The Quest for the Holy: The Religious Perspective of Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur by © Paul Moffett A Thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English Memorial University of Newfoundland May 2017 St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador Abstract This thesis explores the religious content and context of Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur. There has long been a heated critical debate about Malory’s interest in religion, and this thesis demonstrates that Le Morte Darthur engages frequently and seriously with religion in general and with a specific manifestation of religion in particular: that is, fifteenth-century lay chivalric Christianity. This thesis is divided into an introduction, five chapters, and a conclusion. The introduction provides a historical and critical context for the discussion that follows. The first chapter explains the text’s engagement with fifteenth-century lay chivalric Christianity in particular, and demonstrates that Le Morte Darthur gets more religious as it proceeds. Chapter 2 explores the role of holiness in the character development of Lancelot and Galahad, and argues that the father and son represent two alternative models of holiness. The third chapter demonstrates the thematic importance of penance throughout Le Morte Darthur, with particular attention paid to Guinevere, Lancelot, Arthur, and Gawain. The fourth chapter focuses on the Grail Quest, and demonstrates that Malory chose to use a symbolic and religious source for his retelling of the Grail story, despite having other options. Chapter 5 uses sections of Le Morte Darthur with no known source to argue that Malory’s religious preoccupation is his own, and not inadvertently imported from his sources. The conclusion makes a case for the significance of the study. “The Quest for the Holy: The Religious Perspective of Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur” offers a critical analysis of one of late medieval literature’s central text, addressing deeply concerns that have more frequently been merely alluded to. More ii broadly, it joins critical discussions about conflicting loyalties, individualism and collectivism, ideology, politics, theology, and political theology. iii Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the financial support of Memorial University of Newfoundland’s School of Graduate Studies, and Department of English Language and Literature, and to acknowledge Memorial University’s Queen Elizabeth II Library for access to the books I needed and also for reference librarians who helped me track down specific and esoteric details when necessary. Thank you to Stephen Atkinson for sending me a copy of an unpublished conference talk, “’in tho dayes’: Trauma, Malory’s Readers, and the Case of Gawain’s Grief.” I would like to thank all those at Memorial University who functioned formally or informally as advisers on this thesis. Jeremy Citrome’s advice on the writing process I have followed throughout. John Geck’s advice, especially on matters of broadening and explaining the context, was invaluable, as were his suggestions of revisions. I especially thank Bill Schipper for his guidance and advice from the very beginning stages through to the completed thesis. He read drafts that in retrospect were very rough, and offered encouragement and the most constructive of criticisms throughout. Thanks also to my family, especially my sister Jill whose pep-talks never failed to encourage me, my father for practical help and support, and my mother for introducing me to King Arthur in the first place. Above all, I express my appreciation to my wife Jan, who has been unfailingly supportive and encouraging throughout this long PhD journey. Her help was practical: she was usually both the first and the last to read every chapter, and was a longsuffering a sounding board for incomplete thoughts and ideas. Her editorial eye is everywhere in this iv thesis, and without her encouragement and support I would never have even begun. Even more importantly, she gave me enormous emotional support through frustrations and triumphs, late nights and early mornings. To her, and to our daughters Guinevere and Maggie, this thesis is dedicated. v Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements iv List Abbreviations xi List of Figures xii List of Tables xiii Introduction – Malory and Religion in Context 1 I.1 Critical Perspectives on Le Morte Darthur 1 I.1.1 A