Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2019 Chaucer and Malory’s treatment of outlawry Carolyn Sue Gonzalez Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd Part of the English Language and Literature Commons, and the Medieval Studies Commons Recommended Citation Gonzalez, Carolyn Sue, "Chaucer and Malory’s treatment of outlawry" (2019). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 17018. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/17018 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Chaucer and Malory’s treatment of outlawry by Carolyn S. Gonzalez A thesis submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Major: English (Literature) Program of Study Committee: Susan Yager, Major Professor Jeremy Withers Michael Bailey The student author, whose presentation of the scholarship herein was approved by the program of study committee, is solely responsible for the content of this thesis. The Graduate College will ensure this thesis is globally accessible and will not permit alterations after a degree is conferred. Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2019 Copyright © Carolyn S. Gonzalez, 2019. All rights reserved. ii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my husband, Angel, and our newborn little girl, Charlotte. For every stage, and every page, turned and written in our life together (so far!). Mis amores. -Carolyn S. Gonzalez- iii TABLE OF CONTENTS NOMENCLATURE…………………………………………………………………………..….iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………………….v ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………...vi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………1 CHAPTER 2. MEDIEVAL OUTLAWRY………………………………………………………..7 CHAPTER 3. CHAUCER’S OUTLAWS…………………………………………………….....12 Outlawry in The Wife of Bath’s Tale…………………………………………………….12 Outlawry in The Knight’s Tale…………………………………………………………..20 CHAPTER 4. MALORY’S OUTLAWS………………………………………………………...29 Outlawry in Tristram’s Madness and Exile…...…………………………………………29 Outlawry in Lancelot and Elaine………………………………………………………...40 CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………..48 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………..50 iv NOMENCLATURE CT Canterbury Tales KnT Knight’s Tale WBT Wife of Bath’s Tale v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to sincerely thank my major professor, Dr. Susan Yager. I am forever indebted to you for your kindness, wisdom, and expertise that reignited my passion for medieval studies. Your door was always open, whether it was for research-related or first-time-academic- mom support — from the bottom of my heart, thank you. I next would like to extend many thanks to Dr. Jeremy Withers and Dr. Michael Bailey for your insightful comments, suggestions, and enthusiasm in working with me on this fascinating project. Thank you, for all of your guidance and support throughout the course of this research. And last, but certainly not least, I would also like to thank my father, Tom, for being my biggest fan and for convincing me that my dream is worth chasing. My mother, Nancy, for her ever-present kindhearted voice of support. My siblings, John, Stephen, Stephanie, and Sarah, and all of mis suegros and familia Gonzalez. And last, but certainly not least: my colleagues, friends, and department faculty and staff for making my time at Iowa State University truly wonderful. This would not have been possible without all of you — thank you! Carolyn S. Gonzalez vi ABSTRACT The medieval outlaw appears in historical, religious, and legal texts of late Medieval England and is imagined in fiction as well, specifically in the romance narratives of Geoffrey Chaucer and Thomas Malory. Outlawry was a legal state that could be imposed. Both Chaucer and Malory, especially the latter, found themselves outside the law at different points of their lives, an item to consider when examining the authors’ representation of knights acting outside the chivalric code. Both authors populate their romances with outlawry, illustrating the ethical, legal, and social assumptions of their own times. In Chaucer and Malory, knights can sometimes be outlaws, and when they are, they are often portrayed as running amok or going mad, leading them to a quest or to an act that must be completed before they can be reintroduced into society. Early critics Maurice Keen and Eric Hobsbawm narrowly defined what they saw as outlawry in medieval literature, but the more recent work of Timothy S. Jones renews the possibility of better examining outlawry’s intersection with medieval romance. Outlawry has traditionally been associated with the narratives of Robin Hood, who is traditionally depicted as an outlaw wearing green who robbed the rich and gave to the poor. Yet broadening the definitions of what constitutes an outlaw narrative can lead to fresh readings of Chaucer’s and Malory’s work. To be outlawed, in medieval fiction, carries with it an additional displacement of a character’s human connection to others. In this project, I examine fictional knights tarrying in outlawed space while grounding my argument in historical narratives. In doing so, I illuminate how outlawry intersects with medieval romance, unveiling chivalry’s ideological blemishes. 