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'The Green Count' and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Author(s): S. R. T. O. d'Ardenne
Source: The Review of English Studies, Vol. 10, No. 38 (May, 1959), pp. 113-126
Published by: Oxford University Press
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'THE GREEN COUNT' AND SIR GA WAIN AND
THE GREEN KNIGHT'
By S. R. T. O. D'ARDENNE
IN a recentarticlez
Mr. Highfieldraisedthe question: 'Was therea
in factas wellas in To whichhe 'The
greenknight legend?' replied:
answercannotyetbe given.Butthattherewasa "greensquire"is certain.'
This paperis a tentative answerto hisquestion.
Firstofall it mighthavebeenmoreaccurateto statethattherewereat
least two greensquiresin fourteenth-century England. BesidesSimon
NewtonwithwhomMr. Highfieldis primarily concerned, therewas a
memberoftheBlackPrince'sretinue whowaskilledwhenhe triedto help
King Peterthe Cruel. He was called,says Froissart,'MessiresRaouls
Helme,qui jadis avoitestetnommesli Vert-Escuiers'.3 And although
Mr. Highfield factsabout
givesinteresting certainWest Midland families,
theNewtons,
especially whomay(ormaynot)be connected withtheauthor
ofSir Gawainand theGreenKnight, thereremainsthechiefdrawbackto
histentativeidentification:squire nota knight,
a is and a scutifer
viridis
is
so
not picturesque a as a
and strikingcharacter grenekny3t.
Buttherewas a 'greenknight'in thefourteenth century,famousforhis
magnificence, his richhospitality, gallantdeeds, thesplendourof
his and
his garments, by whichhe was knownall overtheworldas The Green
Count,Le ComteVert,II ConteVerde.He was AmadeusVI, Countof
Savoy(1334-83),a contemporary oftheauthorofSir Gawain.
How, when,and whydid he acquirethe nickname? In his Gestezet
Croniques de la Maysonde Savoye,4 thefifteenth-centurySavoychronicler
IA summary of theviewsexpressedin thisarticlewas readto theconference of the
InternationalAssociation ofUniversity ProfessorsofEnglishat Cambridgein 1956. The
presenttexthas beenconsiderably enlarged,and offers additionalevidence.
2 'The GreenSquire',M. E., xxii(x953),18-23.
ed. K. de Lettenhove
Chroniques, (Bruxelles,I869-77),vii. 27Z.
4 Ed. F. E. Bollati(Turin,x879),ii. 8o. Scholarsdo notagreeon theexactdateofthis
famousand spectacular tournament. Accordingto JeanCordey(Les Comtesde Savoie et
les Rois de France(Paris,191x),p. ioo) and others,it was the Chamb6rytournament
(1348). ForPlaisance(HistoiredesSavoyens(Chamb6ry, 191o), p. 199),itwas thetourna-
mentAmadeusgave on theoccasionof theweddingof his sisterBlancheand Galeazzo
Viscontiin 1351. Quite recently,Marie-Jose, ex-Queenof Italy(La Maisonde Savoie
(Paris,1956),p. i6o), supportedCognasso'sview(Ii ConteVerde(Torino,1926)), thatit
was theBourg-en-Bresse tournament (1353). It is a factthatfrom1347to 1356Amadeus
organizedno less thantentournaments. But forthepresentpurposethe date does not
matter.It is thedescriptionwhichcountsand on thispointscholarsagree. The magni-
ficenceofthefabulousAmadeusverylikelylingered inChristine de Pisan'smemory, when
R.E.S. New Series, Vol. X, No. 38 (1959)
4690.38 8
114 D'ARDENNE: SIR GAWAIN
JehanServion givesthe account(not a legend) ofthe tournamentin which
Amadeus appeared forthe firsttime dressedin green:
Le conteAmevintsurle rengatoutses xj compagnons, touxvestusde cendal
vert& leurschiuaulxcouersde mesmes.Et syy avoitxijdamesvestues& parees
de mesmes. . & avoyentles xij damesxij cordonsde soyeverde,chescune
menantson chiuallieratachea la bride& le heaulmeen la teste& la lance au
point& toutcouvertde verd.
When thetournamentwas due to begintheladies releasedtheknights,who
startedfighting.Afterthe contestthe ladies again bound the knightsand
led themto the castle,wheretheirweapons were takenfromthem. After
dinnerthe knightsreceivedtheirrewards:theyhad the rightto kiss their
ladies and to receive presentsfromthem. Amadeus accepted the kisses
but told the ladies to givethe ringsto the knightswho, he said, 'mieulxles
ont gagneezque moy'. To thisthe knightsanswered'que mieulxheussent
ames le baisier des damez ... La risee en fustgrande; & lors recomensca
la feste en granttrihumphe,qui dura iusques au iour du matin'. This
lastedthreedaysand 'depuis Ion laissa le nom du conteAme & fustappelles
le conte verd', the name he is generallygiven in historical(and other)
books. Indeed, says Cordey(Les Comtes,p. 0oI,n. I),
apres 1348 sauf de tresraresexceptions,les richesvetements qu'il se faisait
confectionner furenttous verts,de memeque les plumesde son panache,les
houssesde ses chevaux,les tentures de sa tente,la livrdede ses gens. Bienplus,
il esttrbsrareque les robeset costumesqu'il offrait en cadeauaux gensde son
entourage, a ses amis,' ses conseillers,
ou ' son filsfussentautrement teints.II
demeurajusqu'hsa mortfidelea cettecoutume.
