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Behind Enemy Lines: The German Connection in the Middle English Sir Degrevant

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Abstract

This paper explores the cultural and economic context of the references to German luxury trade goods, German legend, and German political power in the late fourteenth-century/early fifteenth-century Middle English poem Sir Degrevant. All of the German references in the poem pertain to the Rhineland, which formed the western branch of Hanseatic trade throughout this period, the branch that conducted trade with England and Scotland. I argue that these German references form part of a pattern, seen throughout the poem, whereby the northern English poet recreates the international politics surrounding the Scottish Wars of Independence, which dominated northern English life throughout the fourteenth century, and in which German merchants played a controversial role. All of the poem’s references to German goods and culture center in the enemy earl’s household exclusively, casting the aggressive earl of the poem as a Scottish-style Border lord.

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Notes

  1. On the dating of Sir Degrevant, see Casson (1949, lxxii–lxxiii), Hornstein (1967, 147–148).

  2. Early scholars of Sir Degrevant such as the poem’s early translator, Edith Rickert, and the poem’s later editor, L. F. Casson both note certain Scottish elements in the poem, but their observations went undeveloped in subsequent scholarship of the poem. See Rickert (1908; 1966, xlvii), Casson (1949, lxiii).

  3. Halliwell-Phillips (1844, 288–289), Casson (1949, 116). Other variant spellings of Agravain include “Aggravain,” “Agrafrayn,” “Agravan,” “Agreveins,” “Engrevains,” “Egrefayn,” and “Engrevain.” See Bruce (1999), West (1969), Rickert (1908; 1966, xlviii–xlix).

  4. All citations to the poem are from Casson (1949). Line references are to the Cambridge MS unless indicated with a capital “L” preceding the line number, referring to the Lincoln Thornton MS.

  5. Sir Degrevant survives in two well-known manuscript anthologies: the Findern Anthology (Cambridge University Library, MS Ff.1.6), dating to the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, and the Lincoln Thornton MS (Lincoln, Dean and Chapter Library, MS 91), dating to the mid-fifteenth century. For facsimile editions of each, see Beadle and Owen (1977), Brewer and Owen (1975; 1977). Also, Casson (1949, ix–xv). For the reference to the Nibelung, see Kerr (1898, 372); also Hibbard (1969, 306).

  6. The online version of the Middle English Dictionary lists one further reference to the Rhinegold in Piers Plowman, A Version. The line referenced includes “alle þe golde in þe Ryn” (Prologue, l.108), purportedly from MS Trin—C R.3.14. This reference is not recorded in the hard copy edition of the MED, nor does it appear in Kane’s edition of the A version of Piers. More definitely still, it does it appear in the actual manuscript, available in digital facsimile at http://sites.trin.cam.ac.uk/james/viewpage.php?index=1365.

  7. In this regard, Erik Kooper’s claim that the story of the Nibelungenlied was “still sufficiently well known” for “a poet to assume that such a reference would be understood by his audience” cannot be corroborated by the literary evidence (Kooper 2006, 109).

  8. The letter is currently at the Lübeck National Archives. Trans. Dr. Alan Borthwick, National Records of Scotland, 2012.

  9. See Lloyd (1991, 112, 120). Accusations of unauthorized Hanseatic trade with the Scots continued into the reign of Henry V, when relations between England the Hanse worsened still (Lloyd 1991, 127–129).

  10. This pairing of Rhine wine and wine of Rochelle also occurs in the alliterative Morte Arthure, l. 203: “Rynisch wyne and rochell - richere was neuer.” See Krishna (1976); also in Piers Plowman, A-text: wyn Of þe ryn, & of þe rochel (l. 108). See Kane (1960).

  11. In MS L, the spelling is “Westwale” (l. 1511), which Hibbard (1969, 307) associates with “Wales.”

  12. Davenport (2001, 117–119) speaks of the poet’s “bookish word hoard,” noting in particular his specialized vocabulary for architectural detail, as well as for breeds, handlers, and accoutrements of horses, not to mention jewelry.

  13. Morris had murals made depicting scenes from Sir Degrevant for Red House. See Marsh (2005, 44–45), Bradbury (2015, 265–267).

  14. The majority of De Diversis Artibus is devoted to metal-working, leading scholars to believe that Theophilus specialized in metals. Ibid., xxvi.

  15. Brown (1989, 11, 39–43); also Brown (1997, 19). For how the Earl of Sir Degrevant is modeled on a Scottish earl with regard to his international alliances, see Battles, “The Middle English Sir Degrevant and the Scottish Border.”

  16. Manuscript C of the poem indicates the Emperor, with no specific reference to Germany.

  17. Gregory-Abbott (2008, 83, 87). Froissart was in Queen Philippa’s service from 1361 to 1369.

  18. As Diamond (2004, 85) rightly notes, Sir Degrevant present “a world without even the nominal presence of kings or prelates or judges or sheriffs or other lords.” Davenport (2001, 114) characterizes the poem as a “northern feudal saga” capturing the local concerns of the landholding class. Marvin (2006, 165) aligns the rivalry between Degrevant and the Earl with historic feuding landholders of the northern counties such as Yorkshire. His analysis centers on the conflict over hunting rights, characterizing the Earl’s actions against Degrevant as “riotous poaching.” More recently, Johnston (2014, 60–63) characterizes Sir Degrevant as a “gentry romance” capturing the provincial politics of the English gentry.

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Battles, D. Behind Enemy Lines: The German Connection in the Middle English Sir Degrevant . Neophilologus 100, 489–501 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-015-9470-4

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