Faerie Queene

ALLEGORY: The Faerie Queene, written by Edmund Spenser in the late 1500s, is an allegorical tale created to teach its readers how to live up to the six virtues Spenser explores in each book. The first half was published in 1590 and a second installment in 1596. On a literal level, the poem follows several knights in an examination of several virtues, though it is primarily an allegorical work, and can be read on several levels of allegory, including as praise of Queen Elizabeth I. Critics have long recognized The Faerie Queene as an allegorical tale, including within its many subplots a variety of political, social, psychological, and religious allegories.

Allegory is a form of extended metaphor in which objects and persons within a narrative are equated with meanings that lie outside the narrative. According to J.D. Cuddon the term allegory is “any writing in verse or prose that has a double meaning”. In true Spenserian style, with everything having double meanings, both uses of the term allegory are applicable to his writing. Allegory implies two levels of meaning – the literal and the symbolic. It evokes a dual interest: in the events, characters and setting presented; and in the ideas they represent or the significance they bear. Allegory may involve the personification of abstract qualities (e.g. Pride, Beauty, Death); it can also represent a historical personage (e.g. Gloriana = Queen Elizabeth), a category of individual (e.g. Everyman = all mankind), or another sort of abstraction (Una = the True Church).

In a letter to Sir Walter Ralegh, appended to the first, 1590, edition of The Faerie Queene, Spenser describes his exuberant, multifaceted poem as an allegory—an extended metaphor or “dark conceit”—and invites us to interpret the characters and adventures in the several books in terms of the particular virtues and vices they enact or come to embody. In the letter he states that the entire epic poem is “cloudily enwrapped in Allegorical devises,” and that the aim of publishing The Faerie Queene was to “fashion a gentleman or noble person in vertuous and gentle discipline”. However, Spenser’s allegory is not as simple as the letter to Ralegh might suggest. It has several levels of allegory: religious, historical, political, mythological.

The more important purpose of the Faerie Queene is its allegory, the meaning behind its characters and events. The story’s setting, a fanciful “faerie land,” only emphasizes how its allegory is meant for a land very close to home: Spenser’s England. The title character, the Faerie Queene herself, is meant to represent Queen Elizabeth. She is introduced in Canto I and Red Cross Knight is introduced as the recipient of a mission from Gloriana that would end with him slaying a “dragon horrible and stearne”. The Dedication of The Faerie Queene establishes the connection between Elizabeth I and Gloriana.

THE MOST HIGH, MIGHTIE, AND MAGNIFICENT
EMPERESSE …
ELIZABETH
BY THE GRACE OF GOD …
Defender of the Faith etc.
HER MOST HUMBLE SERVAUNT
EDMVND SPENSER
DOTH IN ALL HUMILITIE
DEDICATE, PRESENT, AND CONSECRATE THESE HIS LABOVRS
TO LIVE WITH THE ETERNITIE OF HER FAME. (Dedication, The Faerie Queene)

And if the Faerie Queene herself is consigned to the margins of the poem that bears her name, she nonetheless is the symbolic embodiment of a shared national destiny, a destiny that reaches beyond mere political success to participate in the ultimate, millennial triumph of good over evil.

As a political allegory, Redcrosse represents the individual Christian, on the search for Holiness, who is armed with faith in Christ, the shield with the bloody cross. Red Cross, as an individual, is the Protestant Everyman, but as Saint George, historically England’s patron saint, he also represents the collective people of England. Prince Arthur is a character that also gives courtesy and respect to Lord Leicester. In Una we see a person of a fair lady of the court. In Archimago symbolizes the odious King Philip II of Spain, and Duessa represents Mary Queen of Scots. The dragon represents sin, the Spanish Armada, and the Beast of the Apocalypse, and when Red Cross defeats the dragon he is in effect restoring his beloved England.

“Una” is also a name applied in this period to Queen Elizabeth, the one supreme governor of the Church of England. Elizabeth lived under constant threat of military attack or assassination by the great Catholic princes on the Continent, who wanted to reverse the Protestant Reformation in England and to return the nation to the Catholic fold. In the political allegory of the poem Duessa represents Mary, Queen of Scots, who had legal claims to the English crown and who vied with Elizabeth for the allegiance of the English people.

