Combat, Crusade, and Conversion: Prose Romance and the English Printing Press, 1473–1534 David Stuart Mason Submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Cardiff University September 2019 ABSTRACT This thesis examines how English prose romances printed by William Caxton (1473– 1492) and Wynkyn de Worde (1492–1534) replicate and refashion romance memes and traditions in ways that resonate with contemporary crusading concerns. Often selectively translated and adapted from French sources, these printed romances reached a broader audience than earlier English romances and spoke to anxieties shared by the English aristocracy, gentry, and growing middle classes. Critics have examined these romances’ concerns about social discord in conjunction with the Wars of the Roses. However, Malory’s Morte Darthur has dominated critical attention; until recently, other contemporary prose romances which resonate with the same issues had received little attention, and these understudied prose romances have not yet been considered (either on their own or alongside Malory’s Morte) in terms of their engagement with crusading desires, rather than civil strife. This thesis offers the first full study of how the first two generations of English printed prose romances respond to growing anxieties regarding fractures in Christian and English identities, and the perceived threat of the Ottoman Empire, by modelling how crusade might reunite the Christian world (and English society). The first chapter establishes the historical and cultural contexts in which the prose romances were produced and received. Chapter Two argues that the prose romances give a new twist to the familiar motif of the knightly encounter with enemy Saracens, foregrounding how crusade can strengthen Christian chivalric communities through conversion. Chapter Three follows by addressing the ways in which the prose romances deploy architectural structures to show how the (ideological) control of space shapes a successful crusading campaign. The fourth and final chapter addresses the nature of the supernatural in the prose romances, to argue that these texts also i reconfigure wider conventions of the genre in ways that resonate with contemporary crusading impulses. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS V LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS VI INTRODUCTION 1 The Prose Romances as a Distinct Sub-Genre 5 Definitions: ‘Christendom’, ‘The East’, and ‘Crusade’ 17 Research Context 24 Chapter Outlines 30 CHAPTER ONE: PRINT CULTURE AND CRUSADING DESIRES 34 The Printed Prose Romances 35 Selecting Prose Romances for the English Printing Press 40 Translators and Translation 41 Patronage and Printing in Continental Europe 44 Print and Printers in England 47 Framing and Presentation of the Prose Romances 51 Caxton’s Paratextual Material 51 De Worde’s Paratextual Material and Woodcuts 61 Imagined and Real Audiences 65 The Prose Romances and the Ottoman Threat 69 Fifteenth-Century English Perceptions of the Ottoman Empire 69 Contemporary Crusading Contexts in Print 73 Le Morte Darthur among the Prose Romances 77 Crusades in Le Morte Darthur 77 Framing Le Morte Darthur 81 Editing Malory’s Crusades 84 Conclusion: Crusades in Print 90 CHAPTER TWO: ENCOUNTERS WITH THE EAST 93 Re-configuring Encounters with Saracens 95 Saracen Princesses 96 Heroic Heathens 99 Saracen Individuals in Late Medieval English Verse Romance 104 English Verse Romances 106 Saracens in the Prose Romances 120 Saracen Princess Encounters in the Prose Romances 120 Heroic Heathen Encounters in the Prose Romances 127 Palomides in Le Morte Darthur: The Heroic Heathen at Home 139 Unconventional Heroic Heathens 141 Conclusion: The Shift Towards Conversion 146 iii CHAPTER THREE: THE ARCHITECTURAL EAST 149 Spatial Theory and Space in the Middle Ages 150 Architecture in the Prose Romances 154 Pillars of Faith: Towers as Symbolic Spaces 157 Ideological Bastions 158 Conquest from Within 161 Defenestration and Threshold-Crossing 165 Crossing Between Worlds: Bridges and Passageways 168 Bridging the Cultural Gap 169 A Gateway Between Worlds 174 The Cornerstones of Crusade: Cities 178 Constantinople 180 Jerusalem 183 Aesthetic Architecture: Description of Saracen Space 187 Aesthetic Towers 190 Conclusion: Spaces of Religious and Cultural Power 194 CHAPTER FOUR: APPROACHING THE SUPERNATURAL 198 Magic in the Middle Ages and in Earlier English Romance 201 From Magic to Miracle 207 Supernatural Items in Romance: From Magical to Miraculous 207 Other Supernatural Items in the Prose Romances 212 Miracles: Supernatural Acts of God 219 Saracen Nigromancy and Enchantment 226 Magic in Le Morte Darthur and Other Prose Romances 230 Supernatural Testing in Le Morte Darthur 231 Enchantment and Magic in Le Morte Darthur 237 Dwarfs and the Supernatural 242 