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In his medieval classic, "The Canterbury Tales," Geoffrey
Chaucer is quite deliberate when he introduces his cast of characters with
the Knight. Although chivalry was a stylized code of behavior that
signaled the decay of the medieval feudal system, Chaucer is upholding
what is essentially the perfect expression of earthly behavior with divine
aspiration -- knighthood.
During the Age of Chivalry, the ideal
knight owed fealty to his king. The king considered himself God's
intermediary, so a knight's military obedience became not only a spiritual
defense of Christendom in general but a personal homage to God. In the
Middle Ages, God was often referred to as the "Lord" and "Heaven-King";
therefore, when Chaucer tells us that the Knight "had proved his worth in
his *lord's* wars," we can easily interpret this as meaning God Himself.
Chaucer's Knight, then, becomes the standard by which the other pilgrims
are gauged. And the Pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket at
Canterbury becomes more than an opportunity to journey to a different
place and tell stories -- the presence of the Knight transforms it to a
spiritual quest.
What is the history of this saintly English Knight
who leads the "company of nine and twenty" on their pilgrimage to
Canterbury and who sets the spiritual tone of the journey? He "loved
chivalry, truth and honor, liberality and courtesy." He also "proved his
worth" in the holy wars and yet he is humble:
"Although he was
valiant, he was prudent,
never in all his life had he been
rude to
anyone at all.
He was a true, perfect, gentle knight."
With such
bravery, kindness, and gentleness for an opening portrait to "The
Canterbury Tales," it is hardly surprising that scholars have seriously
researched the possibility that such a memorable character actually
existed and served as Chaucer's model. Of course, the inevitable place to
look for historical evidence is the Knight's own impressive military
career.
In enumerating his campaigns, we learn that the English
Knight was "at the siege of Algeciras" and battled "for our faith in
Tlemcen." These were attempts to control the raids on the Christians by
the North African Moors as well as to force the Moors out of Spain.
Algeciras was the Moors' great stronghold, which finally fell to Alfonso
of Castile with the help of the Christian world in 1344. Englishmen did
participate in the siege -- several Earls of Englalnd headed a group of
approximately 30 knights each. Chaucer's Knight, more than likely, was
among them.
Tlemcen (in what is now northwestern Algeria) also
falls into the above early expeditions in order of time, and although the
date is not certain, there is evidence that the Knight's "three
tournaments" in Tlemcen are an accurate description of man-to-man combat
set up by mutual agreement between the opposing parties.
The
Knight, we are also told, "was at Alexandria when it was won," with Pierre
de Lusignon, King of Cyprus, defeating the Saracen stronghold on October
11, 1365. Pierre, of course, had long prepared for the encounter when in
October 1362 he started a campaign to recruit the Christian powers of
Europe against the "enemies of God." To be sure, many Christians did
follow the King of Cyprus, and when he sailed from Rhodes to battle the
Saracens, he had the backing of the nobility of Europe, the Pope, and the
Knights Hospitallers.
Chaucer also mentions that our worthy Knight
"had been at Lyas and Attalia when they were won." Interestingly, Attalia
was captured in August 1361 -- prior to Pierre de Lusignon's journey to
Europe to recruit Christendom in his struggle with the Saracens. This
suggests that Chaucer's Knight was initially drawn to the Middle East
largely on his own. The Knight was also with Pierre at the capture of
Lyas, the Turkish city and harbor, in 1367.
Finally, we may turn to
the Knight's campaigns in northern Europe:
"...he had sat at the
head of the table
in Prussia, above knights of all nations;
he had
campaigned in Lithuania, and in
Russia,
more often than any other
Christian
man of his rank;"
Although Chaucer places the above
expeditions at the beginning of the knight's campaigns, there is good
reason to believe that these excursions into northern Europe occurred
later. For one thing, the Knight "sat at the head of the table in
Prussia," an honor accorded only to an experienced soldier mature in years
and with a distinguished military history. If the Knight fought in
Algeciras in 1344, and appears in Southwark, a suburb of London, for the
pilgrimage to Canterbury, in 1387 (the generally accepted date of "The
Canterbury Tales), he must have been between 60 and 65 years of age. For
another thing, the Knight's
campaigns in Prussia, Lithuania and Russia
were largely under the leadership of the Knights of the Teutonic Order who
experienced military setbacks in 1385 in the struggle to defend their
borders against the pagan Lithuanians, as well as the Tartars who ruled
Russia. Many foreign knights came to their aid in 1385, and it is very
likely that Chaucer's Knight was among them.
Thus, at the onset of
"The Canterbury Tales," the Knight is a mature man in his early 60's who
has had a successful military career. Chaucer is careful to point out that
the Knight fought only in the holy wars where he joined, among others, two
of the three major military-religious groups which formed in the Holy Land
during the Christian Crusades -- the Knights Hospitallers and the Knights
of the Teutonic Order. (By this time, of course, the third group, the
once-powerful Order of Knights Templar, had perished as a result of the
intrigues of Philip IV, King of France, and Pope Clement V, in the early
14th century.)
With such specific descriptions of the Knight's
activities, it is probable that the Knight served as a model of persons
Chaucer actually knew. It has even been purported that a certain Yorkshire
family of Scrope was in Chaucer's mind as he portrayed his noble figure
representative of the Age of Chivalry.
Two English families, the
Yorkshire family of Scrope and the Chester family of Grosvenor, claimed
the same heraldic insignia -- the "arms Azure, a bend Or" -- as their own,
and to decide the dispute, testimony was undertaken in 1386. Chaucer
himself was one of the witnesses who testified in behalf of the family of
Scrope. Testimony was given by those witnesses who had seen first-hand the
arms displayed publicly, such as on a tombstone, or more importantly, in
actual battle. Those knights and esquires who testified in favor of Scrope
described the self-same battles that Chaucer's Knight had fought
in.
That Chaucer used actual persons to paint his figure of the
Knight is interesting historically. But we would be missing a vital clue
to Chaucer the artist if we overlooked the fact that the Knight becomes a
living representative of all that humanity strives for -- harmony between
earthly valor and spiritual humbleness.
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