Forging Chivalric Communities in Malory’s Le Morte Darthur

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

   PDF

2. Introduction: Medieval by a Month

   • Kenneth Hodges

   Pages 1-10

3. English Knights, French Books, and Literary Communities

   • Kenneth Hodges

   Pages 11-33

4. Swords and Sorceresses: Creating a Chivalric Community

   • Kenneth Hodges

   Pages 35-61

5. Of Knights and Nations

   • Kenneth Hodges

   Pages 63-78

6. Regional Politics

   • Kenneth Hodges

   Pages 79-108

7. Shifting Boundaries: Religious Communities and the Grail

   • Kenneth Hodges

   Pages 109-127

8. The Death of Guinevere

   • Kenneth Hodges

   Pages 129-153

9. Afterword

   • Kenneth Hodges

   Pages 155-157

10. Back Matter

    Pages 159-208

    PDF

Forging Chivalric Communities in Marlory's Morte D'Arthur shows that Malory treats chivalry not as a static institution but as a dynamic, continually evolving ideal. Le Morte D'arthur is structured to trace how communities and individuals adapt or create chivalric codes for their own purposes; in turn, codes of chivalry shape groups and their customs. Knights' loyalties are torn not just between lords and lovers but also between the different codes of chivalry and between different communities. Women, too, choose among the different roles they are asked to play as queens, counsellors, and even quasi-knights.

• death
• English
• history
• history of literature
• individual
• Medieval Literature
• Middle Ages
• play
• structure
• women

"Hodges's book thoughtfully challenges the monolithic view of chivalry which most or all readers have brought to the Morte. Readers will gain useful insights from his comments. Hodges's regular return to the question of the role(s) of women in chivalric communities is likewise well conceived, and his challenges to such acknowledged authorities on the issue as Dorsey Armstrong and Geraldine Heng are stimulating." - D. Thomas Hanks Jr., Journal of English and Germanic Philology

KENNETH HODGES has taught at Allegheny College, Bates College, and the University of Oklahoma, and is now an Assistant Professor of English at Keene State College in New Hampshire, USA.

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