Ideals and Values for 12th Century Medieval Aristocrats

Chrtien de Troyes Lancelot The Knight of the Cart, told a narrative of a mighty knight. It has the air, to us, of fable. It was of fabrication as twain cults of the clipping, courtly love and honor, dominated the story. These cults were parts of a set of medieval aristocratic ideals and values. Within this set, the cults had supportive nonions of hospitality, oaths, overhaul, and troops prowess. Courtly love pushed the tale into instauration when Lancelot stepped onto the cart and courtly love pushed the tale to completion with the death of Meleagant at the hands of Lancelot. Lancelot put into exploit these goions. Lancelots love for Queen Guinevere bound him to honorable displays of his devotion to her.Chrtiens tale began with Meleagants appearance at King Arthurs court at Camelot. He informed King Arthur that King,If you have a single knightIn this court of yours you can trustTo take your queen to the woods,Where Ill be going when Im finishedHere, thence Ill agreeTo let h im have those pris unrivalledrsIve got in my dungeons, providedHe can defeat me in employment,It being understoodThat ownership of your queen is the prizeFor victory. (lines 69-80).Those at court did not immediately secure the return of the Queen. She was gone. Chrtien soon related how a knight (Lancelot) jumped into a cart driven by a overtop. Those having committed criminal or noisome acts occupied such a cart in those days. Lancelot write in codeed the cart since the dwarf promised to afterward reveal the whereabouts of the Queen. Chrtian say and the knightFollowed along behindFor several steps, not climbingRight up. But his hesitant shameWas wrong. (360-364).This delay on the part of Lancelot came back to despoil his efforts when he had gotten the release of the Queen from her captor. She said Indeed? Didnt the cartShame you the least little bit?You must have hesitated,For you lingered a good two steps.And that, you see, was my soleReason for ignoring your presence. (44 91-4496).This rigidity characterized the cult of honor as exemplified by Lancelots actions. If an affair of honor came about, then the knight must perform in the honorable way. Yet at that place were levels of honor as when Meleagant, described as a pitiless brave fool, subscribed to a higher(prenominal) honor of battling Lancelot at King Arthurs court in a years time and agreed to forgo combat at an earlier time (3886-3895).Chrtien saw that honor in service to love ignored common sense and reason. Reason did not include in its realm the wor world-beater(a) of the heart. Love had its way. For loves commands, even shame endured. Deep in reflection, Lancelot had no defense once morest love. He did completely forget himself. An antagonist challenged Lancelot three times before crossing a stream. The opponent afflicted Lancelot with Lancelot still in loves command. The opponent had unfairly taken with(p) him. Lancelot wanted to avenge this randomness of his revery (891-893). Outsi de revery he was in a fair enough way exactly his one and only heart he entrusted to some one else such that he was constrained in a particular manner (1231-1248). He found the Queens comb. It had strands of her hair and he was ecstaticTouching them a hundred thousandTimes, caressing with his eves,His lips, his forehead, his face.And all of it brings him happiness,Fills him with the richest delightHe presses it into his breast,Slips it between his shirtAnd his heart worth(predicate) more than a wagon-Load of emeralds or diamonds, (1470-1478).Later, in traversing the sword bridge, the blade cut so as to injure him but the suffering was sweet since love led him on and relieved his pain (3115-3122). Still later a distraught Lancelot, turn overing that the Queen is dead, attempted to kill himself by hanging himself from his saddle by means of his belt (4264-4268).Honor had its greatest demands made upon it by love but it spanned also military occupation for which the knights wer e constantly prepared. In this preparation, a generous hospitality aided them that mostly included horses (284-289), beds (458-463), and food. For the first two, they had a choice. The mistress of a house offered Lancelot the house and the mistress of the house (938-949).Thus prepared, their military valor was a pledge, an oath, which they must uphold. A knight could be in the grip of some other knight and not run in good order so the second knight asked to release the first knight. Then the second knight could recover his military equipment and they could then fight in the approved manner (839-852). The more honor gained in combat, the better. Accompanying a damosel manifold an unspoken oath and was a very serious business since the knight was then responsible for her.A challenging knight could assault her with impunity if a challenging knight defeated the