The different characters stand for various religious events and dignitaries of age. The reformation was the most important religious movement of the time and in this epic Spenser has represented it allegorically. Book I is generally interpreted as a religious allegory concerning the split between the Catholic Church and the Church of England during the era of the English Reformation. The adventures of the Red Cross Knight are an allegory for the struggle of the individual between the forces of sin and holiness, as well as the struggles of England to assert itself as a Protestant nation against the threat of Catholic countries. In the course of Book I, The Red Cross Knight moves from the House of Pride, a den of sin, to the House of Holiness, where his Christian virtues are revitalized. The religious allegory of Book I may additionally be seen in the designation of Una’s parents as the King and Queen of Eden (Adam and Eve), whose home is under the thrall of a dragon, representing Satan. Critics have further interpreted Una as representative of the Church of England and the Red Cross Knight as the nation of England. Thus, their union at the end of Book I is an allegory for the union of the Anglican Church with the English monarchy and citizenry.

The plot of Book I mostly concerns the attempts of evildoers to separate Red Cross from Una to decrease his strength. Most of these villains are meant by Spenser to represent one thing in common: the Roman Catholic Church. The poet felt that, in the English Reformation, the people had defeated “false religion” (Catholicism) and embraced “true religion” (Protestantism/Anglicanism).So Red Cross must defeat villains who mimic the falsehood of the Roman Church. In the course of his mission he and Una come upon various manifestations of evil. The first encounter is with monster Error. The monster Error allegorically stands for all sorts of mistakes which every individual makes in the course of his life. The fight of the Red Cross Knight with the monster Error symbolises the conflict between Protestantism and Catholicism. When Redcrosse chokes the beast, Spenser writes, “Her vomit full of bookes and papers was (I.i.20).” These papers represent Roman Catholic propaganda that was put out in Spenser’s time, against Queen Elizabeth and Anglicanism.

The Red Cross Knight may able to defeat these obvious and disgusting errors, but until he is united to the truth he is totally lost and can be easily deceived. This deceit is arranged by Archimago, whose name means “arch-image”–the Protestants accused the Catholics of idolatry because of their extensive use of images. Archimago represents the cunningness and hypocrisy craftiness and lip service of Papacy. The sorcerer is able, through deception and lust, to separate Redcrosse from Una–that is, to separate Holiness from Truth. When Truth and Holiness are separated, Hypocrisy gets the chance to mislead Holiness. The separation of Truth from Holiness symbolises the danger of the English Church against the hypocrisy and plots of the Roman Catholicism.

Once separated, Holiness is susceptible to the opposite of truth or falsehood. Red Cross, separated from Una, falls prey to the tricks of Falsehood herself –Duessa. Duessa also represents the Roman Church, both because she is “false faith”, and of her rich, purple and gold clothing, which, for Spenser, displays the greedy wealth and arrogant pomp of Rome. Historically Duessa stands for Queen Mary who was a Roman Catholic by faith. Red Cross becomes a veritable puppet in the hands of Duessa. In the similar manner Truth also becomes weak and in order to protect her virtue she gets aid and succor from Lion which stands for Courage.  Thus at the end Spenser represents the triumph of Holiness and Truth. They may be separated by various evildoers but ultimately they are united again to bring about the redemption and moral salvation of human race.

There is no matter of doubt that Spencer’s poem, The Faerie Queene, is replete with allegorical significance. Edmund Spenser stands among the greatest writers of the Elizabethan period whose valuable contributions fashioned a new tradition in English literature. Nowadays he is hailed to be one of the chief initiators of the Renaissance movement in English literature. Spenser’s rich and vigorous imagery and careful treatment of metrical structure left a profound influence on the succeeding poets and ensured his place as one of the seminal literary artists in the flamboyant field of English literature.

A number of objections have been raised against Spenser’s use of allegory. The device is essentially a technique of vision, but Spenser’s use of it, instead of imparting clarity, confuses the story and perplexes the readers. All is confused and obscure, nothing is clear and comprehensible. Too many digressions, add further to the confusion of the readers. They may impart variety to the epic but they make the action loose rambling and discursive, and the story incoherent and meaningless. So the didactic purpose of the book is not achieved.

