The Culture of Knighthood in Medieval Romance

by Larissa Tracy

See the word "knight " and you’ll likely think of gallant men facing off on the field of battle, or rescuing fair maidens from danger, or jousting at tournaments. Since the early 19th century, poets, authors, painters, and playwrights have cultivated such images of medieval knighthood—images that continue to capture our imagination to this day.

But just how true to medieval history are these images? What do they tell us about how life was lived in the Middle Ages? What does our obsession with them tell us about who we are today? In The Culture of Knighthood and Medieval Romance, join scholar of medieval literature Larissa Tracy for a fascinating dive into the deeper context of narratives about knights and their world.

Her Audible Original takes you through the evolution of knighthood and courtly literature, dispelling prevalent myths about chivalry and romance with an eye to revealing just how textured and complex these ideas actually were. Blending historical scholarship and literary analysis, these lectures offer new ways to think about myths and legends, medieval manuscripts, epic tales, and even contemporary films.

This is an up-close-and-personal look at knights in shining armor and beautiful ladies—as they really were.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Medieval, Literature, Research, Historical

3 pages, Audible Audio

First published December 1, 2023

Reviews

[MK ( MaKayla) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently reality is overrated - running back to my romanticized medieval novels like 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

[Katia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good introductory crash course on the theme of knighthood in the romance genre. I appreciate how Larissa Tracy started with 19th, 20th, and 21st century depictions of knighthood, and then detailed its literary history in chronological order. Her main thesis that the romantic notion of knighthood was not based on reality, but rather on contemporary ideas and political motivations regarding national identity and gender roles was interesting and convincing. It’s impressive how much information she packed into an approximately 2-hour lecture. I recommend it to anyone interested in this topic.

As a side note, I’m glad Tracy introduced her background at the very beginning of the lecture, bc I would’ve spent the whole time trying to identify her accent. While she was raised in the US, she spent her whole adult life in Ireland, which has resulted in possibly the first genuine Transatlantic accent I’ve ever heard. Anyway, she was a very enthusiastic narrator and I found her voice easy to listen to.

[Joe Vandal · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read on medieval literature and history. Contrasting between the reality of the culture of knighthood and the romanticized versions of courtly life in the writings of the 14th and 15th century, which had heavy influence on chivalric values.

The original origins of King Arthur, Lancelot, and the round table changed and evolved over the years with different writers, both English and French. Presented as an ideal of English knighthood but progressively becoming more fallible and corrupt as time went on.

With the advent of gunpowder in warfare, the culture of knighthood fell away, but became more prevalent in popular culture in the 1900s.

If you have an interest in medieval history or knighthood in popular culture this is a good, quick read.

[Levy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although clearly influenced by modern biases, sensibilities, and buzz words, Tracy still provides a solid analysis of the historical variations and versions of Medieval Romances. She clearly has a love for the genre, if colored by modern cynicism. I'd recommend the book if you want a short overview of the history of Medieval Romance Literature, just be aware of her biases. 2.5 stars, not especially good or bad.

[Biggest Little Book Talker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cool introduction to the origins of knighthood and how it became “romanized” over time.
Never modern day classics have pulled from the literature of knighthood to give us to stories and character we know and love today.
There originals are not so noble, but entertaining none the less!
Definitely leaves me wanting more and to do a bigger deep dive into knights and knighthood.

[Paul Sating · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5. Thorough but succinct. Enjoyed this educational listen.

[Wes Bishop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great little series of lectures on the concept of chivalry in European society and literature.

[Hunter Ross · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some of you may read this title and know what this is about. On the tiny screen on my phone I saw, or focused on, the first four words. Be warned this is NOT a historical telling on origins of knights, of who the knights were etc. She does in the middle talk about the crusades briefly and the origin of the priestly orders of knights but is is superficial and if you know anything about it, will not learn anything from this (if interested I can recommend "The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors"). She also says the Nazi's were led to the genocide of Jewish people (and others) because of a twisting of the ideals of knighthood. This is an absurd and 100% wrong assertion. Were there images of Hitler in armor-yes! Did they fashion themselves or think of themselves as descendants of the Teutonic Knights? YES! However, those are unequivocally related to the
Wehrmacht and completely separate from the issue of genocide and blaming the Jews/making them scapegoats. Blaming a historical connection to Knights as the reason for genocide is absurd and ridiculous and frankly, completely untrue. The genocide used a psychological technique of all tyrants (you may notice parallels in our current politics of this). Creating us vs them is dictator 101. Everyone, on some level, wants to belong/fit in and we are genetically programed to think in terms of tribes and those who would protect us. The Nazis also used the tried and true techniques of authorization, dehumanization, and routinization to get the general population to go along with it. If you have not please read the Milgram Experiments (Obedience to Authority
by Stanley Milgram) or "The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide" if you want more factual and real information. She makes overgeneralizations and wild conjectures, she makes no really historical facts part of this lecture (or very, very few). Yes there were evil knights, yes some were not virtuous (tell me what profession does not have some bad?).
I hate to tell Larissa this, but movies and literature are not supposed to be history. They are entertainment. Reviewing entertainments view of warriors in history is not the same as teaching us history or historical facts. Even in those reviews of literature and movies with knights that she didd it is done super quickly (ore of lists) and without depth or true paradigm explanations of how that relates not only to medieval knights or the society and times which produced them.
THIS IS A REVIEW OF KNIGHTS PORTRAYED IN LITERATURE AND MOVIES.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tracy is interested in determining how the code of chivalry, which has become very important to modern understandings of knighthood, developed. To get there she starts with a survey of medieval soldiers and other warmakers up to the appearance of the knight, showing what they valued and how they differed from the mounted warriors which she argues really came into their own in the Central Middle Ages, in a large part due to the crusades. She then steps into the courtly love poetry sponsored by the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine before moving on to the ever changing romances of King Arthur which eventually created the foundations for what later generations imagined to be an age of chivalry. It's an interesting book and a very quick read.

