Gentil(l)esse an Intro

What is gentillesse?

 The MED describes it as:

1. (a) Nobility of birth or rank;  

2. (a) Nobility of character or manners; generosity, kindness, gentleness, graciousness, etc.; also, good breeding;

    (b) a noble or gracious action; don ~, to behave nobly, be kind. 

3. People of rank, aristocracy, gentry. 

The OED adds 

1. a. The quality of being gentle; courtesy, politeness, good breeding; an instance of courtesy. Frequent in Chaucer, esp. in phrases of gentilesse, for gentilesse, through (one's) gentilesse . 

 2. Slenderness; elegance.

 And Chaucer, according to Jill Mann's version, also uses gentillesse to mean mark of nobility, largeness of soul, virtue, elegance, and distinction (Mann 1167).

 I feel I need to master this concept because Chaucer uses it throughout The Canterbury Tales with all its various shades of meaning.

 Gentillesse is very connected to the ideas of chivalry. It seems to me that gentillesse is the embodiment of chivalric ideals.

Compare the following list of chivalric ideals:

o   Knights Code of Chivalry described by the Duke of Burgandy:
The chivalric virtues of the Knights Code of Chivalry were described in the 14th Century by the Duke of Burgandy. The words he chose to use to describe the virtues that should be exhibited in the Knights Code of Chivalry were as follows:

§  Faith

§  Charity

§  Justice

§  Sagacity

§  Prudence

§  Temperance

§  Resolution

§  Truth

§  Liberality

§  Diligence

§  Hope

§  Valour

To me there seems to be a fair amount of overlap. So when, in The Canterbury Tales, narrator Chaucer says of the knight that “He was a verray farfit gentil knight” (CT, GP, 72), he is talking about both the knight’s gentillesse and his chivalry.

WORKS CITED:

Chaucer, Geoffrey, and Jill Mann. The Canterbury Tales. London: Penguin, 2005. Print.

“gentilese". Middle English Dictionary." Middle English Dictionary. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Sept. 2013. <http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/med/>.

"gentilesse, n.". OED Online. June 2013. Oxford University Press. 5 September 2013 <http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/77649?rskey=I3rIgh&result=6&isAdvanced=false>.

 "Kneeling knight and chivalric code."

<http://www.aledebasseville.com/2012/08/chivalry-or-chivalric-code-by-ale-de.html>

"Knights Code of Chivalry." Knights Code of Chivalry. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Sept. 2013. <http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/knights-code-of-chivalry.htm>.