According to Albert Charles Hamilton, “These episodes dramatize Spener’s bitter critique of the Roman Catholic church and his hope that in England at least it has been defeated”. Roberts is right in saying “Spenser’s allegorical poem demands the active engagement of its reader to produce allegory”. Each close reading provides the reader with a different allegory, and it is through these multiple interpretations that Spenser manages to reveal part of his overall political, religious, and moral messages.

ALLUTION:  Edmund Spenser (1552/1553 – 1599) was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. The first three books of The Faerie Queene were published in 1590, and a second set of three books were published in 1596. DURING the sixteenth century the study of classical literature, which opened a new field to imagination, and gave it a new impulse, was eagerly and vigorously pursued. A classic ardour was widely and extensively diffused. The compositions of that age incessantly imitate and allude to the beauties and incidents of the writings of ancient Greece and Rome.

In a letter addressed to Sir Walter Ralegh, Spenser sets out to explain the “general intention and meaning” of his richly elaborated epic. It is “an historicall fiction,” written to glorify Queen Elizabeth and “to fashion a gentleman or noble person in vertuous and gentle discipline.” Elsewhere in his letter, he alludes to this point directly, “I have followed the all the antique poets historical: first Homer … then Virgil … after him Ariosto … and lately Tasso … By ensample of which excellent poets, I labour to portrait in Arthur … the image of a brave knight … the which is the purpose of these first twelve books.”

Spenser explicitly cites two classical and two vernacular models for his work:  the Greek epic poet Homer, author of the The Odyssey; the Roman epic poet Virgil, author of the Aeneid; and the Italian poets Ariosto and Tasso, authors of the “romantic epic” works Orlando Furioso and Gerusalemme liberata, respectively.  Like the Italian “romantic epics,” Spenser’s Faerie Queene contains both epic and romance elements. But it is clear that he is primarily interested in establishing himself not as the English Ariosto but as the “new Virgil“.

Spenser’s idea that each protagonist of The Faerie Queene should represent and idealize a different private, Christian virtue, has its genesis within the work of Virgil. Aeneas, the hero displaced from Troy and predestined ancestor of the Roman people, was deliberately portrayed to represent the Stoic ideal, as admired by Virgil and any Romans as the Protestant ideal was dear to Spenser and his fellow Englishmen. Part of Virgil’s purpose was to inspire men to follow Aeneas’ example of a man who perseveres and endures despite insurmountable obstacles. Virgil accomplishes this by telling a focused tale of heroic actions, while Spenser give a fragmented narrative full of breaks in the action and digressions. For Spenser, it is not the narrative that inspires men to emulate great deeds, but extensive allegory, relying heavily on subtext to power his meaning.

A first example of how Spenser achieves these ambitious poetic goals is found in the four opening stanzas of the poem. Spenser’s reworking of the classical epic element of the Invocation of the Muse in stanzas 1 and 2, in which he explicitly compares himself to Virgil: both turned from youthful works in the pastoral mode to the higher form of the epic. Spenser thus likens his poetic enterprise in writing the FQ to that of Virgil in writing the greatest of all Latin epics, the Aeneid. Note also the twelve-part structure of the FQ (cf. 623, 625): there were to have been twelve books, each containing twelve cantos; Spenser’s model is again Virgil’s Aeneid, which is also made up of twelve books.

The same desire to associate his poetic enterprise with that of Virgil is found in the implicit reference to Virgil in line 9, “Fierce warres and faithfull loves shall moralize my song.” This line is an adaptation of Virgil’s famous statement of his own epic subject matter in the opening line of the Aeneid: “I sing of warfare and a man at war…” (trans. Robert Fitzgerald). On the literal level, FQ is obviously the tale of RCK’s heroic completion of a dangerous quest: he must defeat an evil dragon, thereby liberating both Una’s parents and their kingdom. This quest is reminiscent of the exploits of epic figures such as Beowulf, Odysseus/Ulysses or Aeneas. A Romance element is however introduced into the epic formula by the fact that RCK has undertaken the quest at the request of a lady, Una, who is also his love interest.

