The Book of the Knight of the Tower: Manners for Young Medieval Women (Studies in Arthurian and Courtly Cultures)

In 1372 A French Knight Compiled A Book Of Stories To Teach His Three Daughters How To Be Good Wives And Good Christians. Here These Tales Are Retold And Interspersed With Commentary About Life In The Late Middle Ages - What People Wore, How They Prayed, What They Hoped For In This Life And The Next. The Knight's Stories Range From The Shockingly Bawdy To The Deeply Pious. They Include Devils And Miracles, Fashionable Ladies And Haughty Knights, Lecherous Monks And Disobedient Wives - All Told To Help Make The Knight's Daughters Avoid What He Calls Blame, Shame, And Defame.--jacket. Part I. The Knight And His Book -- Part Ii. The Book Of The Knight Of The Tower. Rebecca Barnhouse. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [239]-244) And Index. Cover 1 Contents 4 Foreword 6 Acknowledgments 8 Part I The Knight and His Book 10 Chapter 1 The World of the Book 12 Shining Knights and Ladies Fair—Sir Geoffrey and His Family 12 I Wanted to Make Them a Little Book—Sir Geoffrey's Manuscript for His Daughters 17 Begun and Finished in One Day—William Caxton's Version 19 Medieval Bestsellers—Books of Courtesy and Instruction 22 The Retelling 30 Part II The Book of the Knight of the Tower 34 Chapter 2 The Prologues 36 Because I am Ignorant—Caxton's Prologue 36 Blame, Shame, and Defame—Sir Geoffrey's Prologue 40 Chapter 3 Turn Your Hearts to God—Prayer 48 Chapter 4 Driving the Devil Out—Fasting and Confessing Your Sins 62 A Full Belly Will Never Be Devout—Fasting 62 Black Spots on a Silver Plate—Confessing Your Sins 68 Chapter 5 Hearing God's Service—Going to Mass 74 Chapter 6 Taming the Sparrowhawk—Manners and Marriage 84 Chapter 7 Obey Without Complaint—Being a Wife 94 Chapter 8 Beat Them When They Deserve It—Raising Children 110 Chapter 9 I Tell You, I Must Have It—Medieval Fashion 124 Chapter 10 Hearts Set on This World—Acting Fashionably 142 Chide to This Wisp of Straw—Arguing 144 When the Dancing and Singing Begins—Jousts and Feasts 151 Not for Fun, but for Devotion—Pilgrimages 159 Chapter 11 As Fire Kindles Straw—Love and Its Games 164 Chapter 12 The Devil's Subtle Craft—Vice and Sin 184 Listening to the Serpent—The Nine Follies of Eve 185 Juggling Coal into Beauty—Flattery 188 Like a Toad on the Heart—Anger 189 Gold, the Devil's Servant—Greed 191 Living like a Beast—Gluttony 195 Joined like a Dog to a Bitch—Lechery 197 Chapter 13 True Women and Good Ladies—Virtuous Living 204 Good Ladies of the Present Time 215 Chapter 14 Praising Past Time 222 Caxton's Epilogue 232 Notes 234 Bibliography 248 Index 254 A 254 B 254 C 254 D 255 E 255 F 255 G 255 H 255 I 256 J 256 K 256 L 256 M 256 N 256 O 256 P 256 Q 257 R 257 S 257 T 257 V 257 W 257 This book explores knightly stories of medieval manners and is a commentary on what people in the middle ages wore, how they prayed and what they hoped for in this life and the next. These stories range from the shockingly bawdy to the deeply pious, and often end with morals about the ways women can avoid 'blame, shame, and defame'.