Knight.pdf

The Knight: his Portrait and his Tale

Here is the portrait of the Knight from the General Prologue

The Knight is the person of highest social standing on the pilgrimage though you would never

know it from his modest manner or his clothes. He keeps his ferocity for crusaders' battlefields

where he has distinguished himself over many years and over a wide geographical area. As the

text says, he is not "gay", that is, he is not showily dressed, but is still wearing the military

padded coat stained by the armor he has only recently taken off.

A KNIGHT there was and that a worthy man

That from the tim that he first began

To riden out, he lov d chivalry,

Truth and honóur, freedom and courtesy. 1

Full worthy was he in his lord 's war,

lorde's = king's or God's

And thereto had he ridden--no man farre

farther

As well in Christendom as Heatheness

heathendom

And ever honoured for his worthiness.

His campaigns

At Alexandria he was when it was won.

captured

Full often times he had the board begun

table

Aboven all natïons in Prussia. 2

In Lithow had he reis d and in Russia

Lithuania / fought

No Christian man so oft of his degree.

rank

In Gránad' at the siege eke had he be

Granada / also

Of Algesir and ridden in Belmarie.

At Ley s was he and at Satalie

When they were won, and in the Great Sea

Mediterranean

At many a noble army had he be.

At mortal battles had he been fifteen

And foughten for our faith at Tramissene

In list s thric , and ay slain his foe. 3

combat 3 times & always

This ilk worthy knight had been also

same

1 45-6: "He loved everything that pertained to knighthood: truth (to one's word), honor, magnanimity

( freedom ), courtesy."

2 52-3: He had often occupied the seat of honor at the table of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, where

badges awarded to distinguished crusaders read "Honneur vainc tout: Honor conquers all." Though the

campaigns listed below were real, and though it was perhaps just possible for one man to have been in them all,

the list is probably idealized. The exact geographical locations are of little interest today. This portrait is

generally thought to show a man of unsullied ideals; Terry Jones insists that the knight was a mere mercenary.

3 63: "In single combat ( listes ) three times, and always ( ay ) killed his opponent."

Sometim with the lord of Palatie

Against another heathen in Turkey,

And ever more he had a sovereign prize, 1

always

His modest demeanor

And though that he was worthy he was wise,

valiant / sensible

And of his port as meek as is a maid.

deportment

Ne never yet no villainy he said

rudeness

In all his life unto no manner wight. 2

no kind of person

He was a very perfect gentle knight.

But for to tellen you of his array:

His horse was good; but he was not gay. 3

well dressed

Of fustian he wear d a gipoun

coarse cloth / tunic

All besmotered with his habergeon,

stained / mail

For he was late y-come from his voyáge,

just come / journey

And went for to do his pilgrimáge. 4

_____________________________________

To recapitulate what was said at the end of the General Prologue:

After serving dinner, Harry Bailly, the fictional Host, owner of the Tabard Inn, originates the

idea for the Tales: to pass the time pleasantly, every one will tell a couple of tales on the way

out and a couple on the way back. The teller of the best tale will get a dinner paid for by all the

others at Harry's inn, The Tabard, on the way back from Canterbury. He offers to go with them

as a guide. They all accept, agreeing that the Host be MC. The next morning they set out and

draw lots to see who shall tell the first tale.

1 64-67: The knight had fought for one Saracen or pagan leader against another, a common, if dubious,

practice. And ever more .. . may mean he always kept the highest reputation or that he always came away with a

splendid reward or booty ( prize). .

2 70-71: Notice quadruple negative: "ne, never, no ... no" used for emphasis, perhaps deliberately excessive

emphasis. It is not bad grammar. The four negatives remain in Ellesmer's slightly different version: "He never

yet no villainy ne said ... unto no manner wight"

3 74: "He (the Knight) was not fashionably dressed." horse was : most MSS read hors weere(n) = "horses

were." I have preferred the reading of MS Lansdowne.

4 75-78: The poor state of the knight's clothes is generally interpreted to indicate his pious anxiety to fulfill

a religious duty even before he has had a chance to change his clothes. Jones thinks it simply confirms that the

knight was a mercenary who had pawned his armor. voyage : MSS have viage . Blessed viage was the term often

used for the holy war of the crusades.

The Host:

?Let see now who shall tell the first tale.

As ever may I drink n wine or ale,

Whoso be rebel to my judg ment

Whoever is

Shall pay for all that by the way is spent.

835

Now draw th cut, ere that we further twinn;

draw lots before we go

He which that has the shortest shall begin.

Sir Knight," quod he, "my master and my lord,

said he

Now draw th cut, for that is mine accord.

draw lots / wish

Come near," quod he, "my lady Prioress.

840

And you, Sir Clerk, let be your shamefastness,

shyness

Nor study not. Lay hand to, every man."

They all draw lots.

Anon to draw n every wight began

person

And shortly for to tell n as it was,

Were it by áventure or sort or cas,

Whether by fate, luck or fortune

845

The sooth is this, the cut fell to the knight,

The truth / the lot

Of which full blithe and glad was every wight.

very happy / person

And tell he must his tale as was reason

By forward and by compositïon

By agreement & contract

As you have heard. What needeth word s mo' ?

850

And when this good man saw that it was so,

As he that wise was and obedient

To keep his forward by his free assent,

his agreement

He said : "Since I shall begin the game,

What! welcome be the cut, in God's name.

855

Now let us ride, and heark n what I say."

and listen

And with that word we rid n forth our way

And he began with right a merry cheer

with great good humor

His tale anon, and said as you may hear.

at once

THE KNIGHT'S TALE

Introduction

Having drawn the lot to decide who is going to tell the first tale on the road to Canterbury, the

Knight proceeds to tell the longest of all the tales in verse. It is, at least on the surface, a

Romance; that is, in medieval terms, a tale of love and war, or as we might put it, sex and

violence. But the sex here is a matter of convention rather than act, and in no way erotic or earthy

as it is in other tales. The violence that we see is ordered and ritualistic, conducted according to

rule; the violence that we do not see but hear about, is perhaps less ordered and rule-bound.

There is not much "romance" in any modern sense of the word, and the tale appeals to something

other than to the softer emotions.

At the beginning we see quite clearly the connected topics of sex and force: Theseus has won

himself a bride by violence, and without a trace of erotic passion--just a war prize, as far as we

can see. He has conquered the Amazons, a race of single women warriors, and has taken their

leader as his wife; the violence is passed over as a sort of given, and we begin with the "lived

happily ever after" part; which is the wrong way to begin a romance, and one good reason for

wanting to label the tale in some other way.

This may seem overstated, because it is hard to detect any overt note of questioning within the

text itself. At first perhaps the critical question only lurks at the back of the mind, but the

accumulation of the rest of the tale brings it to the forefront: Is this tale really a romance designed

to entertain by celebrating love and valor? Or is it something more?

To begin at the beginning: on the way home from his victorious war against the Amazons, to live

happily ever after, Theseus, Duke of Athens, is shocked to hear of another conqueror's behavior:

the widows from another war (presumably there were no widows of Theseus's war) complain

piteously that Creon of Thebes will not allow them to bury their dead men, a nasty habit of

Creon's. So the conquering hero turns around, starts and finishes another widow-making war, so

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