This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: • This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. • A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. • The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. • When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Wearing Identity: Colour and Costume in Meliador and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Elysse Taillon Meredith Ph.D. in Medieval Studies The University of Edinburgh 2012 The contents of this thesis are my own original work, research, and composition, and have not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. Elysse Taillon Meredith 23 May 2012 Abstract Worn items are a crucial part of non-verbal social interaction that simultaneously exhibits communal, cultural, and political structures and individual preferences. This thesis examines the role of fictional costume and colour in constructing identities within two fourteenth-century Arthurian verse narratives: Froissart’s Middle French Meliador and the anonymous Middle English Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. To emphasise the imaginative value of material cultures and discuss the potential reception of fictional objects, the argument draws on illuminations from nine manuscripts of prose Arthurian stories. Particularly stressing the role of colour in garments, the first chapter examines the issues of analysing literary costume, reviews the provenances of the texts and illuminations, and establishes the relevant historical background concerning fashion, symbolism, and materials of construction (such as fabric, dyes, and decorations). This is followed by two chapters on men’s items. First, the use of courtly clothes and colour-related epithets in manipulating perception and deceiving internal and external audiences is explored. Second, the symbolic value of arms and armour in tournament society is evaluated alongside the tensions between war and armed games that such tools reveal. Chapter four expands on the preceding chapters by discussing the application of heraldry as a malleable identifier. Chapter five considers how ladies’ garments, bodies, and character are coalesced and separated through adoption or rejection of literary techniques, thereby creating conflict between noblewomen as social commodities and as persons with narrative agency. The final chapter analyses the employment of wearable items as gifts and commodities and how such objects can alter interpersonal relationships. Colour and costume are a means by which narratives can explore, accept, or reject literary topoi. Their myriad functions allow the active manipulation of identity, relationships, and internal and external audiences. By focusing on the pluralities and ambiguities of meaning connected to colour and costume, this thesis explores how these materials mediate between conflicting connotations to create new meanings within the narratives. Acknowledgments To my supervisors, Philip Bennett, Sarah Carpenter, and Tom Tolley, whose support, guidance, and mentorship made me capable to do that which felt impossible, and who went above and beyond the call of duty; to Julia Boll and Sarah Marshall, who went before me, survived, and told me that I would too (often); to ‘the Cult’ (Emma Copeland, Alex Fitzgerald, Fiona Hastings, Kristin Lynch, and Yolande Stolte), whose good humour, bad movies, intellectual amusements, and dancing feet kept me going; to my Forum co-editor Dorothy Butchard, whose endless supply of coffee and cheerleading lifted my spirits; to the interdisciplinary academic communities at Edinburgh and beyond, who fed my mind and challenged me to grow; to friends, colleagues, and mentors too many to count, but especially Jim Hala, TMT, the M.Sc. in Medieval Studies (2008-2009), NSCDS, Mara Götz, and CBS (Bethesda); and finally, to my parents Ron and Roberta, who provided a foundation, love, wisdom, prayers, wine, and a cat to cuddle, and without whom this would not exist: thank you. Table of Contents Introduction: Beyond Records and Remnants.............................................................. 1 Chapter 1: Framing Fictional Costume ........................................................................ 6 Defining Fashion and Experiencing Literary Costume ...................................... 9 Manuscripts: Literature and Illuminations........................................................ 13 Costume in the Fourteenth Century .................................................................. 23 The Medieval Spectrum .................................................................................... 30 Conclusion: The Framework ............................................................................ 38 Chapter 2: Colouring the Costumed Courtier ............................................................ 39 Illuminating Courtly Display ............................................................................ 43 Perceptions of Colour in Meliador ................................................................... 45 Clothing Deception in Gawain ......................................................................... 57 Conclusion: Perception and Deception ............................................................. 75 Chapter 3: Acting the Knight: Arms and Armour ...................................................... 78 Tournament Society .......................................................................................... 79 Object, Image, and Emblem ............................................................................. 83 Prowess and Depiction in Meliador ................................................................. 90 Gawain’s Reversals ........................................................................................ 101 Conclusion: Violence and Game .................................................................... 114 Chapter 4: Identity and Heredity: Heraldry ............................................................. 116 Fourteenth Century Identification................................................................... 117 The Language of Heraldic Blazon .................................................................. 120 Arthurian Blazons in Tradition and Illumination ........................................... 123 Manipulating Heraldry in Meliador................................................................ 127 Stars, Girdles, and Garters in Gawain ............................................................ 141 Conclusion: Adapting Traditional Arthurian Heraldry................................... 151 Chapter 5: Garment, Body, Action: Ladies .............................................................. 153 Bodies and Values in Meliador ...................................................................... 161 Expectations in Gawain .................................................................................. 172 Conclusion: Display and Agency ................................................................... 191 Chapter 6: Gift, Award, and Accessory ................................................................... 193 Meliador’s Ring .............................................................................................. 197 Gifts for Gawain ............................................................................................. 206 Conclusion: Creating Relationships ............................................................... 222 Closing Remarks: Rediscovering the Objects of the Mind’s Eye ............................ 224 Appendix A: List of Figures on Digital Appendix .................................................. 229 Appendix B: Manuscripts and Illuminations ........................................................... 230 Timeline of Manuscripts ................................................................................. 230 London, British Library, Cotton Nero A.x ..................................................... 230 Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS Arsenal 3479 ....................................... 230 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, MS Fonds Français 97 .................................... 233 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, MSs Fonds Français 100 and 101................... 234 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, MSs Fonds Français 117, 118, 119, and 120.. 236 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, MS Fonds Français 338 .................................. 239 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, MS Fonds Français 12557 .............................. 241 Appendix C: Synopsis of Meliador.......................................................................... 242 Bibliography ............................................................................................................. 245 Manuscripts..................................................................................................... 245 Editions of Primary Sources ........................................................................... 245 Secondary Sources ......................................................................................