There are numerous other epic elements in the FQ: one of the most notable is the descent into Hell described in C. 5, st. 31-44. Since Virgil’s Aeneid, a trip to the underworld has been considered an obligatory episode in an epic work; any epic poet worth his salt has to include one, because it is expected, and because it lets him claim his work is as good as Virgil’s. Again, Spenser may have been inspired by the great 14th-century Italian poet Dante, who devoted an entire book of his Christian epic poem, the Divine Comedy, to a first-person account of his journey through Hell. In the Inferno, Dante the poet must travel through Hell on his way to Christian truth because he has gotten lost in a wilderness reminiscent of the “wandring woods” where RCK goes astray in FQ c. 1. There is also a shorter visit to the underworld in c. 1, where Archimago sends messengers to Morpheus to obtain the false dreams he will use to deceive RCK (1.36-47). Spenser may have borrowed his terminology from Dante as well: “canto” is the Italian word for song, and is used to describe the divisions of Dante’s poem.

Spenser includes a LOVE ELEMENT not present in classical epic; instead, it is borrowed from one of Spenser’s other literary models, medieval Arthurian romance (cf. the reference to “Knights and Ladies gentle deeds” in line 5), and from the Italian “romantic epics” of Tasso and Ariosto; these romantic epics similarly grafted “love stuff” onto the classical, war- and male-oriented epic model found in Virgil, the Greek epic poet Homer, or Beowulf. This new influx of the “love” element into a previously male- and war-oriented form is also suggested by Spenser’s reference to Cupid in stanza 3, as well as by the invocation of both Venus, the classical Goddess of Love, and Mars, the classical God of War, in the same stanza: they will assist the nine Muses in helping Spenser present the “warres” and “faithfull loves” alluded to in line 9.

The poem celebrates, memorializes, and critiques the Tudor dynasty, much as Virgil‘s Aeneid celebrates Augustus Caesar’s Rome. The Aeneid states that Augustus descended from the noble sons of Troy; similarly, The Faerie Queene suggests that the Tudor lineage can be connected to King Arthur. The poem is deeply allegorical and allusive; many prominent Elizabethans could have found themselves partially represented by one or more of Spenser’s figures. Elizabeth herself is the most prominent example. She appears in the guise of Gloriana, the Faerie Queen.

THe circumstance of the Red-cross knight and Una meeting with Archimago disguised like a hermit, who tells them a feign’d tale, and after that raises two spirits with an intent to deceive the Red∣cross Knight, seems to be copied from Ariosto, who introduces Angelica meeting with an hypocritical hermit who raises a false spirit with a design to deceive Sacrapant and Renaldo, and to exasperate them against Orlando, &c. But Spenser has greatly improv’d the hint.

Many characters of Spenser’s Feire queene is based on classical stories. An aged Sire, the false enchanter, Archimago, or Hypocrisy, who is supposed to represent Pope Sixtus V or King Philip II of Spain generally stands for false religion or the Church of Rome. The character and adventure are taken from Orlando Furioso, ii, 12, in which there is a hypocritical hermit. The description of the monster Error, or Falsehood, is based on Hesiod’s Echidna, Theog. 301, and the locusts in Revelation, ix, 7-10. She is half human, half serpent, because error is partly true and partly false. Dante’s Fraud and Milton’s Sin are similar monsters. Error lives in shady, dark forest, which is (in these stories, anyway) almost always the site of shady, dark activities. Error’s cave resembles Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.

The illusion effected by Archimago, who discovers a fictitious Una to the Red-cross Knight in the embraces of a young ‘squire, seems to be imitated from the deceptions carried on in the enchanted castle of Atlanta, where many of the guests are impos’d upon by false representations of the persons of their friends or mistresses; and more particularly from that passage where Orlando, after having been cheated with the appearance of a fictitious Angelica, is made to hear her cry out for his assistance, as if some villain was ravishing her.

By “A shadie grove”, the wood of Error, Spenser shadows forth the danger surrounding the mind that escapes from the bondage of Roman authority and thinks for itself. The description of the wood is an imitation of Ariosto’sOrlando Furioso, i, 37, Chaucer’s Assembly of Foules, 176, and Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered, iii, 75. Morley sees in this grove an allegory of man’s life, the trees symbolizing trade, pleasure, youth, etc.

