Ethics and emotions: a cultural history of chivalric friendship in medieval/early modern times

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rochester. Dept. of History, 2012.Ideas of emotional male friendship constitute the subject of this study, specifically those ethical notions that supported the elite cultural system of chivalry in Western Europe during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Chivalric traditions shaped nearly all aspects of the ruling classes in medieval/early modern times; however, concepts such as secular friendship in chivalry have received less attention than warranted, especially considering the lasting effects this mixed code of courtesy and violence continues to have in the West (and beyond). The approach of the study is to explore and interrogate imaginative literature of the period--epic poems, romances, troubadour songs, and drama--as the best primary sources to understand the inner workings of friendship in chivalric culture. Beowulf, The Song of Roland, The Prose Lancelot, Amis and Amiloun, Reis Glorios, Le Morte Darthur, Edward II, and The Merchant of Venice are some of the literary works discussed. More conventional sources such as chronicles, treatises, letters, and biographies supplement the study, some in print, others unpublished. The literary works suggest a moral purpose in friendship touching on the core identity of a virtuous knight, and this study explores the ways in which strong emotions among the elite men of knightly rank fused with a developing sense of ethics and status to create an aesthetic that fascinated contemporaries: chivalric friendship. Male-male desire and/or attraction are considered to be possible contributing factors among many others in this cultural phenomenon. Relationships between knights and ladies, including marriage, were a parallel and sometimes secondary concern. The presence of an emotional bond among warriors often signified elite chivalric status most clearly, i.e., having sufficient valor and virtue to attract fellow knights as acknowledged, loving comrades meant that a nobleman had attained the peak of chivalry. Linked together in this fierce loyalty, knights formed a community with its own rules and ethics, though customs varied and evolved along with the nobility itself into the early modern period and later periods. Literature provided contemporaries a means of discussing this dynamic system of friendship underpinning medieval society and provides historians with valuable insights into the honor-driven culture of chivalry