A verystrikingexample of this is to be foundin the gorgeousdescription
of his departureto the crusade: he 'habilla tous les autres princes et
cheualiersde sayonsde veloursverd,brodezd'une richebroderied'or trait,
faite"ala devise des troislacs d'amour,et en ceste parureluimesmesortit
de son logis ...' and all 'sembloyentdes Rolans'.' So picturesquea charac-
ter was bound to appeal to the imaginationof people and artists. In fact,
'he stilllives in the Savoy folkloreand ballads as the legendaryknightof
chivalry'.2Le Comte Vert,says V. de Saint-Genis,'restepour les regions
she describedthe tournamentin Le Liure du duc des VraysAmans (so closelyrelatedto the
familyof the Green Count's wife) in which 'Escuiers qui se y porterent'were 'vertvestus'
and with them 'vint damoysellesy furent,vestues de vert'. Moreover, she caused (or at
any rate allowed) the artistwho illustratedthe scene in MS. Harley 4431 to representthe
victoriousknight,not as a whiteknight,which we expect fromthe context,but as a green
knight,wearing on his helmet the Savoy panache, white and red.
See Guillaume Paradin, Chroniquede Savoye (Lyons, 1561), p. 241, and Servion,
Gestez, p. 129.
2 F. de Filippi, 'The Relations of the House of Savoy with the Court of England',
Proc. Brit. Acad., viii (1917-18), 449.
D'ARDENNE: SIR GAWAIN 115
alpines, I'dquivalentde ce que fut en Angleterrele roi Arthurou dans la
Gaule carolingiennele paladin Roland'.' Moreover,he is the hero of at
least threeepic poems, namelythe Amiddide,writtenin 924 alexandrines
two centuriesafterhis deathby AlphonseDelbene, abbot of Hautecombe,
the Amideide,poem in fivecantos by Doctor Tresal, and Le ComteVert,
by Doctor Jacquemoud,poem in twelvecantos.z
The Green Count was not only one of the most spectacularprincesof
the fourteenthcentury,he was also one of the most magnificenthosts.
Chroniclersare lyricalon the subject. Amongthese Froissarthas much to
say,and fromfirst-hand experience,forhe describesa 'festeossi ouj'estoie'.
This feastwas the splendidreceptionwhichAmadeus gave on theoccasion
oftheweddingofhis nieceViolanteViscontiand Lionel, Duke of Clarence,
in 1368. It lasted threedays and filledthe numerousEnglish guestswith
wonder.3 In his ChroniclesFroissart simply recorded that: 'Li gentils
contes de Savoie le [i.e. Lionel] rechuttrbshonnerablement en Chamberi
en tres grans reviaus de danses, de caroles et tous esbatemens. Au tierc
"
jour, il parti, et le conduissi li dis contes de Savoie jusques Melans'
(vii. 25I-2). But in his PrisonAmoureuse,writtenabout 1373, Froissart,
the poet,requiredfifty-three linesto describeit.4 Lionel died in Italysoon
afterhis marriage. His end was mysterious.In Froissart'sown words,'il
morut asses mervilleusement. . . Si souppeqonnerentque on ne l'euist
empoisonnetet en fistguerremoultgrandeet moultforteli siresDespens-
siers as seigneursde Melans et a leurs gens'. And Froissartadds in the
concise versionof his Chronicles:'En le fin,messiresli contes de Savoie
s'en ensonnia et les mist a acord',s a proof of the esteem in which the
English held the Green Count. There are others.
As earlyas 1351 therehad been some 'colloquiumde matrimoniocontra-
hendo inter dictum dominum comitem Sabaudie [i.e. Amadeus VI] et
dominamYsabellam, filiamserenissimiprincipisdomini Edduardi, regis
Anglie'. But more importantstillis anotherprintedby Cordeyand dated
I
Histoirede Savoie depuisles origines jusqu'a l'annexion(Paris, 1868-9), i. 347.
2 Published in et documents publiis par la Sociidt savoisienned'histoireet
Mdmoires
d'archdologie,tome viii (Chamb6ry, I864); Albertville,I843; Paris, I844.
3 Lionel departedfromEngland 'moult estoff6ement et en grantarroy'; he was attended
by a retinueof 457 men who, with the enormous numberof I,z8o horses,were carriedin
39 ships and 13 small vessels. See Rymer,Foedera (The Hague, 1739-45), iii. 145, and
W. Longman, Life and Times of Edward the Third (London, 1869), ii. 140-I. Rymer,
(iii. 144) gives the list of Lionel's retainers. Among these we findmany West Midland
names, e.g. JohannesAbburbery(Flintshire and Denbigh), Walterus Bromswych(War-
wickshire),Ricardus Baskervill(south-eastCheshire), Edwardus le Despenser (Cheshire),
Rogerus Hakensowe (Lancashire). In another document dated I354 we find the same
names with the addition of the name of Petrus de Grandissono, dominus de Oxenale
(Gloucester; see below).
4 Podsies,ed. A. Scheler (Bruxelles, I870), i. 44.
s Ed. de Lettenhove,vii. 251-2.