Imitation was an important aspect of Spenser’s poetic theory, but in his attempt to prove he was superior to his poetic ancestors. The Faerie Queene does much more than copy its originals, Spenser takes his borrowed matter and makes it his own, weaving each thread of allusion into a much larger framework, where it cannot be isolated or understood without reference to its context within the poem, and within the literary world of the late 16^th century. By combining so many elements and styles, he creates something that cannot be described as purely Virgilian, Homeric, or Ovidian, but uniquely Spenserian, a plural voice intertwined with his own ambitions and experiences.

BIBLICAL ALLUSION: It is impossible to quantify the collective impact that the Holy Bible has had on literature since its creation thousands of years ago. Throughout all six of The Faerie Queene’s books and the two Cantos of Mutabilitie, the Bible appears to be the foremost of those sources. Northrop Frye calls the first book of The Faerie Queene “the closest following of the Biblical quest-Romance theme in English Literature”. While the New Testament seems to have influenced the overarching themes  and allegories  present in Spenser’s  The  Faerie Queene , specific  allusions   are most frequently drawn from the Old Testament .

Book I The first virtue Spenser tackles is holiness, exhibited through the adventures of the Redcrosse Knight against Archimago, an evil sorcerer.  Multiple incidents   in   this first book can be traced to the first book of the Bible, Genesis. The first part of the Legend of Holiness parallels events in the Bible which preceded Christ’s birth suggesting that on another level, the history of the knight’s quest is also the entire history of mankind from the Fall in the Garden of Eden to the restoration of Man in the heavenly Jerusalem. As the poem later reveals, Una’s parents, the king and queen are the king and queen of Eden and like Adam and Eve, they have been expelled from their kingdom. “Red-crosse” is symbolically associated with Jesus Christ in Christianity so Red Cross knight resembles Jesus who helps to restore the fall of mankind. Spenser adjusts the biblical pattern to incorporate a political dimension to the meaning wherein the Kingdom of Eden represents an ideal state of England which existed in the past but which has been oppressed and wasted by its European Catholic enemies and awaits restoration by Una, a figure who functions as a type of Queen Elizabeth.

The initial enemy that Redcrosse encounters is a dragon hybrid named Error, much like the  original   antagonist   in Genesis — that is, a  serpent with legs. This dragon is meant to evoke both “the serpent, was suttiller then euery beast of the fielde” (Gen 3:1) and Eve, who convinced Adam to eat the forbidden fruit, for Spenser describes it as, “Halfe like a serpent horribly displaide, / But th’ other halfe did womans shape retaine” (I.i.14.7–8). Spenser brilliantly ties together a direct reference to the two characters in Genesis who were responsible for the fall of man with an image from classical mythology. Like Satan, Errour is a composite of the two tempters of .Adam– the serpent and Eve. Errour’s “huge long taile in knots and many boughtes upwound,/ Pointed with mortall sting”(1.1.15) associates her with the labyrinth of the wandering wood itself and with the wandering Adam and Eve after their exile from the garden. The “mortall sting” suggests a second consequence of the Fall, death (“For as in Adam all die,,18). Also like the wood, Errour is an enemy of light and therefore an enemy of God, “For light she hated as the deadly bale” (1.1.16). Moreover, Errour’s scattered brood which suck up “their dying mother’s blood” (1.1.25) is an emblem of the self-defeating nature of sin. But finally God and Redcrosse both triumph over their serpentine adversaries, and end up removing a part of the foes’ bodies—Redcrosse “raft her hatefull head” (I.i.24.8) while God removes the snake’s legs, saying: “vpon thy belly shalt thou go” (Gen 3:14).

In addition to detailing the fall of man, Genesis has a number of narratives that involve mistaken identities—Spenser borrows this idea to introduce the primary antagonist of The Faerie Queene, Archimago. As Redcrosse is wandering through the woods, he comes upon a man who seems to be a “godly father” (I.i.33.9) and decides to spend the night with him. In later cantos, Duessa is introduced as the virtuous Una’s malicious doppelganger, and Archimago disguises himself as Redcrosse (I.ii.11.1–2, 9). There are numerous examples in Genesis when characters put on the guise of another person to achieve desired ends. A few instances include when Jacob tricks his blind father into thinking he is Esau (Gen 28:6–40), Tamar posing as the temple prostitute (Gen 38:14–15), and Joseph’s pretending not to know his brothers when he is a vizier of Egypt (Gen 42:7–8).

