The Continuity of the Conquest by Wendy Marie Hoofnagle

Author:Wendy Marie Hoofnagle
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780271074016
Publisher: The Pennsylvania State University Press

Addicted to the Chase: Expressions of Royal Power in Marie de France’s Forests

The perception of the forest as a space for the demonstration of courtly kingship would experience a significant change as the twelfth century progressed, as writers responded to political tensions that surrounded the disquiet induced by the shifting limits of the forests and the enforcement of forest laws. The conflicts over the forest would only increase over time, which served to highlight the forest and its administration and contributed to its even greater association with kingly power. Because the forest bureaucracy was so dependent on the authority of the king, the increasing breakdown of political order during Stephen’s kingship was reflected in its general deterioration, which was more extensive than that of other institutions such as the Exchequer.88 When Henry II assumed the throne in 1154, he moved quickly to assert his authority and reestablish the strong forest administration that had existed in his grandfather’s time. Indeed, during the course of his reign, he afforested more territory than Henry I had acquired by the time of his death at the end of 1135.89 He took a special interest in the forests as a juridical space, “sitting upon the eyre bench in person with his chief justices, [implementing] the forest law with a heavy hand against his barons, rebellious and loyal alike.”90 As a result, his strenuous investigations into the forest during the restoration period of the early years of his reign only heightened the association of the king’s authority with the forest.

The forest would come to new prominence in the romance literature of the period, indicating a perceptive awareness of the political and symbolic implications of this rejuvenated royal institution.91 As demonstrated by the ritualized spectacle of the hunt itself, the forest developed in romance literature as a contiguous space to the royal court, which writers would employ to explore the tensions of Carolingian-style kingship. The renewed obsession with the forest from the mid-twelfth century stemmed not only from Henry II’s investigations of forest disputes, but also from his passionate interest in the forest for his own financial and personal purposes. Like his grandfather and great-grandfather before him, the new king was an avid hunter, which was seen as a shortcoming by some ecclesiastics who considered hunting a barbaric sport unbecoming a philosopher king of the civilized Anglo-Norman world.92 Gerald of Wales claimed, “He was addicted to the chase beyond measure.”93 William of Newburgh was even less complimentary and damned both Henrys in one stroke: “He delighted in the pleasure of hunting, as much as his grandfather did, and more than was right.”94 These factors, combined with the upwelling of romance literature in the second half of the twelfth century, resulted in a fresh burst of literary interpretation of the forest that established its potential as a space for the negotiation of royal power, often in ways that do not reflect well on Angevin kingship.

Much as the castle served as a symbolic space evocative of imperial authority elsewhere

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