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Masculinity and Chivalry: the Tenuous Relationship of the Sacred and Secular in Medieval Arthurian Literature

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Masculinity and Chivalry: the Tenuous Relationship of the Sacred and Secular in Medieval Arthurian Literature MASCULINITY AND CHIVALRY: THE TENUOUS RELATIONSHIP OF THE SACRED AND SECULAR IN MEDIEVAL ARTHURIAN LITERATURE by KACI MCCOURT DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Texas at Arlington August, 2018 Arlington, Texas Supervising Committee: Kevin Gustafson, Supervising Professor Jacqueline Fay James Warren i ABSTRACT Masculinity and Chivalry: The Tenuous Relationship of the Sacred and Secular in Medieval Arthurian Literature Kaci McCourt, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Arlington, 2018 Supervising Professors: Kevin Gustafson, Jacqueline Fay, and James Warren Concepts of masculinity and chivalry in the medieval period were socially constructed, within both the sacred and the secular realms. The different meanings of these concepts were not always easily compatible, causing tensions within the literature that attempted to portray them. The Arthurian world became a place that these concepts, and the issues that could arise when attempting to act upon them, could be explored. In this dissertation, I explore these concepts specifically through the characters of Lancelot, Galahad, and Gawain. Representative of earthly chivalry and heavenly chivalry, respectively, Lancelot and Galahad are juxtaposed in the ways in which they perform masculinity and chivalry within the Arthurian world. Chrétien introduces Lancelot to the Arthurian narrative, creating the illicit relationship between him and Guinevere which tests both his masculinity and chivalry. The Lancelot- Grail Cycle takes Lancelot’s story and expands upon it, securely situating Lancelot as the best secular knight. This Cycle also introduces Galahad as the best sacred knight, acting as redeemer for his father. Gawain, in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, exemplifies both the earthly and heavenly aspects of chivalry, showing the fraught relationship between the two, resulting in the emasculating of Gawain. Finally, Malory’s Le Morte Darthur reestablishes the secular/sacred dynamic, attempting to elevate Lancelot again to best knight, but ultimately failing to resolve the issues that accompany the concepts of ii chivalry and masculinity. I explore these works, and others, to analyze the ways that masculinity and chivalry are portrayed and how they work with – and against – one another in Arthurian literature. iii Copyright by Kaci McCourt 2018 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I must thank Dr. Kevin Gustafson for all of his hard work, patience, and dedication while serving as my committee chair. He went above and beyond what was necessary in this role, and I know that I will never be able to adequately express my appreciation to him. My academic career has been one of many successes and accomplishments, but working with him over the past few years and the knowledge that I have gained from him has been the highlight of my time at UTA. I will certainly miss seeing him on campus, but am grateful for the time that he dedicated to me and this dissertation. I must also thank Drs. Jim Warren and Jackie Fay, both for their instruction and wisdom as my professors and for their time and expertise on my committee. I am truly grateful. I also want to thank Drs. Penny Ingram, Amy Tigner, and Kathryn Warren for their role as graduate advisors. I always knew that I could go to them as a graduate student and that they would work on my behalf. I am grateful, as well, for being awarded a Dissertation Fellowship by the Graduate Studies department for Summer 2018, ensuring that I would be able to focus solely on this dissertation and defend at the end of the summer. And last, but not least, I am grateful to Jen Caro-Barnes for the many times she helped me throughout my career as a graduate student at UTA. Her help as a colleague and friend enriched this experience in so many ways. v DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to the three people who have ensured I successfully finished my doctoral degree: my mom, my dad, and Kyle. To my mom and dad for giving me encouragement my entire life, ensuring that I always knew I could accomplish anything I wanted. They have supported me in so many ways, and I know that I can never repay them for everything they have done to ensure I got to this point. And to Kyle, who willingly stuck by me through the ups and downs, stress and anxiety, and every emotion possible while I worked on this dissertation. I know that I could not have done this without you. I will forever be grateful that you came into my life and that you will be in my life forever. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................................................... v DEDICATION ................................................................................................................................................. vi INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER ONE: MASCULINITY AND CHIVALRY ........................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER TWO: THE INTRODUCTION OF LANCELOT AND GALAHAD ........................................................ 45 CHAPTER THREE: GAWAIN’S CONFLICTING VIRTUES ................................................................................ 76 CHAPTER FOUR: MALORY’S HERO ........................................................................................................... 105 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................ 137 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................................... 143 vii INTRODUCTION My dissertation focuses on three key areas of medieval study: masculinity, chivalry, and views of the secular and the sacred in Arthurian literature. I analyze specific texts which center around several of the main characters in Arthurian literature and the ways in which they exhibit masculinity, portray heavenly and/or earthly chivalry, and act within a combined secular and sacred realm. Lancelot, Galahad, and Gawain, and the works that feature them, are used to trace the tensions that arise with medieval ideas of masculinity and with authors attempting to fit both the sacred and the secular into one cohesive legend, specifically through the ideals of earthly and heavenly chivalry. There is much in the current state of scholarship that discusses different types of masculinity (such as Clare A. Lees’ Medieval Masculinities: Regarding Men in the Middle Ages, Jennifer D. Thibodeaux’s The Manly Priest, and Ruth Mazo Karras’ From Boys to Men: Formations of Masculinity in Late Medieval Europe), the complex nature of the secular and the sacred (such as Barbara Newman’s Medieval Crossover: Reading the Secular Against the Sacred, and Richard W. Kaeuper’s Holy Warriors: The Religious Ideology of Chivalry), and the ideals of chivalry, especially for a knight (Maurice Keen’s Chivalry and Beverly Kennedy’s Knighthood in the Morte Darthur). However, there has not yet been on distinctive work that specifically looks at all three of these combined solely through an Arthurian lens. This work is meant to take these concepts and the scholarship that has previously been done on them and work through the ways in which they are portrayed in medieval Arthurian literature. Ultimately, the goal of this dissertation is to look closely at specific works and passages of Arthurian literature in the medieval period in an attempt to understand and recognize some of the tensions and complicated concepts that dominated the matter and the genre of Arthurian romance. There is no one portrayal of masculinity or chivalry that stands out as the idealized form of knighthood in the medieval period. While Arthurian literature does work to create this ideal of knighthood and its portrayal of masculinity and chivalry within a world that merges the sacred and secular, it inevitably 1 fails. Many of the works in the matter are showcasing multiple versions of masculinity and chivalry, complicated at times by the presence of both sacred and secular ideals. While questions such as “what is the superior form of masculinity?” or “how should chivalry look within a romance?” persist, both in the time period and in Arthurian literature itself, there are too many conflicting views of these concepts. The multiple views and examples of masculine and chivalric production and their inability to be completed reconciled with one another make it impossible for a clear answer to emerge. Rather than attempting to provide one specific answer, I am working out just how these different concepts work alongside one another, often within the same narrative, to form the matter of medieval Arthurian literature. Lancelot, Galahad, and Gawain are important figures to discuss in this dissertation as they each represent a specific way in which masculinity, chivalry, and the sacred and the secular are portrayed in specific works. While Percival is the knight that introduces the audience to the legend and to the specific quests and tests that a Grail knight must undertake, it is Galahad that becomes the Grail Knight. When Galahad is introduced,
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