Middle English Word of the Moment

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Poll results: Which knight would you rather have over for dinner?

Gawain: 4 (23%)
Yvain: 4 (23%)
Erec: 0 (0%)
Gareth: 1 (5%)
Falstaff: 2 (11%)
Piers Gavaston: 4 (23%)
I wouldn't trust any of them near my family/pets/furniture: 5 (29%)

Total votes: 17.

And the winner is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the preference not to have a galumping great mediaeval[1] knight invading the house. I'm surprised Yvain got so many, actually - I know I wouldn't want to play host to his lion for the night. Apart from anything else, my beagle wouldn't stop baying at him, and lions are smelly things[2].

Gawain, Erec, Gareth and Yvain would at least have good manners, though Erec might be less than forthcoming without Enide about. Perhaps that's why no one voted for him! Falstaff would probably be fun, but rather overwhelmingly so. Piers... would perhaps be the most interesting, if only to pick his brains on certain historical matters that no one can ever clear up satisfactorily from the surviving evidence, but he'd probably make up insulting nicknames for everyone then get very annoyed when Falstaff slopped wine all over his nice purple velvet and/or had his minions lift Piers' purse.

I also find it mildly amusing that 23 + 23 + 23 + 29 + 11 + 5 = 100. I suppose it's the same logic that has 4 + 4 + 4 + 5 + 2 + 1 = 17. I suspect there may have been some people voting twice, confusing the poll.

If you voted, I heartily invite you to comment and say why! Do you entertain a secret passion for the knight of your choice? Do you long to punch him in the nose and correct some fundamental errors in his attitude towards women/morality/commoners/money/household pets, or pick his brains? Or was he simply the best of a bad bunch?

Next poll up: which deadly sin is most interesting in a romance protagonist?

[1] Or Elizabethan creation of the late mediaeval, in the case of Falstaff, but if he loses points on the "mediaeval" scale he definitely qualifies for "great", in several senses of the word.

[2] Not smelly enough, however, for Yvain to shun sleeping curled up with him in the wilderness. What with that habit and his preference for riding off jousting with Gawain rather than snuggling up in the marriage bed, I think Erec could teach the lad a thing or two about the merits of uxoriousness.

2 comments:

Jules Frusher said...

I voted for Piers - mainly because I want to see if he really was as gorgeous as we all imagine him to be! Yep, how shallow is that?!

I look forward to the next poll.

Hannah Kilpatrick said...

A perfectly valid reason! All in the interests of historical inquiry, of course.