4 November1365-. In ittheBlackPrincegiveshissoldiersorderstospare
the estatesofthe GreenCount'pource que nostretreschiercousin,le
comtede Savoie,a soventfaitetfaitdejour en autregrandescourtoisies a
touznozgenzque passentparmy sa seignorie'.IndeedtheSavoyChronicles
aboundin examplesoftheconsiderate waywithwhichtheEnglisharmy
treated theSavoysoldiersagainstwhomtheywerefighting inFrance.Thus
although Amadeus fought with France and the EmpireagainstEdwardIII,
yet 'there remained the greatestesteem between himandtheEnglishsub-
jects of Edward'.2 I have pointed out the important partplayedby the
GreenCountin settling theconflict whicharosebetween'li siresDespens-
sierset les seigneurs de Melans'afterLionel'sdeath. Moreover, 'English
and
pilgrims diplomats whohappenedto crossSavoyon theirwayeither
to Italyorto theHolyLand couldalwayscounton an hospitable welcome
at thecourtofthePrince,wheresplendidentertainments wereoftengiven
in theirhonour'.2The importance of thisstatement willnotescapethe
attention ofthosewho,accepting a commonauthorship forthefourpoems
ofMS. CottonNeroA x,thinkwithGollanczthat'thenumerous references
in thesetwopoems[Cleanness and Patience]to thesea wouldlead one to
inferthatthepoet... mayhaveweathered thefierce tempests he described.
His wanderings may have brought him even tothe holycity whose heavenly
prototype he discernedin thevisionary scenesofPearl.'3 If so thepoet
mayhaveenjoyedAmadeus'shospitality, whichhe remembered whenhe
described Bertilak'sgenerous entertainment of guests.Now itis interesting
to notethat,according to Mr. Highfield, theGreenSquire,thatis Simon
Newton,'mighthavebeensenttoPaviato preparethewayfortheembassy
whichshortlyfollowedfromEnglandto arrangethe marriagebetween
Edward'sson, Lionel of Antwerp,and ViolanteVisconti,daughterof
GaleazzoII'. It is thusquitepossiblethattheGreenCountandtheGreen
Squire met.4 It is a factthatthe GreenCount,sincehe arrangedand
negotiated themarriage ofhisnieceandLionel,cameintocontactwiththe
two Englishenvoys sent to Milan forthispurpose,namelyHumphrey
Bohun, Earl of Hereford, SirNicholasTamworth,
and bothWestMidland
noblemen, theformer famous for his literary tastesand collection ofrare
books.
x Cordey, Pieces justificativesnos. 26 and 33. We miss the name of Amadeus in the
long list of the Lady de Coucy's suitorspublished by Dr. Savage in his recentbook The
Gawain-Poet (Chapel Hill, 1956), pp. 56-58.
2 de Filippi, Relations,p. 449. 3 CambridgeHistoryof EnglishLiterature,i. 331.
4 Two factsconcerningthe Newton familymay be noted: (a) two Pulesdons, relatives
of the Green Squire, were 'squires in the retinueof Lionel, duke of Clarence, when he
went into Ireland in 1361' (Highfield,pp. 2o-zi ); (b) one HumphreyNewton (1466-1536),
a nativeof the Hundred of Macclesfield(Cheshire), wrotepoetry(preservedin the Capes-
thorneMS.) which is strangelyreminiscentof Sir Gawain. See R. H. Robbins, 'A Gawain
Epigone', M.L.N., Iviii (1943), 366.
Forthepresent purpose, itisimportant thattheGreenCountcameinto
personal with
contact West Midland men who wereclosely connected with
theso-calledalliterative revival.He wasthuswellknownin England,
where hisfamilyhadbeenpopular eversincethemarriage ofEleonore of
Provenceand HenryIII Plantagenet. The Queen'suncles,William,
Boniface, Thomas, andPeter, frequentlycameovertoEngland.Moreover,
Boniface becameArchbishop ofCanterbury andPeterEarlofRichmond
andEssex. The latter builtin Londona palacewhichbecameknown as
'The Savoy',a namewhichhassurvived to thisday. ThustheseSavoy
princeslefta permanent andrather pleasant traceoftheirpassageand
in
hospitalityEngland. In the fourteenthcentury, theSavoybecamethe
LondonhomeofJohnofGaunt,whoentertained, amongmanyothers,
Chaucerandhisfriend 'Monseigneur Othede Granson, de la terrede
Savoye, d'onneur
chevalier du royd'Engleterreet du ducde Lancastre', the
Savoy court whom
poet, the Englishpoet hailed as 'flourofhem that make
in Fraunce'.NowMasterOthewasthesonofGuillaume de Granson,
theGreenCount'sfaithful retainer,whosenameappearsoverandover
againin theSavoyChronicles, andalwaysin closeassociation withthe
'Glorieux Amidde'. This Guillaume ofGranson 'auoit este au seruicedu
roydEngleterre','and was made a knightof the Order of the Collar when
Amadeusfounded it in 1364(see below).A branchofhisfamily had
settledin England, wheretheypossessed estatesin Herefordshire and
Ireland.2 We know that Master Othe spent more than twenty yearsin
England. And when he was captured by the French early 1368hewas
in
shortly releasedat the petition of the Green Count and Marguerite,
Countess ofBurgundy andFlanders.It is highly probable thathespoke
of
enthusiastically his beloved and splendid the
liegelord, magnificent
GreenCount.ThusAmadeus wasknown in England, andin theWest
Midlandsin particular. Moreover, besides Humphrey Bohunand Sir
NicholasTamworth (see p. 116 above), Lionel's onlychild,Philippa,
'married inthespring of1368'(so D.N.B.),i.e.before Lionel'sdeparture
to Italy,to EdmundMortimer, EarlofMarch,wascertainly toldofthe
splendid receptionand entertainment theGreen Count in
gave honour of
herfather, andofthepartheplayed before,during, and after that ill-fated
marriage.
We knowthattheMortimers, theBohuns, andtheBeauchamps were
connected; theywere related in blood,they were and
neighbours, they
I Servion, p. Izo.
