Strong of Body, Brave and Noble: Chivalry and Society in Medieval France (review)

Reviews 205 Bouchard, Constance Brittain, Strong of Body, Brave and Noble: Chivalry and Society in Medieval France, Ithaca and London, Cornell University Press, 1998; paper; pp. xii, 198; 1 m a p , 17 b / w illustrations; R.R.P. £11.95. Constance Bouchard's problems in approaching her topic in this book may be typified by three statements. The first comes in the second paragraph: For a long time scholars tried to create simple, straightforward definitions of the medieval nobility. Nobles, some said, were exactly the same as free men. Others, remarking[....J Roman Empire. Some maintained[...].blood; others that[...] counted, (p. 1, m y emphasis) Throughout this book, there is a dearth of acknowledgement. Who are these nameless scholars? W h o are the 'modern scholars' on p. 5, where only one is footnoted; w h o are the 'scholars' on p. 6 w h o are chided for their wrong views on the mutability of the aristocracy? Where are the 'many a castle' of the thirteenth century with eleventh-century keeps (p. 19)? W h o are the 'historians' w h o defined the Magna Carta, and who are the 'some' w h o have sought its origin in Anglo-Saxon England and in German forests (p. 33)? A n d so on. The indication of Bouchard's second problem is typified in her discussion of the term 'feudalism'. After some general remarks about the inappropriate use of the word, she concludes by saying that Hidden in every description of medieval society as an age of feudalism is an a priori moral judgment that the Middle Ages were not as good as modern times, (p. 38) The hyperbole of this statement is repeated in her use of inappropri adverbs. Vassals 'happily' promised multiple lords liege homage (p. 45); Muslims were described 'enthusiastically if theologically incorrectly, as the moral equivalent of heretics or pagans' (p. 84); the archbishop 'cheerfully annulled the marriage' (pp.95-6), even though the text Bouchard is paraphrasing has no emotion ascribed to the 206 Reviews archbishop, and twelfth-century authors 'knew perfectly well' that the impedimenta of battle which they described were contemporaneous (p. 105). According to Bouchard, the treatise written by Andreas Capellanus, The Art ofCourtly Love, 'was not written as a handbook for nobles to consult before a big date', and the book is 'occasionally screamingly funny' (pp 140-41). Given its satiric intention, the reader should find the contents amusing, but w h y this somewhat adolescent exaggeration? The third approach problem which one can perceive in this book comes on p. 106. Like Duby before her, Bouchard uses literary texts to extract 'a great deal of "real" information' and goes on to say: Certainly the works cannot be treated as straightforward description of medieval society, but the authors' assumptions, which they expected their audiences to share, can tell us a great deal about the society for which these works were written. I have already been using chivalric literature in this way in previous chapters. Duby used fictional material to support his statements, but he was careful to insert an apologia which carefully delineated his usage. O n p. 25 of Bouchard's book, there is a footnote after the statement, 'Even kings took the title of "knight", although the word had earlier implied service'. The footnote leads to Georges Duby, The Chivalrous Society, pp, 178-85.1 cannot find a comparable statement on those pages. What Duby does say is this: It seems that the years before and after 1200 were a period in French society when the aristocracy was gradually transformed into a genuine nobility...But before the problem itself can be satisfactorily solved it must, of course, be related to contemporary economic conditions and ideas. In m y efforts to do this I shall refer to a source of the utmost importance for the better understanding of a period through its collective psychological attitudes. The source I have in mind is contemporary literature. (Duby, p. 185) Reviews 207 The sources to which D u b y refers for this chapter are the Historia comitum Ghisnensium, a Latin text of about 1195, the Livre des Manieres, written about 1175...