Spenser’s Christian knight is accompanied by a lady whose appearance also recalls a number of biblical associations. She is riding “upon a lowly Asse” which suggests the humility of Christ. Her whiteness is that of Truth and Faith and the “milke white lambe” (1.1.4) connects her with the innocence of the sacrificial lamb of John 1: 29. 5. In Revelation, “a great multitude… stoode before the throne, and before the lambe, clothed with long whyte garmentes” (7:9)—this lamb represents Jesus. Una, the purest character in the poem, carries with her “a milke white lambe… So pure and innocent” (I.i.4.9– 5.1), suggesting that Christ is with her.

The Faerie Queene is a poem so obviously influenced by the Bible and Biblical ties, however, run deeper than just the “holiness” theme of Book One and the arrant holiness of the Bible. Spenser takes many narratives from Genesis, modifies them, and creates a world for Redcrosse. Often Spenser borrows the framework and not the actual events of a narrative, instead changing details of the stories for the effect of juxtaposition, or simply to fit The Faerie Queene’s plot. Spenser draws on Genesis narratives such as the fall of man. Equally important is the New Testament, in which the knights’ quests embody concepts from the epistles and Revelation. The actions of both Redcrosse parallel those of Jesus.

MYTHS: In the first stanza of the poem Spenser begs for help from “holy virgin chiefe of nine” which refers to Clio, the muse of history though Spenser should have invoked Calliope, the muse of poetry. In many other stanza’s of book 1’s canto 1 and 2 Spenser refers to many other greek mythological characters, such as- “impe of highest jove” refers to Cupid, the god of love, and son of Jupiter and Venus. “triumphant mart” refers to Mars, the god of war. “Phoebus lampe” refers to Apollo, the sun-god. “blacke Plutoes griesly Dame” refers to Proserpine, the queen of darkness; Great Gorgon, Demogorgon, whose name might not be uttered, a magician who had power over the spirits of the lower world. The poet is here imitating the Latin poets Lucan and Statius. According to greek mythology “Cocytus”, the river of wailing, and “Styx”, the river of hate both exists in Hades. In classical mythology Tethys, goddess of the ocean, is the daughter of Uranus (heaven) and Gaea (earth), and the wife of Oceanus and Cynthia is the goddess of moon. “Fayre Venus” refers to the daughter of Jupiter, or Zeus, and the sea-nymph Dione. She is the same as Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. “the Graces” refers to Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia, daughters of Zeus and Aphrodite. “freshest Flora”, the goddess of flowers, typified spring. “faire Hesperus” is the evening star; “the rosy-fingred Morning” refers to Aurora, the goddess of the dawn, is borrowed from Homer, Hesiod, and other ancient poets. “aged Tithones, son of Laomedon, King of Troy. Aurora conferred upon him immortality without youth, hence the epithet “aged.” “Titan” is the sun-god in the Roman myths.  “Proteus” is a sea-god who was endowed with the power of prophecy. He could change himself into any shape in order to avoid having to prophesy. (Homer, Odyssey, iv, 366 seq., and Vergil, Georgics, iv, 387).

A situation in Book I is brought about by the use of a device common in classical mythology, the use of a false dream. One such instance is found in the Iliad. Zeus sent a baneful dream to Agamemnon in order to bid him call to arms the Achaians with all speed to take the city of the Trojans. Zeus’ purpose was to bring grief upon both the Trojans and Danaans through stubborn fights. Working after this manner, Spenser has a false dream sent to the Red Crosse Knight. The purpose ofthe dream is the separation of the Red Crosse Knight and Una in order to lure the Red Crosse Knight into certain dangerous adventures into which he can easily be led as he lacks the wisdom Una supplies him in dangerous situations.

