The Lettered Knight: Knowledge and aristocratic behaviour in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries

470 Pages·2017·6.758 MB·English

by  Martin Aurell

T h e L e t t e r e d K n i g h t
M a r t i n A u r e l l An encounter between a warring knight and the
world of learning could seem a paradox. It is
nonetheless related with the Twelfth-Century Renais-
The Lettered Knight
T
sance, an essential intellectual movement for western
h history. Knights not only fought in battles, but also
e moved in sophisticated courts. Knights were inter-
Knowledge and Aristocratic Behaviour
L ested in Latin classics, and reading and writing poet-
in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries ry. Supportive of “jongleurs” and minstrels, they en-
e
t joyed literary conversations with clerics who would
t
attempt to reform their behaviour, which was often
e
r brutal. These lettered warriors, while improving their
e
culture, learned to repress their own violence and
d
were initiated to courtesy: selective language, mea-

About the Author K sured gestures, elegance in dress, and manners at
the table. Their association with women, who were
n
“A study of very great and broad significance for the understanding
MARTIN AURELL is Professor of Medieval History often learned, became more gallant. A revolution of
i
at the University of Poitiers and Director of the Centre of the nature of knighthood, chivalry and courtesy. It counters g thought occurred among lay elites who, in contact
d’Études Supérieures de Civilisation Médiévale. He has h with clergy, began to use their weapons for common
the casually held notion that makes clean separation between knights
been a member of the Institute for Advanced Study of t
welfare. This new conduct was a tangible sign of Me-
Princeton (1999) and of the Institut Universitaire de and clerics. The literacy of knights was widespread, and more important,
dievalist society’s leap forward towards modernity.
France (2002–2012). He is the editor of the review Cahiers a strongly held and asserted social value. It had a powerful influence on
de Civilisation Médiévale. He works on nobility, chivalry,
the behavior of knights, and on held and practiced social values of the
kinship and power in Catalonia, Provence, Languedoc, This monograph contains a great deal of detailed
and in the Angevin Empire. aristocracy. The book stands as an important contribution to studies of
information about the attitudes towards learn-
chivalry and the intellectual and social life of the high Middle Ages.” ing and written culture among members of the nobil-
ity in different parts of Europe in the Middle Ages.
M
C. Stephen Jaeger, Gutgsell Professor Emeritus, German and Comparative Literature,
a
University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign
r
t
i
n

A
u
r On the Cover:
e Lancelot, Gauvain, and other Knights
l
of the Round Table tell King Arthur
l
their adventures in the quest for the
CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY PRESS
Holy Grail, while a tonsured scribe
BUDAPEST – NEW YORK writes it down. Manuscript of Lancelot,
copied in 1344 in Hainaut. Bibliothèque
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nationale de France, ms fr 122, fol. 198v.
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Cover design by Sebastian Stachowski
LetteredKnight cover.indd 1 21.02.2017 14:10:17
The Lettered Knight

The Lettered
Knight

Knowledge and Aristocratic Behaviour
in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries

Martin Aurell

Translated by
Jean-Charles Khalifa and Jeremy Price

Central European University Press
Budapest–New York
© 2017 Martin Aurell

Originally published in 2011 as La chevalier lettré. Savoir et conduite
de l’aristocratie aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles by Fayard

Published in 2017 by

Central European University Press

An imprint of the
Central European University Limited Liability Company
Nádor utca 11, H-1051 Budapest, Hungary
Tel: [phone] or 327-3000
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E-mail: ceupress@ press.ceu.edu
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E-mail: [email protected]

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, without the permission
of the Publisher.

ISBN 978-963-386-105-9 Cloth

Published with financial support from
Institut Universitaire de France and Université de Poitiers

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Aurell, Martin, author.
[Chevalier lettré. English]
The lettered knight : knowledge and aristocratic behavior in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries / Martin Aurell.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-9633861059 (hardcover)
1. Aristocracy (Social class)--France--History--12th century. 2.
Aristocracy (Social class)--France--History--13th century. 3. France--
Social life and customs--12th century. 4. France--Social life and
customs--13th century. 5. Civilization, Medieval. I. Title.
HT653.F7A9513 2016
305.5'2094409021--dc23
2015030131

Printed in Hungary by
Prime Rate Kft., Budapest
Contents

Introduction 1
THE RENAISSANCE OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY 3
SCHOLASTICISM, READING, AND WRITING 5
‘LITERATURE’ AND ORALITY 8
THE LETTERED AND THE UNLETTERED 13
THE CLERIC AND THE KNIGHT 16
COURTESY AND THE CIVILISATION OF MORES 29

