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Chapter 3 - Women, God, and Other Crusading Motives in Guy of Warwick

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2024

Marcel Elias
Marcel Elias
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
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Summary

This chapter turns to anxieties about the motivations of crusaders, focusing on the romance of Guy of Warwick. In fourteenth-century Europe, an ideology of “chivalric crusading” that sought to harmoniously combine courtly love, worldly self-advancement, and service to God gained wide popularity, disseminated by works such as Guillaume de Machaut’s La Prise d’Alixandre and the Livre des fais of Marshal Boucicaut. But this ideology was not without its critics: writers including John Gower, Philippe de Mézières, and Henry of Grosmont seized upon the notion of crusading as love-service to articulate complex critiques of the worldly ambitions of crusaders. Guy of Warwick intervenes in this debate by exploring the practical and experiential implications of fighting for worldly love and pious motives.

Keywords

John GowerPhilippe de Mézièrescourtly lovefriendshippietyfameBaltic crusadessocial advancement
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Chapter
Information
English Literature and the Crusades
Anxieties of Holy War, 1291–1453
 , pp. 70 - 98
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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