[Chriss · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short (2 hours) audiobook lecture on a topic I pretty much knew nothing about save King Arthur and Monty Python fare. As a lecture, I find it difficult to rate using the criteria I normally use. Do I know more about knights than I did before? Yes. Is it applicable to my life in any way? No. Was it presenting in an interesting manner? Well that’s the crux I guess, had I been sitting in her classroom I’m sure I’d have been more engaged. The author very obviously “knows her stuff” but it’s presented very dryly so I can guiltily only give it 3 stars as I wonder how in the world this might have been presented more interestingly. In fiction I suppose.

[Darrell McCauley · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Culture of Knighthood in Medieval Romance is not up to the standards found in other Great Courses selections. To summarize, this is not how you teach someone.

The author sets the tone by meting out typical woke sentiments that do not add to any listener's understanding. Instead, my response is yawns and eye rolls. Then, I strapped myself in to listen to someone read the literature review portion of their PhD dissertation. Yawn.

In the end, I did not really learn much about the culture of knighthood. Was it because I was tuned out and was disengaged because of the introduction? Distracted by my eye-rolling? Maybe.

[Catherine Puma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good listen!

I'm familiar with "Beowulf", "The Once and Future King" by T.H. White, and "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" and I enjoyed how Larissa (Kat) Tracy discusses these (and many other works) though the lens of what they say about knightly culture. I appreciated Tracy making the distinction between how they were depicted in literature versus how they behaved and functioned in real life, but this work is primarily literary analysis, so historical figures are only touched upon.

I give this 4 rather than 5 stars because it is so short--just over 2 hours long--so interesting topics just can't be granted the level of depth that I would've found more satisfying.

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nobody:

This lady every chance she gets: In my opinion it would have been well deserved if Guinevere died because of her adultery lol

The first Great Courses series I DNF. A really broad subject that Tracy really can't organize or narrow down in an interesting way, she just keeps giving a summary of a few sentences each of so many various historical events and literary works discussed without getting into anything in much depth.

[Debbie Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Larissa Tracy's short course on the the culture of knighthood in Medieval Romance serves as an introduction to both the history and literature of knighthood. She provides a summary of all the books she refers to and shows the purpose of stories about knights in social development while debunking some of the myths of them. The course is interesting and informative.

[Liz Mandeville · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive study of chivalry and the culture of warriors and royals throughout the medieval period. The story of Arthur is covered in both French and English texts from the period.
The author points to the difference between fiction and reality in the lives of knights and of the manipulation of the story to suit the politics of the time.
Fascinating read.

[Britt Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a fascinating history! I loved listening to this lecture series and learned a lot. It’s very interesting to me how so much of the notion of chivalry was drawn from the legends of Arthur, though his own wife and knight were anything but loyal to him.

[John Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely clear and even playful, while being extremely informative about the topic. I've had whole literature classes at college on the topic that were only half as informative as this quick and easy read.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very very good and interesting but too short

[LemontreeLime · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short audiobook on the intersection of myth and history and the following multi vehicle pile up that was chivalry.

[John Geddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another short read (free on audible). Presents a nice contrast between literary and historical chivalry and feudalism.

[Shauna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 🌟

[Katya Slonenko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, it was interesting, but in places I wanted to done a tinfoil hat. (Like when we dive into exploring who King Arthur really was, or where the real-life Atlantis could be located).

[Malum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but brief look into literary romantic chivalry and knighthood. More of a stepping board into further reading than a complete guide itself.

[Steve Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was hard for me in this audio format to keep track of all the authors, dates and characters the work contained. Cramming that much info into such a short audiobook isn’t necessarily a good thing.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and well presented. Wouldn't have minded this being longer.

[Ashton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear, playful, and informative. Repetitive at times.

[Raymond James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic, realistic look into the history of knighthood and its impact on culture. As a diehard fan of Arthurian lore I was stunned and entertained by my new found knowledge!

[Cashie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rated: PG-13
Some of those romanticized knights did really sketchy things (looking at YOU, Lancelot)…

[MJ Cahill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting

[Teddi · Rating 2 out of 5]

did not finish.