Knighthood and Literacy 35
SCHOOLING AND TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ AND WRITE 39
Sons faced with the choice of taking up arms or the
calling of the cloister 41
The first teachers: family, private tutors, and courtly
clerics 44
In the monastic, cathedral, and parish schools 50
From cloister to secular life 55
Italian precocity and pragmatic knowledge 58
Methods of learning, new programmes and the
spread of writing in the vernacular 62
THE LATIN OF THE KNIGHTS 68
The Latin skills of Anglo-Norman knights 69
The Italian educated nobility 77
Semi-literate laymen 82
Book collectors and patrons 90

Knighthood and Literary Creation 99
THE COURT AND LITERARY SOCIAL LIFE 102
Castles transformed into palaces 103
Halls, rooms, and gardens 104
A literary setting 108
vi Contents
Literature intended for performance 112
Ladies holding salon 113
Dancing, jeux partis, and dialogues 118
Minstrels and professional performers 122
Wide-ranging skills 124
The dissemination of political songs 127
Rivalry with the knights and clerics 129
A more positive image 135
THE KNIGHT WRITERS 145
Songs: a preference for the brief genre 146
The troubadours on love and war 147
Northern trouveres and Germanic Minnesänger 155
Romances, sagas, and other fictional genres: a rare
form of writing 157
The Grail, love, and war in French 158
The German ministerials 161
Italy, compilers, and encyclopaedists 166
Snorri Sturluson’s sagas 168
Impiety or religiosity? 169
History and memory: telling the Crusade 171
Overseas adventure in oc and oïl 172
The Catalan-Italian wars around the Mediterranean 177
LEARNED WOMEN 184
The education of girls 184
Preceptors and schools 185
Convent education 188
Disparate educational levels 193
Women readers 196
The indispensable Psalter 197
Receiving love poems and letters 205
Women writers 208
Women epistolarians 209
Marie de France 214
Trobairitz, hagiographers, and visionaries 218
The superiority of feminine knowledge? 223

Clerical Instruction and Civilizing Knightly Mores 229
WAR AND THE CODIFYING OF VIOLENCE 236
The moral of the story 237
Contents vii
Rebuking greed, violence, and vanity 242
Pillaging and murder 242
Hunting, tournaments, and games 247
The chivalrous ideal 254
Warring under the king for peace and justice 254
The knighthood and dubbing 257
Sparing human lives 263
The Crusade as armed pilgrimage 266
The paradox of the soldier monks 270
The internalisation of persuasive arguments? 275
MANNERS: MASTERING MOVEMENT AND SPEECH 281
Courteous clerics 284
Instructional books on civility 289
Clothing and attire 292
Cleanliness and elegance 293
Shame and immodesty 296
Self-control in gestures 300
Table manners 306
The art of pleasant conversation 312
LOVE: REFINEMENT AND SELF-CONTROL 321
The patient, enduring, and meek lover 321
Perfecting oneself through love 327
Classical knowledge and courtly love 333
The debate on knights and clerks in love 342
RELIGION: THE WARRIOR’S PIETY 353
The lettered knights and theological thought 354
Courtliness and piety 357
Mass attendance and the dangers of Pharisaism 360
Meditating at church, invoking the Holy Virgin, and
other forms of devotion 365
Love for fellow-men, alms, and voluntary poverty 369
Confession and penance 373
The knight’s martyrdom 378
Individuation and nobility of the soul 382

Conclusion 389

Sources and bibliography 401
Index 443

Introduction

In 1279, John de Warenne (d. 1304), earl of Surrey, was summoned by the
judges of Edward I. In accordance with the terms of the royal ordinance
Quo warranto (‘By which legal document?’), sent to all of the lordly aris-
tocracy, he had to bring to them the titles of property to his estate. If he
was unable to obtain these documents, he would be expropriated. When
the court charged him to provide written proof, he held out an old rusty
sword and cried:

My Lords, here is my charter! For my ancestors arrived here with William the Bastard
and they conquered their lands by this sword, and it is by this same sword that I will
defend them against anyone who would occupy them. The king did not conquer this
land alone but with the assistance of our ancestors.

This belated addition to the manuscripts of the Augustine canon regular
Walter of Guisborough’s Chronical (d. c. 1305), provides a legendary if
not fictitious anecdote (p. 216). It is as distorted as the Warenne genea-
logical memory, proud of their bellicose origins and of their estate taken
by right of conquest. It conveys the typical aristocratic disdain for royal
officers whose taxes and justice reduced the privileges of the nobility. It
also provides evidence of the earl’s scornful attitude towards written
proof, which he considers insignificant compared to the sword of his
founding ancestor and his renowned lineage.
Does the earl of Surrey exemplify the general attitude of the nobility
towards writing? Like him, did warriors hold legal officers and the people
who educated them in contempt? Do they systematically show the same
philistine attitude? It is true that the barely latent rivalry between knights
and clerics sometimes appears in the texts. Their lifestyle and centres of
interest are too different. The values by which they intend to guide society
diverge in several instances. And yet there is a certain synergy between
their respective existences. Born into the same families and social back-
ground, the warriors and clerics grew up together and they continued to
mix, despite the apparent discordance between their respective statuses.