"Where bene oure swerdes become?": Honor, Violence, and Chivalric Representation in Fifteenth-Century England

• In Event: Honor and Violence in Renaissance Europe

Abstract

Sir Thomas Holme’s Book of Arms, British Library Harley MS 4205, is a fifteenth-century compendium of verses on the kings of England and two rolls of arms compiled by the Clarenceux Kings of Arms between 1448 and Sir Thomas’ death in 1493. The first “military” roll of arms, dated to c. 1448, portrays knights from Suffolk, Essex, Kent, and Yorkshire in full harness, charging each other with leveled lances or with swords drawn. Yet how many of these men are actually on record as having engaged in violence, either privately for honor, as part of a political faction for loyalty and preferment, or in the wars with France? Using Philippa Maddern’s work on violence in 15th-century East Anglian society and Christine Carpenter’s work on 15th-century society, this paper looks at the intersection of these individual knights’ careers with their portrayal in this manuscript.

Author

• Daniel Franke, Richard Bland College of William & Mary