2 See Herefordshire Doomsday,ed. V. H. Galbraith and J. Tait (London, 1950), p. 114;
H. Braddy, 'Messire Oton de Graunson, Chaucer's Savoyard Friend', S.P., xxxv (1938),
515-31, and Chaucer and theFrenchPoet Graunson(Baton Rouge, 1947); A. Piaget, Oton
de Grandson,sa vie et sespodsies(Lausanne, 1941).
were associated in the baronial oppositionto the king.x These rivalries
were reflectedin literature.There were two schools of poetryopposing
each other:the courtpoetrywell exemplifiedby the worksof Chaucer and
Gower; and the West Midland alliterativepoetry,writtenin 'pat strange
Inglis', which, accordingto Robert Manning, 'symplemen cannot ken',
but which was kept alive fromgenerationto generation'in londe so hat3
ben longe'. As Dorothy Everett pointed out, these great families,the
Mortimers,Bohuns, and Beauchamps,may deliberatelyhave encouraged
and fosteredverse of native originas a rivalto that poetry,more closely
dependenton Frenchpatterns,whichwas writtenby Chaucer and others.
At least we know that about 1360 one William translatedinto alliterative
poetrythe French romanceof William of Palermeat the requestof
Pe hendeerlof hereford humfray de boune
]Pegodeking edwardes dou3terwas his deremoder;
he let makepis mater.in pis manerspeche,
forhempatknoweno frensche.ne neuervnderstonde.z
We knowthatat leastthe Bohuns and the Beauchampswerebooklovers.
In theirwillswe findmanylegaciesof books, FrenchArthurianromances
and chronicles.3Thus the West Midland poets could findthese storiesin
books or, in the Gawain poet's own words,'in toune' (1. 31). It would be
interestingindeed to knowwhetherthe poet had a 'town'in mind. 'With-
out article',says O.E.D. (under Town,4.b), 'afterprepositions,as in..., it
refersto the townin or near whichthe speakeris at the moment;or to the
chieftownofthe districtor province,the capital'; and adds a note: 'There
are earlieruses referring to London, but only as said by persons living
I 'When theBlackPrince diedinJune1376,thethorny ofwhowasnextheir
question
afterhissonRichard, either
JohnofGauntorPhilippa andherson,wasraisedandleft
unanswered....The history ofEnglandfora century
wastobe shapedbytherivalries
oftheseroyallineswiththeir
vastestates.
... TheCommons, whodisplayed
a remarkable
boldnessandinitiative
andactedwiththeLords,choseas their Peterdela Mare,
Speaker
thesteward of theEarl of March'(Lionel'sson-in-law).C. W. Previt6-Orton,
The
ShorterCambridgeMedieval Historyii (1952), 895-6.
2 Ed. W. W. Skeat, E.E.T.S., E.s. i (1867), 11.5530-3.
3 Among the books
bequeathed by Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester, daughter of this
Humphrey of Bohun (died 1373), therewas a copy of a book called Arthurede Bretaigne,
and anotherof the Histoiredu chivalera cigne. Moreover, MS. Royal zo D Iv, containing
the French romance of Lancelot du Lac, belonged (1380-8, that is the time generally
assigned to the compositionof Sir Gawain) to anotherdaughterof his, Mary (died 1394),
wife of Henry,Earl of Derby (afterwardsKing Henry IV). Indeed the illuminatedcapital
B on f. Iozv was repaintedand the Bohun coat of armswas added in it (at the same time
as the artistrepaintedthe miniatureon the same folio) by one of the English artistswho
executed a number of fineilluminatedmanuscriptsfor Mary and other membersof the
Bohun family, among which are the most important surviving examples of English
illuminationin the third quarter of the fourteenthcentury. It is interestingto see that
at thattime,in that remotepart of England, Arthurianromanceswere still enjoyed,read,
and translated,when theywere going out of fashionin France and at the English court.
there.' But even ifthephrasejust means 'in society','amongmen',it refers
to 'court circles' where French (as well as English) was spoken,recited,
and understood. And we know that these great West Midland families
lived on a royalfooting,whichinfuriatedJohnof Gaunt. There the poet
must have heard greattalk about the splendid foreignGreen Count; and
if the lines cited above may referto a lost French original(Tolkien's and
Gordon's view), theymay also referto actual stories,rumours,and tales
of currentevents.
It has latelybeen arguedby Dr. Ethel Seaton' thatChaucer's Parlement
ofFoules,'obviouslya marriagepoem', was writtento celebratethemarriage
of Lionel of Antwerpand ViolanteVisconti. Accordingto her the double
acrosticanagramsyield theirnames,those of her parents,and the names
of the two English envoys sent to Milan to open negotiations,namely
HumphreyBohun, Earl of Hereford,and Sir Nicholas Tamworth. Now
this view, although questionable and questioned, has 'broughtforward
another possibilityfor consideration. . .' and 'Lionel's courtship of
Violanta can still be considereda possible inspirationforthe conjectured
Ur-Parlement'.Indeed, the ceremonieswhich celebratedthe event were
so splendidthattheywere spoken of at all European courts.
