#middle english gawain

[talesfromtheenchantedforest]

Knight Emotions (TM)

Gawain: I am NOT sad that my horse died I would NEVER cry over a dead horse

Gawain: *weeps*

"Grissel," said Gawain, "is gone, God knows! He was the hardiest horse that ever took food. By him that in Bethlehem was orn ever to save us, I shall avenge you today, if I can right ride." [Galeron, the knight Gawain is fighting, says] "Go fetch me my Frisian, fairest afoot; he may serve you in combat just as well." "No more for the fair foal then I'll take. Except for the sadness over the dumb beast that died so. [Line likely missing]. I mourn for no mount, for I may get more." As he stood by his steed, that was so good at need, Gawain nearly went mad, he wept so sorrowfully.

— The Awntyrs off Arthur, edited by Thomas Hahn, my rough translation from the middle English

[illustratus]

The Green Knight by Julek Heller

[thefourofdiamondsart]

All green bedight that knight, and green his garments fair 🌿

prints of this piece are available here!

this illustration is a result of all the love the Arthuriana tumblrinas left on my other Sir Gawain illustration as well as my Bisclavret illustration! thanks for all the lovely tags everyone 💚

[gailyinthedark]

Did not realize the Green Knight's moniker was meant so literally. I figured his armour was green, but apparently so is everything else including and specifically his eyebrows:

[taliesin-the-bored]

Happy Halloween to Guinevere's mother's terrifying prophetic ghost

The Adventures of Arthur at the Tarn Wadling (Jessie Weston translation)

[suede-moon]

Just the spelling of "eyelids" in Sir Gawain And The Green Knight 😭 (cute)

[how-do-i-do-words]

i did it again

couldn't decide which version fits better so i just made both

[queer-ragnelle]

separate the weak from the strong—send your friends the middle english poem the wedding of sir gawain and dame ragnelle. results may vary.

[billpottsismygf]

First seminar of my new course (dealing with Medieval literature, among other things) and the lecturer brought up BBC Merlin. Had a sudden wave of love and nostalgia for the show.

Maybe with me actually studying some Arthuriana, now is the time for me to finish (or more likely restart) my abandoned 2021 rewatch.

[appledotcodotuk]

it's actually slightly scary how badly reading middle english messes with my spelling. makes me worried somethings gonna leak into my emails 😭 visions swarm me of saying 'if ye culdst be so kinde, and so seemly as to yeven me the PDF' or something 😭

[talesfromtheenchantedforest]

area necromancer doesn't want you to know this One Weird Trick: asking women what they want

— The Marriage of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle, basically

[glorious-catastrophe]

furiously searching jstor for any articles that have been written about vigils in old english literature

[gailyinthedark]

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol | me and bleoberys in the snow last winter | etymonline.com | collinsdictionary.com | Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet | etymonline.com | Gawain and the Green Knight | Elinor Wylie, Velvet Shoes | Apocalypsis 1:14 | Dylan Thomas, A Child's Christmas In Wales

[pog-mo-bhlog]

The Gawain poet really did think "what if a knight was bisexual" and dropped the best piece of medieval literature in the English language

We know next to nothing about this guy but he gave us one of the most important queer texts of the middle ages.

[butterflies-and-bumble-bees]

(tagged by @heavensmortuary )

Pick 4 characters from 4 pieces of media and let your followers pick which one matches your vibe. (Looks like it's Oops, All Games edition here, lol):

tagging @indianampasta, @hard-times-paramore, @butterflies-and-bumble-bees, @ato-takahashi

No pressure to reply, anyone is welcome to participate!

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Hi again, i am in need of you help. How do you write a loyal knight character? A true devotee of their charge, but not so much it turns dog-like.

Writing Notes: Loyal Knight Characters

Hi, you can consider using some character tropes as a guide. Found a few examples for you:

"Knight in Shining Armor" Trope: The medieval knight who fights baddies, whether villains, knights, or dragons, and in The Tourney, charms ladies without deliberately seducing them, behaves honorably, and saves the day with his sword; but also, any hero who behaves similarly.

The "shining" originally referred to the way his armor and weapons were kept in good condition, as opposed to the rust that accumulated for less competent knights. Most knights will be depicted wearing plate armor, despite it appearing relatively late in the era of knights. Them using a Knightly Sword and Shield is also pretty likely, though the usage of plate armor with Knightly Sword and Shield is actually historically inaccurate since shields were considered redundant while wearing plate armor.

"Lady and Knight" Trope: The brave, chivalrous knight defends and falls in love with the fair lady.

"The Paladin" Trope: Paladins are warriors dedicated to furthering the cause of all that is good. Holy crusaders, they combat the forces of evil wherever they are found, and defend the helpless as much as possible. Above all else, paladins are good.

"Knight in Shining" Tropes

This is the set of tropes that cluster around Knight Templar: the forces of light in hardcore mode, excessively or otherwise.

This mentality is all the way over on the Idealistic side of the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism.

The Trope Codifiers are the Chivalric Romances of the medieval Matters of Britain (Arthurian Legend) and of France (Charlemagne) — especially the innumberable fantasy novels and verse epics of the 15th through 17th centuries which were based on, set in, or vaguely inspired by the older Carolingian myths.

The Arthurian myths have a less militantly idealistic style than the Carolingian ones; the Arthurian work most completely of this style is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

This pattern is rarer outside of Europe (and before the Middle Ages) than within it.

The closest analogue to European chivalry was bushido, the code of the Japanese samurai, but the Japanese code emphasized loyalty to one's lord, even to the point of doing evil,

while the European one emphasized loyalty to one's conscience, even to the point of treachery.

Of course, that doesn't mean that non-European heroes can't act like this—and it doesn't mean that European heroes always do, either.

The Roman-derived tradition of "My Country, Right or Wrong" was always present in Europe.

Originally, the word knight was a job description with no connotation of high birth or status: it merely meant a warrior who was skilled and wealthy enough to fight on horseback, and owed their service to someone powerful.

The English word knight is derived from an Anglo-Saxon word for "servant", while most other European languages use a word meaning "horseman" (e.g. German Ritternote or French chevalier).

The word began to take on new meaning in response to social changes at the dawn of The High Middle Ages: the flourishing of merchants and cities gave them new wealth and power to compete with the nobility, while the increasingly independent Catholic Church became more assertive in trying to curb the misbehavior of the warrior class.

In order to maintain their distinction from the class of people who worked, and to reconcile the violent nature of war with the ideals of courtesy and piety, the nobility and gentry absorbed the military role of knighthood while turning it into a more exclusive and regulated order.

A noble child would usually start as a page in order to learn discipline and manners, spend their teenage years as an arming squire taking care of a master's horse and equipment, and when they had grown into a fine warrior, they would be recognized as having earned their spurs. Not everyone became a knight through such careful grooming, though.

Commoners could be rewarded with knighthood for exceptional service, and rulers facing a shortfall of heavy cavalry would sometimes make laws requiring anyone who possessed a certain amount of property to present themselves to be knighted whether they liked it or not.

Sources: 1 2 3 4 ⚜ More: Writing Notes & References

Hope this helps with your writing! More research might be needed for literary/historical accuracy.