This is
episode 7 in a series of posts researching the mystery of the dramatic life of
Sir Thomas Malory, author of Le Mort d’Arthur.
Episode 1 can be found here.
Mark Bowden’s
1999 important and tragic history Black
Hawk Down snapshots the US military at a critical period of
transition. He implicitly captures the
rise of the small, modern special forces unit, the practical necessity such
units meet, and the stress they placed
on larger, conventionally organized parts of the military and their culture at
the time. Within such units, rank and
chain of command were less important and relevant than the flexible, varying
organization and strategy such units adopted internally to accomplish their
difficult missions. Outwardly, their
sometime disregard for military rules of dress and grooming was a source of
stress for officers working to maintain traditional standards.
The 15th
century was also a period of military transition. At Agincourt in 1415, Henry V’s army
consisted of 5,000 archers and 900 men-at-arms of which as many as 10% were
knights. Later, in 1439, the Earl of
Huntingdon’s expedition to recover Gascony, which Sir Thomas Malory could have
participated in, consisted of 2,009 archers, 300 men-at-arms of which 2 were knight
bannerets and 6 were knights, roughly 3%.
Since Crecy the percentages of knights and men-at-arms generally in
English armies was declining. There were
multiple reasons. Knights were required
to maintain at least £40 per year of property income and to be equivalently compensated
for military service whereas an esquire was compensated at £18 for performing
the same tactical role. And there may
have been a cultural issue as well.
Beverly Kennedy in Knighthood in
the Morte Darthur contrasts two views of late medieval knighthood. In Libro
del orden de caballeria, Ramon Lull sees knighthood as a divinely ordained
office as old as human society itself with independent social obligations for rule and judgment as well as
the military obligations. In contrast,
Christine de Pizan provides very practical advice in Livre des fais d’armes et de la chevalerie for participating as a
member of a contemporary medieval force and filling a functional military role.
Knights were complicated with ambiguous,
changing moral and ethical responsibilities.
Knights may have had unique value as officers but esquires were probably
more adaptable and easier to command.
This is
important context for Sir Thomas Malory.
His father had acquired a distraint of knighthood to relieve himself of
the obligation. In contrast, Sir Thomas’
pursuit of knighthood, which he finally achieved sometime around the age of 39,
was not a social obligation, nor was it implicit for someone in his social
situation but it was an apparent life goal.
There are many possible motivations, including the pursuit of status,
but, for what it’s worth, status alone is rarely the motivation for knighthood
in Le Mort d’Arthur: more often it is a platform for service and
accomplishment, which Lull would have fully understood. This is clear, but circumstantial evidence of
Malory possessing a personal sense of noblesse oblige.
William
Caxton, who published Le Mort d’Arthur also published Ramon Lull and Christine
de Pizan, chivalric luminaries. He was
very careful to publish authors of whose audience he was confident. Caxton’s choice to include Malory in his
select company may also be circumstantial evidence alluding to his character.
Previously, I’ve mentioned Eric Jager’s The Last Duel, the story of the last judicial combat to the death in France. Interestingly, it was between a knight and man-at-arms and the issue under such terrible arbitration was the rape of a woman. The coincidences and social parallels and contrasts with the accusations against Malory deserve more time and I’ll come back to it in future posts.
Episode 8 is here
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