Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Order of the Garter by Francis Ingledew (review)

REVIEWS two years of nonstop international travel that probably prevented any literary endeavors. The G Prologue of the LGW was certainly revised after Queen Anne’s death in 1394, and it seems likely that the F Prologue was composed after Richard II’s royal entry into London in 1392. Therefore Clanvowe did not copy his irascible God of Love from the Legend Prologue but, the other way around, Chaucer took his God of Love from The Boke of Cupide. So, too, Clanvowe’s commendation to Queen Anne at one of the royal residences in 1389—‘‘Before the chambre wyndow of the quene / At Wodestok upon the grene lay’’ (pp. 284– 85)—suggested to Chaucer a similar commendation with reference to two royal residences in a playful gesture of one-upmanship—‘‘And whan this book ys maad, yive it to the quene / On my behalf at Eltham or at Sheene’’ (F.496–97)—in lines deleted from the G Prologue following the queen’s sudden death at Sheene. Scholars and teachers alike will welcome these two editions for making available more of the poetry that helped define the Chaucer tradition , and even passed under the name of Chaucer, throughout most of our literary history. John M. Bowers University of Nevada, Las Vegas Francis Ingledew. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Order of the Garter. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006. Pp. xi, 307. $40.00 paper. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Order of the Garter is a densely argued, provocative book. The poem, according to Ingledew, critiques Edward III’s court, specifically the relationship between chivalric achievement and sexual misconduct and, as such, should be relocated to the 1350s or early 1360s. Ingledew begins with the assumption that the appearance of the Garter motto at the end of the poem, whether authorial or by a later glossator, invites ‘‘a reading of the poem as a reading of history whose point of departure is the founding of this order’’ (p.3). Not every reader will accept every facet of Ingledew’s thesis , particularly his claim that SGGK is Edwardian rather than Ricardian PAGE 499 499 ................. 16596$ CH13 11-01-10 14:08:27 PS STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER in both outlook and date, but his close and careful reading will certainly spark debate on the topicality of Sir Gawain’s adventure at Hautdesert. After a brief introduction, the book is divided into three chapters, the first two establishing a historical and historiographical context in which to read SGGK and the third focusing on the poem itself. Chapter 1 discusses Jean le Bel’s Chronique and Froissart’s Chronicles. Both texts consistently praise Edward as the paragon of contemporary chivalry on an Arthurian model, but, oddly, le Bel is also the earliest and most complete witness to the accusation that Edward fell in love with and subsequently raped the Countess of Salisbury. Ingledew pays particular attention to the structure of le Bel’s narrative (a technique of reading used throughout the book), noting that his account of the rape is placed between Edward’s announcement of a new Arthurian chivalric order (1344) and the establishment of the Order of the Garter (1349). For Ingledew, le Bel’s rearrangement of chronological order places the foundation of the Garter within a context of sexual scandal. Froissart, in an early version of his text, claims that the scandalous story was false. Despite this, he still includes an account of Edward’s love for the countess and a detailed scene in which the two play chess while Edward attempts to force the countess to accept a token, thus potentially compromising her reputation. Chapter 2 examines other contemporary texts, including Tirant lo Blanc, the Scalacronica, Wynnere and Wastoure, and the Vows of the Heron, and their concern over sexual misconduct within Edward’s court. Whether that misconduct is a general licentiousness or (as in the Vows) a veiled reference to an inappropriate passion for the Countess of Salisbury, it is again associated with the Order of the Garter, and this leads Ingledew to conclude that the motto of the order, ‘‘Hony soyt qui mal y pense,’’ does not (as...