This dream is achieved through the magic of Archimago who by the means of his black art creates two sprites, one, whom he sends as his messenger to the Underworld where he is in league with evil mythological characters. He selects Morpheus, the Greek god of sleep to prepare the bad dream. This dream, portraying Una as the most infamous of women, is to horrify the Red Crosse Knight so that he will desert her. To make the dream real, Archimago uses the second sprite to impersonate Una. The illusion created thus is successful and the separation of the Red Crosse Knight and Una’s achieved. In the portrayal of the Greek God Morpheus, Spenser to show his drowsiness has the sprite threaten him with the “dreaded name of Hecate” goddess of the Underworld, sometimes identified with Proserpina and sometimes with Diana. Archimago sent the spirits to “A fit false dream, that can delude the sleeper’s sent.” (I. I. 43.)

Dedication: The dedicatory page of the 1590 edition of Spenser’s Faerie Queene, reading: “To the most mightie and magnificent Empresse Elizabeth, by the grace of god, Queene of England, France and Ireland Defender of the Faith &c.” The poem is dedicated to Elizabeth I who is represented in the poem as the Faerie Queene Gloriana. Poetic structure: The Faerie Queene was written in Spenserian stanza, which was created specifically for The Faerie Queene. In this style, there are nine iambic lines – the first eight of them five footed and the ninth a hexameter – which form “interlocking quatrains and a final couplet”. The rhyme pattern is ABABBCBCC. Over two thousand stanzas were written for the 1590Faerie Queene.

What is Chivalry?

Chivalry is the generic term for the knightly system of the Middle Ages and for virtues and qualities it inspired in its followers. The word evolved from terms such as chevalier (French), caballero (Spanish), and cavaliere (Italian), all meaning a warrior who fought on horseback. The term came to mean so much more during medieval times. The definition of Chivalry can be described as a term often related to medieval institution of knighthood referring to the codes of conduct, including courtly love, adhered to by Medieval knights with gallant knightly values including honor, bravery, courteousness and honesty. Chivalry was the honor code of the knight. An important part of chivalry was to show respect and gallantry towards women. The Code of Chivalry was an important part of the society and lives of people who lived during the Medieval times and era. The Code of Chivalry was admired and understood by all.

A knight was expected to have not only the strength and skills to face combat in the violent era of the Middle Ages but was also expected to temper this aggressive side of a knight with a chivalrous side to his nature. There was not an authentic Code of Chivalry as such – it was a moral system which went beyond rules of combat and introduced the concept of Chivalrous conduct – qualities idealized by knighthood, such as bravery, courtesy, honor, and gallantry toward women.

Chivalry toward Women – The Knight in Shining Armor

Chivalry was the honor code of the knight and great importance was placed on courtesy towards women leading to the concept of a ‘Knight in Shining armor. In modern times the terms chivalry and chivalrous are used to describe courteous behavior, especially that of men towards women.

The Code of Chivalry and Courtly Love

The Code of Chivalry was combined with the romance of Courtly Love which was practised during the Medieval times and era. There were strict rules of courtly love and the art of Courtly Love was practised by the members of the royal courts across Europe during Medieval times. Surprisingly the romance, rules and art of Medieval Courtly Love together with the code of chivalry allowed knights and ladies to show their admiration for each other regardless of their marital state. It was a perfectly acceptable and common occurrence for a married lady to give a token to a knight of her choice to be worn during a Medieval tournament. Courtly love was acceptable as long as the rules relating to chastity and fidelity were strictly adhered to.

There were rules which governed Medieval Courtly Love but sometimes the parties, who started their relationship with such elements of Medieval Courtly Love,   would become deeply involved. A famous example of a relationship which was stirred by romantic Medieval Courtly Love and romance is described in the Legend of King Arthur, and the Knights of the Round Table, where his Queen, Guinevere fell in love with Sir Lancelot. Many illicit court romances were fuelled by the practise and art of Medieval Courtly Love.

The Romantic Legend of King Arthur

The romantic legend of King Arthur was fuelled by the Troubadours, jongleurs and Minstrels of the Medieval era. The stories of the valiant King Arthur, great knights, Camelot, chivalrous deeds, great battles and fair ladies were spread from court to court all over Europe by the troubadours. The image of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table took on the the clothes and fashion of the Medieval era. Jousting in tournaments were also incorporated. Fiction was again turning into fact. And we now have an answer as to why we associate King Arthur with the Medieval Kings.