escorting knight (1304-1322). leniency could be disposed(p) for the about to be vanquished but this usually entailed an oa th be taken. The one who granted mercy redeemed this oath to their benefit. If one had an oath to carry out, then could not do it, in that respect could be shame of a great dimension when another knight did the deed (4013-4019). Knights sometimes reward a pledge, for honors sake, even though it seemed not in the best interests of most of those involved as when Kay sought to have the Queen accompany him into the forest where a knight awaited The king was upset, but his wordHad been given, and he could not revoke it,No matter how angry and sorrowfulIt made him (which was easy to see).The queen, too, was deeplyDispleased, and the whole palaceDenounced Kays pride and presumptionIn making such a demand. (179-186).Again, it could be a combatant who would not continue the fight if pledged by his lady to cease. Then the other knight must not force a continuance then and there by striking the one who no longer lifts a weapon. Meleagant, for example, struck Lancelot. The Queen had requested Lancelot to stop fightingThe king came hurrying downFrom the tower, to stop him. StraightTo the field of battle he went,Speaking these words to his sonWhats this? You think its fineTo go on fighting, afterHes stopped? You act like a savage (3824-3831).The truth of the matter is that Lancelot only appeared to give up. In truth he was doing what his lady had requested of him. Later her captors said she was lying about bloodied sheets (4788-4798). This was a most grievous steer and so combat was called for. Holy relics came out and, on their knees, the parties involved did swear. Truth in other matters was another preoccupation of the aristocrats that Chrtien wrote about. There were standards of truth against which the knights and others could measure their conduct. To taste death in ignorance was the action of a fool. A fool too was one who does not truly humble oneself. A fool never lost his folly. Those nobles, not fools, did not need to seek praise to enhance their deeds and se lf praise did not increase ones esteem. The madness of a fool had no cureWho do you think believes you?Said the king. All these peopleCan tell for themselves whats trueAnd False. We know youre lying. (3841-3844).Far from the fool was the man as buffer who was always obedient and gladly did his lovers bidding in short order. He knew a great deal about love and included in this knowledge was that honor done for love entailed no shame. Should something greatly go amiss, he would not fear death. Death desired those who were afraid of it (4283-4284).Before death there were dwarfs. Lancelot encountered two dwarfs in the tale. Neither one was up to any good. The first, described as a Low-born and disgusting dwarf (353) did lead Lancelot astray. The dwarf lied as to knowing the Queens whereabouts but did convince Lancelot to enter the cart. The other dwarf encountered Lancelot on Lancelots approach to the water bridge. The dwarf promised to take Lancelot to a special place (5081-5084). Th is dwarf also lied.No one said anything about what happened to the dwarfs. Presumably, they received a suitable dowery for their unbecoming behavior. Perhaps death found them soon enough without their heads. It seemed that beheading was the surefire way to ensure that the one on their way out did indeed depart. Lancelot did battle with an enemy and after having vanquished him, a woman wants the opponents head. Lancelot obliges One swing of the sword, the headWas off, and it and the bodyFell to the ground. And the girlWas happy.(2927-2930).The headless one wronged her. Lancelot had already showed mercy to the opponent. Then again the opponent had pleaded for mercy. Then too the opponent had been most impertinent with Lancelot. So the upshot of this battle was the damsel was pleased and the opponent lost his head.Another beheading occurred at the end of the tale. Meleagant reflected on how it was that Lancelot had made his way to Camelot. Meleagant had ideal he had locked Lancelot i n a tower from which there could be no escape. He realized that he was a victim of trickery. He was ready for something worse than great shame and humiliation (6967-6969). In his battle with Lancelot he lost his right arm. He felt badly since he then could not get a line Lancelot. Then he was smashed in the face by Lancelot. Three teeth are upset in his mouth. His state enraged him to the extent he could not speak and so did not seek mercy. Lancelot cut off his head. It was finished And let me assure you, no oneWho was there, watching the battle,Felt the slightest pity.The king and his courtiers and ladiesWere fairly jump for joy (7099-7103). Works CitedChrtien de Troyes. Lancelot The Knight of the Cart. Trans. Burton Raffel. New Haven & London Yale University Press ,1997.