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An Analysis of the Concept of Chivalry As Applied to Sir Walter Scott's the Talisman

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An Analysis of the Concept of Chivalry As Applied to Sir Walter Scott's the Talisman Universiteit Gent Academiejaar 2006-2007 “an example to them who account themselves the flower of knighthood” An analysis of the concept of chivalry as applied to Sir Walter Scott’s The Talisman Promotor: Prof. Dr. M. Demoor aaaaaaaaaaaa Verhandeling voorgelegd aan de Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte voor het behalen van de graad van licentiaat in de Taal- en Letterkunde: Germaanse talen door Olivier Wauters 1 I would like to express my gratitude to Prof. Marysa Demoor, for helping me to find a fitting subject, for her suggestions concerning the structure of this dissertation and for her general guidance. I would also like to thank Prof. Erik Kooper whose lectures on Middle English proved to be a welcome inspiration. Further thanks should go to my parents and brother, my girlfriend Sofie and her parents, and everyone else for their unfailing support and patience. 2 Contents Introduction................................................................................................................ 1 PART I – Chivalry: the theoretical conept................................................................. 5 1. The concept of chivalry.......................................................................................... 6 1.1. A problematic notion....................................................................................... 6 1.2. Sword, cross and table..................................................................................... 7 1.2.1. The sword................................................................................................. 7 1.2.2. The cross ................................................................................................ 13 1.2.3. The table................................................................................................. 16 1.3. Scott’s outlook on chivalry ........................................................................... 20 1.4. The decline of chivalry.................................................................................. 22 1.5. The status of chivalry.................................................................................... 25 1.6. Conclusion..................................................................................................... 27 PART II – Analysis of Sir Walter Scott’s The Talisman ......................................... 28 2. A chivalric disequilibrium.................................................................................... 29 2.1. Introduction................................................................................................... 29 2.2. The Third Crusade......................................................................................... 30 2.3. The virtuous Crusaders?................................................................................ 31 2.3.1. King Richard I........................................................................................ 31 2.3.2. Sir Kenneth............................................................................................. 36 2.3.3. The Crusading princes............................................................................ 39 2.4. The noble Saladin.......................................................................................... 44 2.5. A lack of unity, the undoing of the Crusaders .............................................. 47 2.6. Conclusion..................................................................................................... 50 3. Chivalry and the role of religion .......................................................................... 52 3.1. Introduction................................................................................................... 52 3.2. The chivalric perspective .............................................................................. 52 3.2.1. The Crusaders......................................................................................... 53 3.2.2. Saladin.................................................................................................... 57 3.3. Light and Dark .............................................................................................. 58 4. The female fortress............................................................................................... 60 4.1. Introduction................................................................................................... 60 4.2. Edith and courtly love ................................................................................... 60 4.3. Dull days in the Crusader camp .................................................................... 63 4.4. Cultural differences....................................................................................... 64 5. The Crusade as a “rencontre de civilisations” ..................................................... 67 5.1. Introduction................................................................................................... 67 5.2. Differences between the Crusaders and the Saracens ................................... 67 5.3. External and internal cultural references....................................................... 70 5.3.1. Blacks..................................................................................................... 70 5.3.2. The Crusader camp: internal differences and stereotypes...................... 71 5.3.3. From Achilles to Satan........................................................................... 72 5.4. The multicultural Diamond of the Desert ..................................................... 73 5.5. A metaphorical view ..................................................................................... 75 Conclusion................................................................................................................ 78 Bibliography............................................................................................................. 82 3 Introduction A quick look at Sir Walter Scott’s bibliography suffices to see that he is a prolific writer. In addition to a number of poems and short stories, he wrote about thirty novels. One of the main reasons of Scott’s obsession with writing is to be found in the enormous amounts of money he wanted to invest in the expansion of his estate in Abbotsford1. Indeed, in order to ensure the financial means would keep up with the costs of his ever-growing spendthrift, he drastically increased the production of fiction2. However, this was insufficient to avert financial problems3. Fortunately, he was a lot more successful at writing than at managing his financial affairs. The production of novel after novel, all of which sold incredibly well4, lay at the basis of his nickname ‘The Wizard of the North’5. However, a marked contrast to Scott’s success in his own days6 is the fact that “few read Scott today”7. Nowadays, Scott’s oeuvre can be divided into two categories; a small selection of novels that are still popular, such as Waverley and Ivanhoe, and a large number of works that are a lot less known, such as The Talisman, the novel which will be the object of discussion in this dissertation. The discrepancy of popularity is also visible in the amount of secondary literature on the different novels. Since “The Talisman is one of the least read [novels]”8, the number of publications about this novel is very small. My personal interest in history in general and in life in the Middle Ages in particular led me to Sir Walter Scott and the selection of The Talisman is based on two considerations. First of all, the Crusades can be found in the higher regions of my list of fascinations with the Middle Ages; thus, The Talisman’s setting during 1 John Sutherland, The life of Walter Scott: a critical biography, Oxford: Blackwell, 1995. pp.154- 157 and p.203. 2 Sutherland, The life of Walter Scott, p.254. 3 Sutherland, The life of Walter Scott, p.292. 4 Serge Heirbrant, Componenten en compositie van de historische roman: een comparatistische en genologische benadering, Leuven : Garant, 1995. p.129. 5 Heirbrant, Componenten en compositie van de historische roman, p.117. 6 Scott lived from 1771 until 1832. G.A. Kohnstamm and H.C. Cassee, Het Cultureel Woordenboek. Encyclopedie van de algemene ontwikkeling, Amsterdam: Anthos, 19997. p.204. 7 Sutherland, The life of Walter Scott, p.196. 8 Margaret Bruzelius, ““The King of England… Loved to Look upon A MAN”: Melancholy and Masculinity in Scott’s Talisman.” Modern Language Quarterly 62:1 (2001): 19-41. [Online version via MLA] p.39. 1 the Third Crusade was perfect. Secondly, I also tried to find a novel of which every word had not yet been turned and twisted in every possible direction. As said before, this is indeed the case with The Talisman. When one takes into account these two motivations, it is not surprising that The Talisman was selected in function of an analysis of the concept of chivalry9. It will become clear later on that chivalry is a multi-layered concept. In brief, it describes the different aspects of life as a knight and his function in society. Scott demonstrated a profound interest in the concept of chivalry; in 1818 he wrote an essay on this subject for inclusion in the Encyclopaedia Britannica10. Scott’s fascination with history started when he was still a boy. Scott had many health problems during his life11 and as a child he was sent to Sandyknowe to spend some time with his aunt, since conditions of living were much better there than in the cramped house in unhealthy Edinburgh12.
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