The Gentry Context for Malory's Morte Darthur (review)

This study is a boon for literary specialists working on Malory's Morte Darthur, for it situates the work squarely within the tumultuous historical context from which it sprang and highlights its literary re-workings of the political concerns of its gentry readers. Member of the gentry himself, Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel re-processed his Arthurian source materials, aimed principally at an aristocratic audience, to correlate with the political interests of his own social group. While the gentry modeled their behaviour upon aristocratic norms, they faced political problems particular to their group, Radulescu argues. The two shared common ground, but 'noble and gentle political interests were distinct (even divergent at times) during the fifteenth century, in accordance with their different degree of participation in political power' (p. 3). The decades from 1440-70 were politically troubled, and recovering the pertinent events and shifts in attitude towards kingship and governance during this period is a daunting task for the literary specialist. Furthermore, the concept of gentry during this time undergoes transformation, as the nobility attempts to distinguish itself from the gentry even as many members of the gentry are brought into the nobility under Edward IV. This study provides the background necessary to read the Morte Darthur as a work geared towards a gentry audience.

The introduction briefly sketches the fifteenth century's crises of kingship and governance and then examines the gentry's role during the period. As the king and nobility proved themselves inadequate to the task of maintaining social order in the shires, the gentry increasingly assumed powerful roles regionally and centrally.

The first two chapters are devoted to discerning political attitudes particular to the gentry. Chapter 1 examines the collected letters of the Paston, Stonor, Plumpton, and Armburgh families to identify their attitudes towards the political events of their time. Common expressions such as worship, friendship and lordship, and fellowship recur in the letters, often in the context of difficulties between landowners, their superiors, and the common people. Reputation is a function of these qualities, and reputation determines the landowner's ability to successfully manage his place in the socio-political hierarchy.

Chapter 2 traces the political attitudes represented in the gentry's 'grete bokes', or anthologies, many of which contained chivalric treatises and romances. But, Radulescu points out, many of the anthologies owned by the gentry did not contain these materials. She identifies another type of collection, containing chronicles (frequently the Brut chronicle), and works by Hoccleve and Lydgate, along with genealogical writings and pedigrees (p. 47). 'These miscellanies,' writes Radulescu, 'were vehicles for the transmission and dissemination of political concepts like good governance, wise kingship and prudent choice of royal counsellors, which were discussed not only at the royal court, or among the nobility, but among the gentry as well' (p. 52). Juxtaposed with these 'grete bokes', Malory's work can be seen as sort of anthology collecting items of similar interest: it is not only a manual of chivalry and courtesy, but also a treatise on kingship, and a genealogy.

With the political interests of the gentry identified, the study turns to a reading of the Morte Darthur from a gentry perspective in its last two chapters. Chapter 3 considers several ways in which the work addresses the interests of its implied audience: through the knights who fashion themselves, through the emphasis on Arthur's ability to reward good service, and through the presentation of Arthur as a practical English king, capable of dispensing justice and halting private wars. In his first tale, Malory establishes Arthur as a king both on the basis of his genealogy and his virtue. In the second tale, he creates a perfect ruler of Arthur, depicting him as a leader able to promote the unity necessary for his victory in Rome. Only when social harmony reigns is victory possible.

Chapter 4 inserts the events leading up to the work's final catastrophe into the context of gentry...