ISBN: 9780813012810

"Presents fundamental truths about Western self-consciousness. . . . "The Rusted Hauberk "will become a starting point for anyone seriously interested in feudalism as a social force and a… Meer...

"Presents fundamental truths about Western self-consciousness. . . . "The Rusted Hauberk "will become a starting point for anyone seriously interested in feudalism as a social force and as a key to understanding many of the themes central to the major and minor texts of medieval literature."--William F. Pollard, Kentucky State UniversityThe metaphor of the hauberk, a tunic of chain mail that rusts over time, shapes and unifies this investigation of medieval culture. These essays question the very rubric of the feudal ideal, demonstrating that in historical and legal practice, and in imaginative and didactic writing, a breach often exists between ideal and practice. The authors challenge the notion of a fixed historical construct, emphasizing instead that all constructs must be elastic to allow historical perspectives to enlarge.ContentsPart I: Resisting Dissolution: Validating Feudal Ideals of OrderFeudal Relations and Reason in "Cleanness," by Cindy L. VittoImagining Feudalism in "Piers Plowman" Attempts to Restore an Order, by Daniel F. PiggPart II: Containing Change: Modifying Feudal Ideals of OrderPotency and Power: Chaucer's Aristocrats and Their Linguistic Superiority, by Jean E. JostChivalry and Feudal Obligation in Barbour's "Bruce," by Liam O. Purdon and Julian N. WassermanPart III: Disenfranchising Women: Limiting Feudal Ideals of OrderAs Good as Her Word: Women's Language in "The Knight of the Tour d'Landry," by Cynthia HoMen's Theory and Women's Reality: Rape Prosecutions in the English Royal Courts of Justice, 1194-1222, by Patricia OrrPart IV: Experiencing Feudal Realities: Enduring Feudal Ideals of Order"Par amur et par feid" Keeping Faith and the Varieties of Feudalism in "La Chanson de Roland," by William T. CottonWhen Feudal Ideals Failed: Conflicts between Lords and Vassals in the Low Countries, 1127-1296, by Karen NicholasPart V: Rejecting Chivalry: Reinscribing Feudal Ideals of OrderFeudal Chivalry in Popular Medieval Battle Poems, by John W. SchwetmanThe "Roman de Jaufre "and the Illusions of Romance, by Ross G. ArthurPart VI: Surveying Ruins: Considering the Absence of Feudal Ideals of OrderChaucer Subjectivizes the Oath: Depicting the Fall from Feudalism into Individualism in the "Canterbury Tales," by Lois RoneyJohn Rastell and the Norman Conquest: Tudor Theories about the Feudal Age, by Amos Lee LaineAfterwordChivalry and the Other, by Jane ChanceLiam O. Purdon is professor of English at Doane College in Crete, Nebraska. He has published articles in "English Language Notes, Philological Quarterly, Studies in Philology," and "Medievalia et Humanistica." Cindy L. Vitto is associate professor of English at Rowan College of New Jersey in Glassboro. She is the author of "The Virtuous Pagan in Middle English Literature." Media >, [PU: University of Florida Press]<