SUMMERS, KAREN CRADY, Ph.D. Reading Incest - The University ...

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As chivalry is a controlling theme in Malory’s book, and incest an element
subversive to that theme, a brief diversion into the nature of medieval chivalry is in order
(Hodges 38-71). Chivalry was a function of knighthood in medieval society. Gower’s
prologue catalogues the shortcomings of the three estates—knights, clergy, and
commons—and the estates system is also prominent in the structure of the prologue of
the Canterbury Tales. Though the boundaries between the estates were stretched by the
late fifteenth century, the system itself was still entrenched in medieval culture, a culture
in which each person has a particular station, ordained by God, and a task relevant to that
station. Consider Chaucer’s Knight, who
. . . loved chivalrie,
Trouthe and honour, freedom and curteisie.
Full worthy was he in his lordes were,
and therto hadde he ridden, no man ferre,
As wel in cristendom as in hetheness,
And evere honoured for his worthynesse (GP 45-50)
Chivalry may be defined as a collection of ideals, sometimes competing, that guided the
knight’s actions: loyalty, duty, courage, virtue, prowess, mercy, protection of women,
faithfulness to God and church, and most of all honor saturate the chivalric code.
Malory’s publisher, Caxton, brought out one of the many conduct manuals on chivalry
circulating at the same time as Le Morte d’Arthur, 19 indicating the degree to which
chivalry was esteemed by his audience. The word “code” is not used lightly, for chivalry
and its component courtesy were meant to control behavior and allow the ruling class to
19 Le Morte d’Arthur was published in 1485, and The Book of the Order of Chivalry in 1484, translated
from Ramon Lull’s thirteenth century treatise on knighthood and courtesy.