“Reirdit on ane riche roche beside ane riveir”: Martial Landscape and James IV of Scotland in The Knightly Tale of Golagros and Gawane

Abstract

In 1508, the Scottish printers Walter Chepman and Androw Myllar published a small book containing the alliterative romance Golagros and Gawane, which follows the adventures of King Arthur on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. This article argues that its publication in 1508 sheds light on how this poem may have been read by its Scottish audiences, specifically in terms of anxieties caused by the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 and the subsequent expansion of the Ottoman Empire. Although other scholars argue that Arthur suffers from excessive pride and greed, This article argues that the narrator’s descriptions of landscape, particular the situation of castles, offer another interpretation: Golagros’s castle appeals to Arthur because of its military fortifications, a potential holding point should the Ottoman Turks penetrate that far into France. More importantly, This article argues that Golagros and Gawane reflects James IV’s interest in crusading and European diplomacy. The 1508 publication of Golagros and Gawane places the text’s distribution firmly in the reign of James IV of Scotland, a figure described by C.S. Lewis as a man “much like Arthur himself.” This article draws parallels to Arthur with James IV by examining Arthur’s perception of the second castle and his interactions with Golagros in order to establish Arthur, traditionally viewed in this poem as a secular king, as a defender of sacred interests. Here, in the body of Arthur, and by extension James IV, is a king who can unite the lands of Christendom against the Ottomans.