Pacolet and Oberon: Dwarfs as Supernatural Helpers 246 Conclusion: The Supernatural in Prose Romance 253 CONCLUSION 256 BIBLIOGRAPHY 262 Manuscripts 262 Incunables 262 Editions 262 Secondary Sources 265 Works of Reference 291 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first and foremost like to thank Dr Megan Leitch and Professor Ad Putter for their invaluable advice, their encouraging support, and their patience and generosity in supervising this project. Particular thanks are owed to Megan, whose enthusiasm first encouraged my interest in medieval romance several years before this project took shape. I would also like to thank Dr Rob Gossedge, Professor Helen Nicholson, and Professor Marianne Ailes for their insightful comments on various draft chapters and conference presentations of this work. This project has benefitted from considerable financial support, and I am grateful for the generous Arts and Humanities Research council funding from the South West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership. I would also like to thank the School of English, Communication, and Philosophy for funding my attendance at a range of training sessions, research trips, and conferences. I have been privileged to be part of the medieval and early modern community at Cardiff University, as well as the broader postgraduate community. Particular thanks, however, are due to Dr Victoria Shirley, Helen McKenzie, Nick Viner, Dr Nathan Munday, Dr Martha Baldon, and Dr Sheri Smith, each of whom have supported me, inspired me, and been generous with their time in a multitude of ways. My heartfelt thanks to Phil, Jeanette, and Susie for encouraging and supporting me throughout not only this project but all those that have come before and, undoubtedly, those that will come after. Thanks also to Richard Hughes, who I believe would have thought this project a worthwhile investment. Finally, special thanks go to Becca, whose patience, compassion, hard work, and support have kept me grounded in reality and encouraged me to soar. v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EETS ES Early English Text Society, Extra Series EETS OS Early English Text Society, Original Series vi INTRODUCTION For oftymes I haue been excyted of the venerable man messire henry bolomyer, chanonne of lausanne, for to reduce for his playsyr somme hystoryes as wel in latyn & in romaunce as in other facion wryton, that is to say of the ryght puyssaunt, vertuous, and noble charles the grete, kyng of fraunce and emperour of Rome, Sone of the grete Pepyn: And of his prynces & barons, As Rolland, Olyuer, and other, touchyng somme werkes haultayne doon & commysed by their grete strength & ryght ardaunt courage, to the exaltacyon of the crysten fayth and to the confusyon of the hethen sarazyns and myscreaunts, whiche is a werk wel contemplatyf for to lyue wel.1 When William Caxton printed his translation of Jean Bagnyon’s 1478 Roman de Fierabras le Géant in 1485, he also translated this prologue, in which Bagnyon argues that the crusading deeds of great heroes should be recorded so they might be emulated for the good of Christendom. Caxton wrote new prologues and epilogues for his other prose romances, and his translation of this existing prologue suggests that its focus on crusade would have resonated with his audience, whose own reading habits were informed by ethical and didactic approaches. His own comments, appended to the Charles prologue, situate this text within a developing subgenre and a growing readership: Thenne for as moche I late had fynysshed in enprynte the book of the noble and vyctoryous kyng Arthur […] Somme persones of noble estate and degree haue desyred me to reduce thystorye and lyf of the noble and crysten prynce Charles the grete […] to thende that thystoryes, actes & lyues may be had in our maternal tongue, lyke as they be in latyn or in frensshe. (Charles, 2.25–36) 1 William Caxton, The Lyf of the Noble and Crysten Prynce Charles the Grete, ed. by Sidney J. H. Herrtage, EETS ES 36 & 37 (London: Oxford University Press, 1880–81), pp. 1.15–2.3. Henceforth referenced as Charles the Grete or Charles. 1 By not acknowledging his translation and by shifting seamlessly from the translated ‘I’ to his own, Caxton deviates from a medieval textual culture which privileged citing authorities over the creation of new material. Here, as throughout his process of translating and printing prose romances, Caxton, like Wynkyn de Worde after him, constructs an authoritative voice that was informed by the contexts of his sources but that also engaged with contemporary English concerns.2 Charles the Grete was one of a group of English printed prose romances produced during the printing lifespans of Caxton and Worde, between 1473 and 1534. This sixty-year period of English history is one in which