The arming of Sir Gawain in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- Michael Smith
- 5 days ago
- 11 min read
One of the features of the narrative in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the poet’s depiction of Gawain’s armour when preparing for his journey. Not only is the description highly accurate, it also enables us to evoke his intended appearance for a modern audience unfamiliar with different periods in medieval history.
The arming of Sir Gawain - body armour
In the poem, we are given a detailed description of Sir Gawain’s armour as he is prepared for this journey across the land of Logres in search of the Green Chapel. Standing upon a carpet decorated with flowers,
Ϸe stif mon steppez þeron and þe stel hondelez,
Dubbed in a dublet of dere tars,
And syþen a crafty capados, closed aloft,
Ϸat wyth a bryʒt blaunner was bounden withinne.
Ϸen set þay þe sabatounz vpon þe segge fotez,
His legez lapped in stel with lyflych grevez,
With polaynez piched þerto, policed ful clene,
Aboute his knez knaged wyth knotez of golde;
Queme quyssewes þen, þat comlych closed
His thik þrawen þyʒes, with þwonges to tachched;
And syþen þe braden bryne of bryʒt stel ryngez
Vmbeweued þat wyz vpon his boþe armes,
With gode cowters and gay and glouez of plate,
And all þe godlych gere þat hym gayn schulde
Ϸat tyde;
Wyth ryche cote-armoure,
His gold sporez spend with pryde,
Gurde wyth a bront ful sure
With silk sayn vmbe his syde. [ll. 570-589]
(The strong man steps upon [the carpet] and handles the steel. He was clothed in a doublet of exquisite Tharsian cloth and then a well-worked hood was fitted, closing at the top, and which was bound within with bright ermine fur. Then they fitted the sabatons to the knight’s feet, his legs were enclosed in the beautiful steel of his greaves, with poleyns attached them, polished brightly, then his cuisses gracefully enclosed his thick, muscled thighs by means of thongs attached to them; next came the mail shirt, seemingly woven in bright steel rings, which enveloped that man, above wonderful wadding; then well-burnished braces were fitted to both arms, with stout and fine couters and gloves of plate, and all the finest gear that would benefit him for his journey. Bedecked with his coat of arms, his gold spurs clasped with pride, he was girt with a stout sword to his side by means of a silk girdle to fasten it.)
The description of Gawain’s arming resembles a ritualistic process and is a literary form going back to the Aeneid. Its use in both Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and in the Alliterative Morte Arthure, is highly detailed and also useful in helping to date both poems.
Prior to being armed, Gawain is enrobed in a doublet and a hood to protect his body from any irritation from the armour itself; his hood has extra comfort provided by means of an ermine lining. Ermine is a noble fur, befitting the status of Gawain as the nephew of King Arthur.
Gawain’s legs are then enclosed in lower leg armour (greaves) and upper leg armour (cuisses). The knees are protected by the poleyns, a joint armour open to the back to enable maximum flexibility.
The use of mail to cover the body helps us to understand the date of Gawain’s armour more closely. He wears a mail shirt rather than a back or breast plate; this points to the aesthetics of the fourteenth century rather than the fifteenth century when steel plate enclosed the whole body. It is not clear whether the shirt also covers the arms.
Next, his arms are clothed in “braces” – the vambrace for the lower arm and the rerebrace for the upper arm. The couters, in the way of poleyns on the knee, enable flexibility at the elbow.
Finally, he is clothed in a jupon, a tight-fitting jacket bearing his coat of arms; spurs are fitted to his feet and then his sword is offered up and attached seemingly with a silk girdle (possibly a leather belt decorated with silk).
The arming of Sir Gawain - his warhorse, Gringolet
After being presented to the court, Gawain’s horse, Gringolet, is brought to him. Again, we have an exquisitely detailed description of how the horse is prepared for the journey ahead:
“Bi þat watz Grynglolet grayth and gurde with a sadel
Ϸat glemed ful gayly with mony golde frenges,
Ayquere naylet ful new, for þat note ryched,
Ϸe brydel barred aboute, with bryʒt golde bounden.
The apparayl of þe payttrure and of þe proude skyrtez,
Ϸe cropore, and þe couertor, accorded wyth þe arsounez.
