Honi soit qui mal y pense: Adultery and Anxieties about Paternity in Late Medieval England

Abstract

In May 1390, there were several notable passages of arms between English and Scottish knights in London.1 They arose from challenges exchanged by knights during military action on the border in 1389. The duel between Lord Welles and Sir David Lindsay was well calculated to generate interest. In naming the place and the day, Welles proposed London Bridge, and Lindsay, enticed by the prospect of a victory in the English capital on an English red-letter day, proposed St. George’s Day. The tournaments took some planning and were eagerly anticipated. As he approached the first anniversary of the beginning of his personal rule, Richard II was keen to present himself as a patron of chivalry.2 According to Andrew of Wyntoun, a Scots chronicler, Richard and Queen Anne watched the duel on London Bridge from a “summer palace,” presumably a temporary pavilion. During the contest Lindsay was able to appeal successfully to Richard’s adjudication and, when he had Welles to the ground at his mercy, he chivalrously offered his adversary up to the service of the queen.3 Another Scots chronicler, Walter Bower, focused his attention not on the duel itself but the celebrations afterwards. The centerpiece of his account is a humorous exchange between an English and Scots knight. Though the story has doubtless been honed in the retelling, there is little reason to doubt that it derived from the Scots who returned triumphant in 1390.4 It still rates as a good joke.