In Sir Gawain we findperhaps a faintand West Midland echo of that
historicalevent,ratherthan,as ProfessorHulbertwould have it, the com-
memorationof 'some unrecordedRound Table held by a Mortimer'.2 It
is not perhapswithoutsignificancethat mentionis made in this poem of
pe dukof Clarence. Lionel was the firstduke of Clarence,and the onlyone
contemporary withour Middle Englishpoem. There is no doubt thatthe
mentionof this titlewas meant as a complimentto Lionel. It has been
arguedthat a duke of Clarence existsin French romances,say the Roman
de Merlin,dated 1316, a factwhichProfessorHulbertconsiders'as perhaps
the best of all evidences that the author of GGK knew the Vulgate
[ArthurianRomances]',for,he adds, 'only in the Vulgate do we findsuch
developmentofthe Duke of Clarenceas to makehimmemorableand likely
to be mentionedin anotherbook'.3 This would be true if it were not an
English poem. For thereis no denyingthata fourteenth-century English
audience would readily associate the title with Lionel. When we read
Froissart's gorgeous descriptionsof the splendid entertainments (which
again lasted threedays) thatthe Green Count gave in Lionel's honourwe
are plunged rightinto the atmosphereof our Middle English poem. No
doubt such splendourwas bound to grow in the tellingto the point of
' 'The
Parlement of Foules and Lionel of Clarence', M.IE., xxv (1957), 168-74. For
a criticismof Dr. Seaton's view and her replyto it see M.tE., xxvi (i957), 107-11.
2 M.P., xiii (1916), 718.
3 'The Name of the Green Knight', Manly AnniversaryStudies (Chicago, 1923), p. 19.
120 D'ARDENNE: SIR GA WAIN
reaching the fabulous. In the green light of his garments,so closely
associated with Faerie, the foreignCount could well lay a spell on the
imaginationof a West Midland authorbroughtup on fairytales and the
fabulouslegendsof King Arthurand his knights.The moreso as a 'green
knight'was most unusual compared with the numerousBlack Knights,
Red Knights,and Blue Knights. In fact, even in the ill-famedWyral,
where 'wonde per bot lyte/ Pat auper God ojer gome wythgoud hert
louied', that is, where we should have expectedto findthe 'green men'
referred to by Kittredgeand Loomis, Gawain was toldthat'pay sege neuer
no segge JPat wat3 of suche hwe3 / of grene'.
This is the proper answerto our query. There is no question in our
poem of the greenpeople as theyappear in the tales or books dealingwith
them, that is, people leading a particularlife of their own and totally
different in theirappearance,behaviour,feelings,and destinyfrommen.
The Green Knight is not a genuine green man. He is a green man in
appearance only,a 'gome gered in grene' (79), 'a wy3ewruxledin grene'
(219). He is simplyan enchantedman. His buoyancy,his rich laughter,
his whole attitudeand language,at once easy-goingand provocative,show
the white skin behind the deluding green complexion. His humanityis
indeed his most strikingand obvious quality. And when we meet him in
his own shape and complexion,he is so true to lifethatwe wonderhow
he could have been mistakenfor a vegetationgod or other mythical
creature. He is and remains,whetherhe is enchantedor not,Bertilakde
Hautdesert. Throughoutthepoem we feelthatthepoet's sympathyis with
'pe leue lordeofPe londe'. The factis, he is morehuman,morealive than
Arthurand even Gawain.' As ProfessorGwyn Joneshas said, he 'is the
"dynamic" characterof the story. It is he who sets thingsgoing.'2 He is
too trueto naturenot to suggestan actual or contemporary model.
But thisis deniedby ProfessorJones(and otherscholars). He statesthat
'It seems significant then that while our authorcould see King Arthur's
court in the mirrorof the contemporarycourt of Richard II, he had no
contemporarymodel for the Green Knight'. Had he not really? If we
acceptGollancz's suggestionthat'thefigureofGawainwas drawn,however
flatteringly,fromsome notable contemporary',3 whetherthe Black Prince
When the poet refersto him he generallyuses epithetssuch as leue,fre,wynnelych,god,
which emphasize his humanity(and the sympathyof the author). This is in striking
opposition to his treatmentof Gawain's character,whose artificialityand conventionality
best appear in his sole use of substantivesborrowedfromthe Old English stock of poetic
diction,as freke,wy3e,renk,segge,lede, burne,habel. The author seldom uses an epithet
forGawain, and when he does so it simplyemphasizes Gawain's knightlyvirtues,as derf,
noble,bold,gentyl,hende. In fact Gawain only becomes a myrymonwhen he is with be
gay lady.
2 Sir Gawain and the GreenKnight,a prose translation(London, 1952), p. 5.
3 'Chivalry in the Medieval Poetry', in E. Prestage, Chivalry (London, 1928), p. 178.
(so Isaac Jackson,Anglia, xxxvii(1913), 410), or the Sire de Coucy (so
Savage), why should not the same view be taken concerningthe Green
Knight,alias Bertilakde Hautdesert? There is no denyingthatthereexists
some strikingresemblancebetween the poetical and the historicalgreen
knights,best seen perhapsin the dualityof theirpersonalities:the magni-
ficentand fantasticgreen men on the one hand, and the gallant,kind-
hearted,and splendid hosts on the other. Moreover,thereis more than
merecoincidence,I think,in such detailsas thefeast(and thetournament)
lastingthreedays,the kisses preferredto gifts,the knightsbound fastby
means of green strings,the horses entirelyclad in green. Indeed, the
tournamentAmadeus, that Savoy green knight,riding his huge horse,
Lucifer,'which
avoitle frontcouvert,a grandsondesflotoit
unggrandpanacheverdsursa testeesgaree,
musthave struckhis contemporaries as an exceptionalman since theydis-
carded his name Amadeus,and he became knownall overthe worldas the
Green Count. To our English poet he may well have appeared as an
'alvisch mon'. Yet beneath this strangeappearance,both Amadeus and
Bertilakwerehumanbeingsand splendidhosts. ChamberyCastle,situated
in a desolate countrycovered with thick forestsand rockymountains,
strangelyreminiscentof the Green Chapel, 'avait garde les usages de
l'antique chevalerie',where'vindrentdames & signieursde toutezles pars
des paysdu conte. Et la eusttornoys,ioustes& beourdis,dances,morisques
& momeryez.' Chamberymighthave been the name of Bertilak'shospit-
able castle. Of course I do not claim thatit is an actual descriptionof it
and of Savoy. Yet so many known and unknown,conscious and sub-
conscious factorsenterinto the makingof a literaryworkthat any actual
elementsthatmay have appealed to the imaginationof an authormustbe
takeninto account.