1 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION Outlaws in medieval literature belong to the forest, whether they lurk in the natural world, idyllic greenwoods, or dismal and bleak woodlands. The tradition of the outlaw surfaces in the greenwood legends of Robin Hood, but ideas of outlawry emerge in romances of the Middle Ages as well, particularly the romances of Geoffrey Chaucer and Thomas Malory. While this project draws only briefly upon each author’s brushes with the law, it is worth noting that both Chaucer and Malory, at various moments of their lives, faced possible sentences of exile or imprisonment. Chaucer’s criminal past has long been discussed by scholars in the field. In the case of Chaucer and Cecily Chaumpaigne, Chaucer biographers have tried to clarify the severity of charges placed against him for raptus. On May 1, 1380, in the Court of Chancery, a document was enrolled in which Chaumpaigne “agreed unconditionally to release Geoffrey Chaucer from all actions concerning her rape or anything else.” Furthermore, “Cecily herself came to the court on May 4 to acknowledge the document, which was witnessed by some of Chaucer’s most influential friends” (Pearsall 135). Commonly, laws of medieval England defined raptus as abduction, “the seizing and holding of a young person against his or her will with the purpose of gaining some financial advantage” (Pearsall 135). Chaucer’s own father, John, was abducted by his aunt in 1324 when she was trying to force her nephew into marrying her daughter. Interestingly, Chaucer himself served in 1387 on a commission investigating a case similar to John’s (Crow and Olson 3). Chaucer faced additional brushes with the law in 1379 and 1380, but as Derek Pearsall contends, the law then was “an instrument for the pursuit of private purposes and interests having nothing to do with moral justice or equity” (Pearsall 135). 2 However, Malory’s troubling legal history is less ambiguous. Malory spent eight years in and out of London prisons, but authorities were unable or, perhaps more likely, “unwilling to assemble the necessary jury” of men to try him (Field 104). As P.J.C. Field points out, the “legal process against him [Malory] is suspect from the beginning, although that does not mean he is innocent” (Field 105). As with Chaucer, Malory’s most memorable charge was also one of abduction or assault, pressed not by the alleged victim but rather, by her husband. Malory was brought to the King’s Bench in Westminster on January 27, 1452 by the Sheriffs of London. Twice, no jurors appeared, but during his second time in court, “he was not committed to the Sheriffs of London but to the marshal of the court, and therefore to its marshalsea,” the most notorious prison in Southwark, South of London (Field 107). Another bad year for Malory was 1456: he was sued in the King’s Bench for debt and on November 13 the prison of Newgate, in which he was held in for more secure custody, “was to see a spectacular gaol-break” by which Malory and others escaped (Field 119). Additional crimes pepper Malory’s life, including harboring a horse-thief and planning a failed burglary, leading to his placement in various prisons, including the Tower of London (Malory and Cooper xi). Chaucer’s and Malory’s experiences with the court and the latter’s familiarity with prisons materialize in their fictional depictions of outlawry, and while I do not claim that their specific experiences enter their stories, it is worth keeping in mind that each author was familiar with law-breaking and methods of punishment. This exposure, I believe, shapes their telling of romances that deviate from and defy the genre’s conventions of heroism and chivalry. The 14th and 15th centuries were, like much of the Middle Ages, marked by a reverence for divine authority and by a conservative social order. Perhaps such an emphasis on order and authority accounts, at least in part, for the presence of violence and law-breaking men in the era’s 3 popular literature. Maurice Keen’s The Outlaws of Medieval Legend traces the development of the literary outlaw in an effort to reveal its origin, spirit, and background. However, in his thorough examination of the heroic figure in the Robin Hood legends, Keen rejects the possibility that medieval romance could intersect with the outlawry narrative. Keen argues that “the champion of chivalry and the outlaw never met face to face in medieval story, though they adventured in the same forests,” since romances appealed to an aristocratic audience and Robin Hood was a hero of the common folk (Keen 2).