Doctoral Dissertations
Date of Award
5-2017
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Major
English
Major Professor
Laura Howes
Committee Members
Mary Dzon, Thomas Heffernan, Jay Rubenstein
Abstract
This study shows how medieval poets adapted the romance genre to address contemporary concerns about the regulation and exercise of noble power. Analyzing romances alongside chivalric chronicles, medieval didactic texts, and modern historical studies of the English nobility, this dissertation explores the ideals and practices of chivalry in medieval England from the reign of Edward I (1272-1307) through the deposition of Richard II (1399). Chapters on Guy of Warwick (c. 1300), Ywain and Gawain (mid-fourteenth century), and Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale (c. 1388) argue that Middle English poets promote ideals of both prowess and lordship in their narratives of chivalric heroism.
Recommended Citation
Stewart, James Trevor, "Lords of Retinue: Middle English Romance and Noblemen in Need. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2017.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/4427
Included in
Literature in English, British Isles Commons, Medieval History Commons, Medieval Studies Commons, Military History Commons