There are indeedin Sir Gawain otherelementsthanthosejust mentioned
whichstrengthen theassociationofthe Green Knightand the Green Count
withoutexcludinga genuineCelticinfluence.Firstof all thereis the name
of the Green Knight. At the end of the poem he reveals his name to
Gawain: Bertilakde Hautdesert,a French surname.2 Althoughit is not
I See
Cordey,p. 244, n. 2, quotingTurinarchives,Tesoreria no. 22: 'Dicto
generale,
Viennensi,custodiendi magnum equumdominidictumLucifer'--anominousname,ifwe
remember that,whenfirstmet,theGreenKnightand his horseappearedas iftheyhad
comehotfromhell.
2 Professor Loomis (Arthurian Traditionand Chrestien de Troyes(New York,1949),
p. 420) sees in thename'Bercilaka corruption ofthecommonnamebachlach, as applied
BercilakforBertilak,a case
to Bercilak'soriginal,Curoi'. I rathersee in it a misreading
of the frequentconfusiontic. In the VulgateVersionof theArthurian Romances, ed.
Sommer,the formsBertelakand Bercelai/Bertelai, for the well-knownFrenchname
recorded,it is builton the same patternas actualsurnameslikeHauteserve
(which means exactlythe same as Hautdesert),Hautecloque, Hauchamps,
Hauterive,Hautecombe,as Amid6e de Hauterive,abbot of Hautecombe
(1139-44), many of which point to Savoy (cf. Haute Savoie) but are not
limitedto it.
It has been suggested(as by Tolkien and Gordon) that Hautdesertis
the name of the Green Chapel. But as ProfessorLoomis says (Arthurian
Tradition,p. 282, n. 2), 'thisviewis contradictedbythefactthatthe Chapel
lies in a valley'. He furthersuggeststhat Hautdesertis the name ofthe
countryruledby Bertilak. And indeed the Bertilakofthe Frenchromance
'estoit du lignaige a Claudas de la Terre Deserte' (Sommer, Vulgate,v.
422/18). To change it into Hautdesertwould thus be a deliberateattempt
by the authorto give it an extraFrench(or Savoy) flavour. It may be the
name of the castle. Accordingto ProfessorHulbert,' it may be an inten-
tional slightalterationof Beaudesert,'the Norman French castle held by
Thurstan de Montfortin the reignof Stephen',and built on an eminence
at the presentHenley-in-Ardenin Warwickshire.2It is noteworthy that
the only recordof the name forthe fourteenth is
century spelt Baudesert.
There are indeed sporadicexamplesof the introductionof Frenchhaut in
Englishplace-namesby popularetymology, as Hautboisin Norfolkinstead
of Hobbesse,ever since the thirteenth century(see Ekwall, ConciseOxford
Dictionaryof EnglishPlace-Names). But I am inclined to thinkthat de
is
Hautdesert simply the Green Knight'sname, and it is a French,possibly
a Savoy, name.
There are otherimportantelementsin the poem which may (or may
not) connectit withthe Green Count. Amongthese I will considerthree:
(a) the Green Girdle; (b) Gawain's shield; (c) the Christmasand New Year
festivitiesdescribedso lavishlyby the West Midland poet. For it is a fact
thatChristmasfeastsprolongedinto New Year wereparticularly in favour
at the Savoy court. Hulbert notesthat 'in one case mentionis made that
the Green Knight(sic) wenthome forthe feastat New Year's' (M.P., xiii
(I916), 717). And he refersto MonumentaHistoriaePatriae. Actually
mentionis made of the Green Count (not the Green Knight) sendingfor
his wife,Bonne de Bourbon,so thatshe mightspend the Christmas(not
the New Year) feastswithhimat Aostein Italy.3 Thus in thatslip,Hulbert
Bertholai,are evidenced. But the originof the name does not matterverymuch; Christian
names were of Latin, Germanic, Celtic, or Greek origin whetherin France, Germany,
or Great Britain. The originof the surname is more importantforit reveals the author's
intention,and de Hautdesertis a French surname.
M.P., xxviii (193o-I), 420.
2 The Place-Names of Warwickshire, E.P.N.S., xiii (I936), 199.
3 See also Servion, p. 195: 'I1 cheuaucha en la cite dOste pour faireles festesde Noel
auec la contesse Bonne sa femme,quil auoit faitvenir pour soy conioir auec elle.'
n'ARDENNE: SIR GAWAIN 123
made an unconscious association of the Green Count and the Green
Knight. And it is a pitythat he did not notice it, forhe was the firstto
throwsome lighton thetwo otherfacts. Indeed he was thefirstto identify
goule3 /Wyth Pe pentangel
Gawain's coat of arms, which was 'of schyr
depayntof pure golde hwe3' (619-2o). The pentangle,he says (p. 728),
'has neverbeen so used in England, but it does occur on the Continent.
Accordingto Rietstap(ArmorialGeneral,Suppl. v, app. p. 3) two families
bore gules, a pentalphaor: a German familynamed Stahler,and a Swiss
named Boryd'Arnex'.I 'About the first',continuesHulbert,'I have been
able to findnothing. The second, however,presentssome curious facts.