And al watz, rayled on red, ryche golde naylez,
Ϸat al glytered and glent at glem of þe sunne…” [ll. 597-604]
(With this, Gringolet was brought forward and fitted with a saddle which gleamed brightly with its gold fringes, which were attached for the occasion everywhere on behalf of that nobleman, and the bridle was striped and fastened with gold. The ornamentation of the breast harness, and the lower saddle decoration, the crupper and the caparison, matched that of the saddle bows, on which golden studs glittered on a background of red and which glittered and gleamed in the light of the sun).
The description is broader than that given for Gawain’s armour and trying to unpick the description is a little more difficult.
What seems clear is that the bulk of the decoration comprises two fundamental colours – red and gold. These colours help to prepare the reader for the description of Gawain’s shield (see below) which, as we know, is shown as a yellow pentangle on a field of red.
The saddle is clearly seen as the proudest part of the apparel, fringed seemingly in gold; this is matched with the bridle which is also fastened with gold.
But how does the poet describe the horse’s other accoutrements? When the poet uses the terms ‘payttrure’, he may mean a peytral, or metal breast armour – a possibility seemingly enhanced by the notion of the ‘proude skyrtez’.
The cropure – the crupper – is also a form of horse armour, comprising plates worm over the horse’s hind quarters. The ‘couertor’ hints at a cover and is glossed by Malcolm Andrew and Ronald Waldron in their edition as a caparison, the cloth cover seemingly typical of medieval knights in which the rider’s coat of arms is displayed.
However, it is possible to read these features as a much lighter form of horse-wear and more suited to travel over long distances. The payttrure, the skyrtez, cropore and couertor instead become harness fastenings and decorations.
In this reading, the payttrure is the breast harness, the skyrtez the saddle fringes, the cropure and couertor rear harnesses and straps. This is how I interpreted Gringolet’s decoration in my prints of Sir Gawain and in the illustrations to my translation. The convention is also followed by the artist of the original manuscript (see image later in this post).
Such light trappings match those seen in the Livre de Chasse of Gaston Phébus, as well as many other depictions medieval riders (such as the pilgrims depicted in the Ellesmere Manuscript of the Canterbury Tales) when mobility and lightness of travel are essential.
The arming of Sir Gawain - helmet
After the description of Gringolet, the poet returns to Gawain by describing his helmet. The helmet seems to be the last symbolic addition to Gawain’s outfitting prior to his being handed his shield. The poet writes,
Ϸenne hentes he þe helme and hastily hit kisses,
Ϸat watz stapled stiffly and stoffed wythinne.
Hit watz hyʒe on his hede, hasped bihynde,
Wyth a lyʒtly vrysoun ouer þe auentayle,
Embrawden and bounden wyth þe best gemmez
Of brode sylkyn borde, and bryddez on semez,
As papjayez paynted peruying bitwene,
Tortors and trulofez entailed so þyk
As mony burde þeraboute had ben seuen wynter
In toune.
Ϸe cercle watz more o prys
Ϸat vmbeclypped hys crown,
Of diamauntez a deuys
Ϸat boþe were bryʒt and broun… [ll. 605-618]
(Then he raises his helmet and kisses it quickly. This contained stuffing stapled strongly within it. It sat high on his head, and attached at the back was a lambrequin, flowing over the aventail, which was embroidered and bordered with the finest of gems on a broad silken hem. Stitched on seams were birds such as parrots and turtledoves amongst periwinkles and true love blooms; these were executed in so much detail that it looked like many women in towns thereabouts had been working on them for over seven years. The circlet, encircling the crown, was even richer, with perfect diamonds that were polished such that they glittered brightly.)
This description is fascinating. While the helmet might be imagined as a great helm, it seems more likely to have been an open-faced bascinet. This is suggested by the use of the words ‘crown’ and ‘aventail’ (the chain mail apron coming down from the helmet to cover the shoulders.
The poet’s use of the word ‘vrysoun’ is glossed by Andrew and Waldron as a band of silk. It may instead be interpreted as a lambrequin or mantling, a decorated cloth seen on the back of helmets in some manuscripts; this may well be attached to the circlet.
The circlet, a twisted cloth, sometimes decorated as here, also appears in the Alliterative Morte Arthure when Arthur prepares to fight the Giant of Mont Saint Michel [ll. 900-919].
