al., Ann Arbor, Michigan,
1952-
MLN Modern Language Notes
OED Oxford English Dictionary, eds. J. A. H.
Murray et al., Oxford, 1888-1933.
PMLA Publications of the Modern Language
Association
RES Review of English Studies
v
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TABLE OF SYMBOLS
Explanatory Notes or Definitions
Emendations or Variant Readings
< > In stylistic comparisons between
French or Latin sources and
English translations, caret
brackets will be used to call
attention to additions or changes
made by the translator.
(1), (2), Parenthesized numbers in the
(3) subheadings in Chapters III and
IV refer to the respective
titles in the Table of Contents,
vi
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PREFACE
A knyght ther was, and that a worthy man,
That fro the tyme that he first began
To riden out, he loved chivalrie,
Trouthe and honour, fredom and curteisie.
Ful worthy was he in his lordes werre,
And therto hadde he riden, no man ferre,
As wel in cristendom as in hethenesse,
And evere honoured for his worthynesse.
(C.T.. A, 43-50)
Between Chaucer's picture of the knight and
Shakespeare's portrait in Henry XV. Part I of "young
Harry, with his beaver on, His cuisses on his thighs,
gallantly armed" (IV, i, 104-105), there are many
descriptions of the. ideal knight, particularly in the
didactic literature of the fifteenth century. But the
fifteenth century often has been studied as an age of
transition rather than as a period possessing its own
distinctive characteristics. Attention has been
focused on writers who imitated earlier writers or
anticipated later ones. Consequently, a considerable
amount of interesting literature has been overlooked.
Among the works that have been neglected are the
chivalric manuals, which present the late medieval
ideal of the knight.
vii
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Fifteenth-century chivalric manuals combine
traditional values with new social thought. As in
earlier discussions of knighthood, the knight is
considered the arm of the state. But earlier works
emphasize the knight's duty to his feudal lord and to
the church, whereas fifteenth-century treatises stress
his duty to the king and to the state. Although these
works employ traditional terms and symbols, they are
characterized by a new nationalism and a new realism.
This study analyzes the thought and style of these
chivalric manuals in relation to their cultural and
social background.
My grateful thanks are due to my department and
to New York University for the financial help that they
have given me; to my professors for their excellent
instruction; to the librarians and staff at New York
University, the New York Public Library, the Pierpont
Morgan Library, and the British Museum; to Dr. Curt F.
Buhler for allowing me to consult his unpublished edition
of the Epistle of Othea to Hector; to my parentsc Ruth and
Irving Fox, for their reading of the dissertation; to my
husband Barry for his patience; to my readers, Professors
John H. Fisher and Lillian H. Hornstein; and most of all,
to Professor Robert R. Raymo, the director of my
dissertation. Whatever value this dissertation may have
is due to his advice and instruction; my errors are my own.
viii
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CHAPTER I
CHIVALRY IN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND
The literature and social customs of fifteenth
century England reveal a strong interest in the
1
principles and practices of chivalry. Paradoxically,
the history of the period was far from a record of
chivalric deeds. Toward the end of the Hundred Years
War, conflicts became increasingly nationalistic and
2
decreasingly chivalric. French and English noblemen
1
The OED. II (1893), 363-36**, gives seven meanings
for chivalry. The fifth one, the most comprehensive,
defines chivalry as the knightly system of feudal times,
with its attendant religious, moral, and social code,
usages, and practices. This is the sense in which the term
will be used in this study.
F. J. C. Hearnshaw describes the development of the
chivalric code in "Chivalry and its Place in History," in
Chivalry, ed. Edgar Prestage (New York, 1928), pp. 1-33*
The chivalric code was expanded during different periods
of the Middle Ages. The knight of the Carolingian Age was
a rough soldier whose main ideal was allegiance to his
lord. After Pope Urban proclaimed the first Crusade in
1095, knighthood was associated with defense of the weak
and of the Church. Christian chivalry had been brought into
existence as opposed to feudal knighthood. During the
twelfth century, social life became more refined, and ideas
from the East began to influence Western Europe. The
troubadours idealised women and romanticized love. As part
of their chivalric duty, knights were now expected to gain
the favor of a lady. By the late Middle Ages, chivalry had
developed into a complete way of life that molded the
education, manners, morals, and relations of the governing
class.
2
Denys Hay, Europe in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Centuries (London, 1966), p. 70.
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