Since the beginningof the fifteenth centuryit has occupied estatesin the
Pays de Vaud, which were dependenciesof the duke of Savoy. Though it
cannotbe tracedbeforethefifteenth century,thefamilymayhave extended
back into the fourteenthcentury,or it may have acquired its arms from
some otherfamilyresidentin the domainsof the Counts of Savoy. At any
rate,thereis a connectionbetween Savoy and the pentanglein the very
colours stated by the poet of GGK.' This statementneeds precision.
Rietstapstatesthatthe Bory d'Arnexfamily'de tempsimmemorial [italics
mine] avait des droitsde bougeoisiea Versoix (Pays de Gex)'. Now the
baronyof Gex became definitely includedamongthe Green Count's estates
in 1355 aftermanypettyand cruel wars withthe Dauphin Charles. The
Bory familymust have been loyal to the Savoy counts,fortheyreceived
later on estates in the Vaud country,which had always been a Savoy
possession and theyadded the name d'Arnex to theirpatronymic.Now
it is noteworthy thatit is preciselyin the Vaud countrythatthe Gransons
had theirfamilyseat,and theywere closelyconnectedwithArnex. Indeed
'en 1049 le seigneurAdalbertde Grandsondonna au couventde Romain-
m6tiertout ce qu'il possedaita Arnex. Ce fut sans doute l'origine des
biens du couvent qu'il fitadministrerdes le XIIe sidcle par un mayor:
officeh&reditairedont la familleprit le nom d'Arnex' (D.H.B.S., under
d'Arnex). It is true also that they apparentlychanged theircoat of arms
to that described in D.H.B.S. under Bory.I The French branch very
likelykept the originalshield as describedby Rietstap. But for the pre-
sent studyit is importantthat it is in Switzerland,in the ancientcounty
(later duchy) of Savoy, thatwe findthe pentacleused in heraldry.I have
foundaftera casual glanceat the Savoy HeraldicArchivesand at D.H.B.S.
at least fiveSwiss familieswhose coat of arms has a pentacle.
As to the Stahlerfamily,it is an old Swabian familywhose seat was thus
1
Yet see Dictionnairehistoriqueet biographiquede la Suisse (Neuchatel, 1924), under
Bory (ii. 149), where the coat of arms is described as 'd'azur au pentacle d'argent,a une
montagne de trois coupeaux du memeen pointe'. Yet it is the same family,since it is
described as a 'Famille vaudoise de Coppet, Grivins,Arnex,Versoix'.
closetotheestatesoftheSavoyprinces, andlikethemunderthesuzerainty
of the Germanemperors.The earliestreferences to thefamilywhichI
havebeenableto findmakemention ofone Wolfram dictusStakeler,1305,
in Bamberg,'and of oneJacobusdictusStaheler,1385,in Olmiitz.zIt is
a namedenoting a craftandmeans'wohlStahlschmied' or 'Metallgewinn-
endeundverarbeitende Gewerbe'.3 The plebeianoriginofthatfamily in
thefourteenth is
century againstany connexion with our highly aristocratic
poem. Moreover, theymayhaveacquiredtheircoatof armsfromsome
noblefamily to whomtheyhappenedlateron to be related.Yet I would
notgo so fa'ras to statewithDr. Savage(Gawain-Poet, p. 158) that'the
elaborate descriptionofthepentangle in ourpoemwasmeantfordesignat-
inga particular person',thatis,theSirede Coucy,'whosedevice',hestates,
actually wasthe'endlessknot'.Foronethingthe'endlessknot'hasa more
ancientand significant meaning,and thede Coucyshieldhad onlygules
in commonwithGawain's.
Nowwe reachthemostimportant point:theGirdle,whichintheGreen
Knight'sownwordswas 'greneas mygoune'.
It has beensuggested thatthedecisionofthelordsandtheladiesofthe
RoundTable to weara greenbaldricin honourofGawain'sloyalty is an
indication that'thepoemwas composedwithreference to someorderof
knights'.Tolkienand Gordonnotethat'someordershad collarswhich
werewornmuchas Gawainworethelace (2485)',buttheyadd 'as faras
is knownneitherthatorder[sc. the Garter]noranyother[italicsmine]
worea greencollaror band'. In thistheyarewrong:in 1364theGreen
Countcreated'vngordre... en lonnourde NostreDame',andhe ordered
that'le collierseroitfaitdora feuilliesde lorierentretenans lunea lautre,
esmalliezde vertesmail,& en la rompuredessoubzauroitvngpendanta
iij neuxde las entrelasses,conrespondant lunga lautre,& au mylieudu las
auroitsonmotquilportoit, questoitFERT'.4 'Au bas de ce collierpendoit
unepetiteimage... vneeffigie de nostreDame,& dunAngequi la salue,
dont se nommoitl'ordrede l'Annonciade.'sAnd 'vng chescungdes
chivalliersdeussentdire chescungiour xv avemaryez'.4Now Gawain
showsa specialcultof the Virgin,and the pentanglerefersto herjoys
(646-7). Amongthefirst fifteen
knights corresponding to thefifteen joys
ofOur Lady,mention shouldbe madeoftwonames:'MessireGuillaume
1
Heintze-Cascorbi, Die deutschenFamiliennamen(Berlin, I933).
2 E. Schwarz, DeutscheNamenforschung (G6ttingen, 1949), i. 125.
3 A. Bach, DeutscheNamenkunde,vol. i, Die deutschenPersonennamen(2nd edn., 1942),
? 246/6.
4 Servion, p. 114. It is interesting
to note that Gawain worefe lace witha knot(2487).