The description of the circlet is not an exaggeration. On the fourteenth century tomb of Sir Hugh Calveley at Bunbury in Cheshire, his effigy shows him wearing an open-faced bascinet with a richly bejeweled circlet.
Although it is possible to read the poet’s description as depicting a full battle helm, it is notable that he does not suggest a crest of any kind and nor is there a description of the coif necessary to protect the head when wearing he great helm.
Given Gawain’s journey, and the need for comfort, it seems more likely that he is wearing an open-faced bascinet.
This seems to be supported by the illuminations to the text, which show Gawain wearing an open-faced helmet on two occasions (London, British Library MS Cotton Nero A.x, fol. 129v and fol. 130).
The arming of Sir Gawain - his shield
Finally, we come to Gawain’s shield, the description of which is very unusual in its depiction of the pentangle with its five points and religious focus as a shield against vice and the horrors of the world.
Then pay schewed hym pe Schelde, pat was of schyr goulez
Wyth pe pentangel depaynt of pure golde hwez;
He braydez hit by pe bauderyk, about pe hals kestes… [ll. 619-621]
(Then they presented him with his shield, which was bright red and adorned with a pentangle of pure gold; he takes it by its strap which he puts [over his head and] round his neck)
This is the only occurrence in literature which Gawain’s arms are shown as the pentangle. In other romances his arms are more typical; for example, he sports golden griffons on a field of green in the early fifteenth century Awntyrs off Arthur [ll.508-9] or a single golden griffon on a red field in the Alliterative Morte Arthure [ll. 3869; 3945]).
The poet goes to some depth in describing the symbolism of the shield’s five points, a detail I shall leave for a further post. Nonetheless, the shield – and the ritualistic donning of armour – represents Gawain’s defence not against earthly enemies but against supernatural ones.
The depiction of Mary’s image on the inner face of the shield [ll. 649-50] is no mere detail. The poet’s skill at this point is to remind us of purity in the face of evil; Mary is Gawain’s guardian throughout the narrative and is whom we are meant to consider when Gawain is later faced by the lady in the castle and by the Green Knight at the Chapel.
Visualising Sir Gawain in his armour
The poet’s description of the arming of Sir Gawain shows both exquisite detail and huge poetic craft. It is this which gives the artist an opportunity to represent the knight as the poet envisaged him – a hero from a distant time nonetheless depicted in the clothes of the fourteenth century.
The illustrations to London, British Library MS Cotton Nero A.x (the Gawain- or Pearl- manuscript) represent a contemporary response to the narrative. Although it is clear on numerous accounts that they do not suggest a close reading of the text, they nonetheless evoke the era and aesthetics of the time, suggesting that the readership could imagine the action taking place in their own time.
So, although for example the illuminator curiously excludes Gawain’s pentangle on his red jupon, he is still shown in armour typical of the period. A fourteenth century reader could envisage the hero, feel for him, and imagine they were him.
In my own response to the text, both in my illustrations to my translation and in my separate linocut studies of Sir Gawain, I have been keen to show his appearance as the poet may have wished.
In so doing, I have followed the text closely. My Gawain is not a stylised medieval knight in bright shiny armour and nor is he some form of superhero. Instead, I have tried to create him as gentle, reflective, soulful and doing his duty.
I have also tried to show him in the quirky and slightly disjointed style of medieval illuminations to create an extra sense of the poem in its time and place.
But however we imagine Sir Gawain in his armour, it is his soul and purpose which will forever shine out. The Gawain of the poem is knight of great depth and presence.
Order your copy of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
My translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was published in 2018. My publisher is Wilton Square Books.
As well as a complete translation of the romance, the book also includes: an historical introduction; details on the translation and its illustration; comprehensive notes; and a detailed bibliography should you wish to undertake further research into this magnificent romance.
Please help support independent publishers by ordering through me, my publisher or through the independent book trade using one of the channels below. With Bookshop.org you can nominate your local bookseller to receive a percentage of the sales price - helping them survive in a world dominated by online retailers.
About the author, Michael Smith
I am a British translator and illustrator of medieval literature. I am also an established printmaker, with work in private collections worldwide.
My books, including translations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Alliterative Morte Arthure, and William of Palerne, are published by Wilton Square Books and are available through all the usual outlets. All my books feature my own linocut prints as their illustrations.
To find out more about me, please click here
For more details of my books and how to purchase signed copies, click here.
Comments