Gender in the World of William Marshal and Bertran de Born

Abstract

In his book on William Marshal, who died in 1219 as regent of England, Georges Duby wrote that his principal source, the Anglo-Norman poem that narrates William's life, is precious to the historian because we know little about the secular, knightly mentality in which William Marshal lived. 1 Analyzing that mentality with his customary brilliance, Duby proposed that William and men like him lived by an ethic comprising four values: loyalty, prowess, generosity, and courtesy. 2 However, the first three of these values prove more interesting to Duby than the fourth, courtesy, or skill in pleasing other people in a social setting, which he passes over summarily. The apparent reason why Duby dismisses courtesy from his own narrative is his lack of interest in the role of women in his story.

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