Knots were a most importantand characteristicfeatureof the Collar. They were known
everywhereas the Savoy knots,'les noeuds de Savoye'. They are still seen on theceilings
of Swiss churcheswhich formerlybelonged to the Savoy house.
s Paradin,
p. 239.
de Granscon ... & messire Richard Musard, vn vailliant chiuaillier
d'Engleterre, bon & hardy,futle xve.' Of the Gransonfamilyenoughhas
been said above. The Musard familylefttracesof theirname in Miserden
earlier MusardereCastle' connectedwith the West Midlands, especially
Gloucester. Sir Maurice Powicke mentionsa 'Ralf Musard, sheriffand
castellanof Gloucestershire,who had servedas one ofthe itinerant justices
in 12i8-i9' and whose name was associated with that of 'the powerful
Walter de Lacy, sheriff and castellanof Hereford',both describedas 'two
English barons of unimpeachablerespectability'.In a footnotehe adds:
'He tookhis name fromMiserden(in Gloucestershire).'zMoreover,in the
Victoria HistoryoftheCounty ofLancashire (viii.75, n. 5) mention
is made
of a Bridge Musard in the Forest of Quernmore(Lonsdale Hundred).
Hulbertwas the firstto allude to the Order of the Collar withreference
to Sir Gawain. But he 'did notclaimanythingexceptthatit is a possibility.
If one must referGGK to some particularorder,the Order of the Collar
meetsthe conditionsbetterthan the Garterdoes, but thatis all' (p. 718).
And he neverassociatedthe 'Grene Kny3t' and the 'Green Count' except
in the slip mentionedabove. It mightbe furtherarguedthatthe Collar of
Savoy was not worn as a baldric. But that it was worn as such in Sir
Gawain is probablya deliberateway of associatingit withthe hunts,3that
is as a reminderofthe temptations, and of Gawain's vow. Indeed we are
told that in France, on hearing of the shamefuldeath of Blanche de
Bourbon, the wife of Don Pedro and sister-in-lawof the Green Count,
500 'gentilshommes'vowed to revengeit. Accordinglytheyput on a green
baldric 'conform'mentaux statutsde chevalerie'.4Greenis indeeda litur-
gical colour symbolizingmiseryof heartand spirit. Moreover,'it was the
especial colour of knightserrant'(see Cornish,Chivalry(London, 90oI),
p. 103, n. 2).
But ifwe have good reasonsto associatethe Green Count and the Green
Knight,we shall wiselystop at this point. We shall not suggestthat his
wife,Bonne de Bourbon,and her faithfulknight,Master Othe, may have
served as models forthe Lady of the Castle and Gawain. For we should
leave the world of actualityforthe realm of sheer hypothesis.Yet there
See Dugdale, The Baronage of England (1675-6), i. 512-13; and Ekwall, Concise
OxfordDictionaryof EnglishPlace-Names.
2 King Henry III and theLord Edward (Oxford, 1947), i. 58.
Cf. Chaucer's descriptionin the GeneralPrologueof the Yeoman, who was
clad in cote and hood of grene
An horn he bar, the bawdric was of grene

A forsterwas he, soothely,as I gesse.
SA. Mazas, Vie des grands capitainesfranpaisau Moyen Age (Paris, 3rd edn., 1845),
p. 164.
is no denyingthatboth were greathistoricalfiguresof theirtime: Bonne
de Bourbon,that 'veryremarkablewoman', the 'Great Countess' as she
was called, was appointedboth by the Green and the Red Counts as their
heiress and regentof their estates beforethey died, showingthat they
trustedher completely. As to Master Othe, he was considered'de son
temps et, plus tard encore,jusqu'au milieudu xv sidcle,commele module
des amoureux. On le donnaiten exempleauxjeunes ecuyersqui debutaient
dans la double carrieredes armes et de l'amour. On le mettaitsur le
meme rangque les chevaliersde la Table Ronde ... Lancelot et Tristan.'"
This would tally with the view recentlyexpressedthat Sir Gawain was
writtenforyoungsquires as a model to imitate. A merehintat thesetwo
would certainlyenhance 'thathumanity,whichwas the greatestvirtueof
the medieval romancer'.2But I entirelyagree with Dr. Savage when he
states(in contradistinction to what he had said previously)that 'the exis-
tence of prototypesin actual lifemighthave promptedand suggested,but
did not dictatethe course of his [the Gawain-poet's]story'.
I have, I think,answeredMr. Highfield'squestion. There was a green
knightin factas well as in legendin the fourteenth century,a knightsuch
as to attractand to appeal to the imaginationof an Englishpoet, a knight
whose name, personality,and splendid hospitalitywere knownto West-
Midland men. And his name was Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy, better
knownas II Conte Verde,the Green Count.
Piaget, p. 7. Cf. also Le Livre desfaicts du Mareschal de Boucicaut,ed. Michaud and
Poujoulat in Nouvelle collectiondes memoires pour servi,4 l'histoirede France (Paris, 1836),
ii. 22o: 'Si comme on lit de Lancelot, de Tristan, et de plusieurs autres, que amour feit
bons, et a renommbeattaindre. Et mesmementde nostre vivant y a eu assez de nobles
hommes de France ... si comme on dict de messire Othe de Gransson, du bon connes-
table de Sancerre ... lesquels le serviced'amour a faictdevenirvaillanset bien morigenez.'
Cf. also the many referencesto 'Li bon Othe de Grancon' in Christinede Pisan's poems,
who was, in her own words, 'vaillant, courtois,gentil,preux, bel et gracieux', qualities
which could be attributedto Gawain.
2
Tolkien and Gordon, p. xi.

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'The Green Count' and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

An horn he bar, the bawdric was of grene

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