Spenser's Knights: Ministers of His Church?

Abstract

Spenser's Knights: Ministers of His Church? Sarah Plant The English Ordinal (1550) pictured the clergy as ministers (teaching, preaching and maintaining social order) rather than sacrificing priests. This change from the medieval Church's view of the priesthood finds expression in Spenser's portrayal of the ideals of ministry through his knights. Throughout The Faerie Queene various knights perform the tasks ofthe Church for the help and salvation of other characters and for the edification of the poet's readers. In addition, the knights, in coming to embody their titular virtues, represent the ideals necessary for the formation of a Christian Commonwealth. Spenser makes a connection between the ideals of knighthood and the pastoral life, pastoral in the sense of caring for a congregation and pastoral in terms of the literary genre. Both knights and ministers were defined as guides and protectors of those within their care, and both often fulfilled the role of intermediary. Although Protestantism had no place for intermediaries in theory, promoting a direct relationship with God and emphasising the priestly role of each believer, the political, social, and economic forces in sixteenth-century England required an institutionalised Church and ministry, distinct from the secular authorities and defined by its education and duties. The Reformers played 1 Lacey Baldwin Smith, Tudor Prelates and Politics 1536-1558 (Princeton: Princ University Press, 1953), p. 267. 5g Sarah Plant down the idea of a priestly caste and stressed the pastoral as well as the p and sacramental role of the clergy, but the distinction between the clergy and laity allowed for the continuation of imagery of the minister as intermediary. In Book VI of The Faerie Queene Spenser explicitly demonstrates the connection between the pastor and his pastoral role; this book is not only written in the pastoral genre but contains Calidore, a knight who actually metamorphoses into a shepherd-like character, and a hermit w h o was previously a knight 3 (VI.vi.4). Calidore's pastoral function begins when he imposes a penance upon the defeated Sir Crudor, saying: Yet since ye mercie now doe need to crave, I will it graunt, your hopelesse life to save; With these conditions, which I will propound: First, that ye better shall your selfe behave Unto all errant knights, whereso on ground; Next that ye Ladies ayde in every stead and stound. (VI.i.42) He prefaces this penance with two Scriptural quotes (James 2:13, Romans 13:7) admonishing Sir Crudor with the warning that no mercy will be shown to those that show no mercy themselves, and that each person is due the regard they demonstrate to others. These Scriptural allusions amplify the impact of the mercy he then gives. Calidore's pastoral role incorporates a demonstration of the gift of God's grace, as interpreted through his earthly minister, and a display of the 4 duty of the clergy to lead others towards amendment of life. Of particular interest is the introduction of Calidore (VI.i.2) in which the poet stresses Calidore's conversational abilities in conjunction with his martial prowess, drawing attention to the parallel roles of knighthood and clergy within The Faerie Queene: 2 Rosemary O'Day, 'The Anatomy of a Profession: The Clergy of the Church of England', in The Professions in Early Modern England, ed. Wilfrid Prest (London- Croom Helm, 1987), pp. 33-35. 3 All references to The Faerie Queene are from Spenser: Poetical Works edited by J. C. Smith and E. De Selincourt (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1912). This edition incorporates the text of The Faerie Queene edited by J. C. Smith and published by Oxford University Press in 1909. Hereafter cited as Poetical Works. 4 In this episode Calidore also reforms Briana, Sir Crudor's companion (VI i 45) Spenser's Knights: Ministers of His Church? 59 But mongst them all was none more courteous Knight, Then Calidore, beloved over all, In w h o m it seemes, that gentlenesse of spright And manners mylde were planted naturall; To which he adding comley guize withall, And gracious speach, did steale mens hearts away. Nathlesse thereto he was full stout and tall, And well approv'd in battilous affray...