The Matter of Courtesy: A Study of Medieval Courtesy Books and the Gawain-Poet by J. W. Nicholls (review)

REVIEWS But these are not major objections. Indeed, the generalreader is likely to find this a clear and lively as well as reliable introduction to the subject, while more specialist needs are met by a helpful annotated bibliography. It can with some confidence be said that this particular "past master" has been well served. NICHOLAS HAVELY University of York J. W. NICHOLLS. The Matter ofCourtesy: A Study ofMedieval Courtesy Books and the Gawain-Poet. Woodbridge, Suffolk, and Dover, N.H.: D.S. Brewer, 1985. Pp. x, 241. $41.25. Courtesy books have been much neglected by modern scholars. In the first part ofhis study Nicholls therefore tries to characterize them and establish the context in which they developed. Because a number of critics have succumbed to the temptation of restricting "courteisie" to a meaning dominated by notions ofamourcourtois, Nicholls stresses on the one hand the importance ofthe religious orders for the shaping and transmission of codes ofbehavior and on the other hand the continuous spread ofinterest in good manners.Thus he points out the great number ofmanuscripts and early prints containing courtesy books and, primarily from their evidence, shows that by the beginning of the fourteenth century Latin courtesy poems had become an established part of the grammar curriculum in monastic classrooms open to novitiates and some local boys as well as in secular schools open to the public. There are indications that Anglo­ Norman or French poems were used for language teaching, too. The oldest known courtesy book in English, Urbanitatis, is preserved in a manuscript from the late fourteenth century, where it forms part of a longer work on Freemasonry and was in all probability aimed at apprentice masons. Most ofthe fifteenth-century manuscripts ofthe English poems imply that they appealed above all to the merchant-trader class. It is the copious data Nicholls supplies for the popularity of the courtesy books in all literate classes by at least the end ofthe fourteenth century that constitutes a major merit of his monograph. The evolution oflonger passages on good manners and ofindependent courtesy poems in the twelfth century (a date which all evidence would 231 STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER appear to indicate) is related by Nicholls to the far-reaching social and cultural changes in both the ecclesiastical and the secular spheres. For the latter he naturally points to the growth of a society based on the units of the familia in castles and estates and a new mood leading to literary expressions of romantic love. He reminds us that courtly romances were also written and read as models of behavior, although their didacticism might of course vary greatly in degree. But a clear idea of what the courts contributed to "courteisie" is lacking owing to methodological difficulties and his fear of linking courtesy too closely to amour courtois. Though the designation "book of courteisie" can be found in Middle English manuscripts and early prints, the genre is not easy to demarcate in the field of didactic material and has indeed been variously circumscribed by modern research. Since the English specimens are of late date, Nicholls does well to include their Latin, Anglo-Norman, and French ancestors and sources. This results in a large corpus, and, overwhelmed by the overall impression of uniformity of the subject matter, he neglects the finer distinctions. However slight they may be, the signs of adaptation to different recipients and centuries would be illuminating. How, for in­ stance, does the value of the advice not to tell secrets to one's wife-a typical precept in courtesy books, according to page 53-change? How much do the courtesy books suggest religious ideals, and how much secular ones? How far does their teaching extend? Do they inculcate only elemen­ tary manners, to many of which we still accustom our children today without thinking, or do some include greater refinements of courtly etiquette and entertainment? Among various other works, Nicholls ex­ cludes Facetus: "Moribus et vita," which traditionally has been confused with the courtesy poem Facetus: "Cum nihz/ utz/ius,"because, apart from sections devoted to dress and the moral discipline needed in a number of careers, it is mainly concerned with an Ovidian...