Aristocratic Masculinity in France (1450-1550): From Knight to Courtier
Cox, Darrin

Description

This book looks at how masculinity is depicted in knightly memoirs in 15th century France. The meaning of male and female sexuality was constructed on a hierarchical scale of one single gender, and not a binary opposition of two biologically distinct bodies. The author shows numerous examples of this trend in the knightly memoirs that support this understanding.

This project investigates how the French warrior aristocracy from the end of the Hundred Years War to the beginning of the French Wars of Religion (roughly 1450 to 1550) adopted, resisted, or integrated new perceptions of masculinity, brought on by the rising social and political influence of the rival masculinity of the courtier, with their warrior heritage. During these years the French knightly elite came under increasing ridicule from critics who eschewed the gruff demeanor of soldiers and taught instead that education and bearing were more appropriate signs of privileged status rather than martial prowess.

Indeed, King Francis I (1515-1547), widely known to contemporaries and to historians as a patron of Renaissance thought, art, architecture, and manners, espoused courtliness and implicitly devalued traditional martial values. Yet this repudiation thinly concealed a paradox for it was precisely through violence that the king was able to maintain power and authority and knights were expected to use to defend their rights as men.

Thus, conceptions of masculinity during Francis’ reign were conflicted: the behavioral requirements of a knightly aristocrat were now simultaneously, if incongruously, violent and erudite, murderous yet courtly, masculine and feminine. By the end of the sixteenth century, it is evident that a gender crisis did not occur among noble warriors, since men who styled themselves knights merely adopted many of the outward forms of the courtier while retaining a right to violence as both a mark of nobility and signifier of manhood.

Reviews

“This book offers a great deal to early modern historians. It engages and intersects with some of the most prominent historiographical issues of our day. The arguments advanced here fundamentally challenge several of them, and though they may be contested, that they are grounded so firmly in an extensive evidential base demands that they be weighed with care and met with further research. One can hardly ask for more from a book.”

-Prof. James R. Farr
Purdue University

“…the book’s argument is not prone to speculation and offers detailed scholarship that breaks new ground.”

-Prof. Dominique Hoche,
West Liberty State University

“…shows the diligent, meticulous work of a consummate researcher who has taken all of these variables into account and pieced the portrait of this era together like a detective reconstructing a criminal act.”

-Prof. John Lennox,
Purdue University

Table of Contents

Abstract i Foreword by James R. Farr iii Acknowledgements vii Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Foundations of Gender 10 Shifting the Focus 20 Establishing Parameters 33 Chapter 2 Chivalric Influences 45 Content and Context: A Soldierly Focus 48 Impact of Humanism: Arms over Letters 55 Feudal, Religious, or Romantic Chivalry? 66 Chapter 3 Education 85 Ages, Stages, and Categories 87 Humanist Critique and Contextual Change 100 Adaptation 111 Chapter 4 Courtesy and Chivalry 119 The Lessons of Courtesy 126 A Perceptible Change 138 Chapter 5 Men at Work 151 War as Sport 157 The Masculinity of War 171 The Changing Face of War 192 Chapter 6 Friends, Enemies, and Others 205 Behavior between Friends 211 “Unnatural” Friendship 225 Behavior Between Enemies 240 Chapter 7 Men, Women, and Gender 253 The Beast Within 259 An Idle Comparison 267 The Changing Perception of Noble Women 278 Chapter 8 Conclusions 295 Bibliography 319 Index 343

ISBN10:  0-7734-2927-1   ISBN13:  978-0-7734-2927-7    Pages:  368    Year:  2012   

Series: hors série Number: 0

Subject Areas:  15th Century Studies, 16th Century Studies, Boys' Studies, Cultural Studies, Europe - Anthropology, France - History, Gender Studies, General Literature & Art -- Medieval, Men's Studies, Political History, Sociology & Social Sciences,

Imprint: Edwin Mellen Press

USA List Price: $149.95 UK List Price: £ 99.95  

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