Tale of Two Editors: Caxton and Vinaver 7 I.1.2 Recent Critics on Malory’s Religion 10 I.2 Background Check: The Religious Context of Le Morte Darthur 14 I.2.1 Tell the Truth: Confession in the Later Middle Ages 15 I.2.2 Wycliffe and the Lollards 19 I.2.2.1 Two Swords 20 I.2.3 Arundel’s Constitutions 30 I.3 Setting Down the Track: The Plan for this Study 31 Chapter 1 – The Search for the Holy: Malory and Fifteenth-Century Christianity 34 1.1 Unity and the Structure of the Text: Caxton and Vinaver 36 1.2 Fifteenth-century English Lay Chivalric Christian Piety 39 1.2.1 Chivalric Piety 42 vi 1.3 The Spiritual Trajectory of Le Morte Darthur 48 1.3.1 Sowing the Seed: “Uther Pendragon and Merlin” 49 1.3.1.1 Merlin Can Perceive God’s Will 50 1.3.1.2 The Sword in the Stone as a Miracle 53 1.3.2 Forshadowing the Grail: “Balyn le Sauvage” 53 1.3.3 The End of the Beginning: “King Arthur and the Emperor Lucius” 58 1.3.4 The Spiritual Heart of Le Morte Darthur: “The Sankgreal” 65 1.3.5 The Beginning of the End: “The Morte Arthur” 71 Chapter 2 – How to Bake a Pie(ty): Galahad And Lancelot 79 2.1 The World is Not Enough: Lancelot and Earthly Chivalry 80 2.2 It’s a Matter of Priorities: Galahad and the Place of Holiness 86 2.3 His Father’s Son: Galahad’s Identity 94 2.4 Holy Continuity!: The Religious Emphasis of the Post-Grail Sections 105 2.5 Holiness Kills 111 2.6 The Healing of Urry and Lancelot’s Self-Knowledge 118 2.7 Why Lancelot and Guinevere Can Never Be Together 122 Chapter 3 – I Said I Was Sorry: Penance in Malory 127 3.1 The Road Not Taken: Penance and the Two Morte Arthures 128 3.2 Guinevere: Subjectivity Through Penance 136 vii 3.3 Lancelot: If At First You Can’t Confess, Try Try Again 144 3.4 Regret, Contrition, Penance, and King Arthur 153 3.5 The Archbishop, Minor Characters, and National Penance 159 3.6 Sorry, Not Sorry: Sir Gawain and the Refusal of Penance 163 Chapter 4 – Don’t I Know You From Somewhere: Malory’s Unused Sources for the Grail Quest 171 4.1 Choice and La Queste del Saint Graal 173 4.1.1 Accessing the Grail: Sir Lancelot 177 4.1.2 Personal History and the Desire for Faith: Sir Percival 182 4.1.3 Difficult Choices: Sir Bors 185 4.1.4 Quest for the Meaning of the Grail 188 4.2 Hardying’s Chronicle: Literally one of Malory’s Sources 189 4.2.1 Practically Perfect in Every Way: Hardying’s Arthur 190 4.2.2 An English Saint: Hardyng’s Galaad 192 4.3 Secularism and the French Prose Tristan 196 4.3.1 Bifocals: The Dual Focus of the French Prose Tristan 198 4.3.2 Tristan Versus Lancelot 200 4.4 Conflicting Purposes: The Place of Religion in Perlesvaus 202 4.4.1 The Chapel Perilous and Lancelot’s Spiritual Development 205 4.4.2 The Desire for Greatness: Arthur in Perlesvaus 208 viii 4.4.3 Mercy, Violence, and a Crusading Mindset 213 Chapter 5 – Arturus ex Nihilo: The Sourceless Sections of Le Morte Darthur 216 5.1 The Hidden Religion of “Sir Gareth of Orkney” 217 5.1.1 “Sir Gareth of Orkney,” La Cote Male Tayle, and Typological Reading 218 5.1.2 Pentecost, Miracles, and Murder: Sir Gareth and Sir Galahad 219 5.1.2.1 Sir Gareth and Murder 223 5.1.2.2 Mercy and Conversation in “Sir Gareth of Orkney” 225 5.1.3 Good Knight, Everyone: Chivalry and Nobility in “Sir Gareth of Orkney” 226 5.2 The Overt Religion of Sir Urry of Hungary 228 5.2.1 Holiness and Wholeness in the Healing of Sir Urry 229 5.2.2 “Secretly unto hymselff”: Lancelot’s Prayer 232 5.2.3 Seven Plus Three: The Seven Wounds of Sir Urry, and the Trinity 235 5.3 The Developing Religion of the Colophons 238 5.3.1 The Colophons and the Division of the Text 239 5.3.2 The Simple Colophons 241 5.3.3 Ending and Beginning: The Colophon to “King Uther and King Arthur” 244 5.3.4 A Shift in Tone: The Colophon to “Sir Gareth of Orkney” 249 5.3.5 Earnest Prayer: The Colophons to “Sir Tristram de Lyones” and “The Sankgreal” 251 ix 5.3.6 Bringing Two Together: The Colophon to “Sir Launcelot and Queen Guenivere” 256 5.3.7 Explicit: The Colophon to “The Morte Arthure” 257 Conclusion – Taking Malory Seriously 269 C.1 Why Religion Matters to Le Morte Darthur 270 Works Cited: Medieval and Renaissance 275 Works Cited: Modern 280 x List of Abbreviations I use the following abbreviations for in-text citations of editions of Malory: C – Malory, Thomas. Caxton’s Malory: Le Morte Darthur. Ed. James W. Spisak and William Matthews. Berkeley: U of California P, 1983. F – Malory, Thomas. Le Morte Darthur. Ed. P.J.C. Field. Cambridge: Brewer, 2013. V – Malory, Thomas. The Works of Sir Thomas Malory.