Medieval Monday: The Peace-Weavers

As I said in last week's Medieval Monday post, I wrote my final research paper in Grad Studies in Medieval Lit on the role of women, focusing on how medieval literature portrays women as either peace-weavers or mischief-makers. This week, I focus on the peace-weavers.

The term peace-weaver itself suggests action. The term is a kenning, a literary trope common to medieval literature. A kenning “consists of two words, usually hyphenated, to describe something instead of using the customary noun” (“How is a Kenning Used”). The choice of words attaches specific connotations to the referent (the noun the kenning is replacing). For example, the kenning peace-weaver suggests a delicate threading through the use of the term “weaver” expressing the skill needed to keep the peace. It also suggests a woman by the use of the term “weaver” as this was typically a female role. Similarly, mischief-maker is a kenning; although unlike peace-weaver, it is not gendered.

According to Andrew Welsh in his article “Branwen, Beowulf, and the Tragic Peaceweaver Tale”, the peace-weaver’s role carries two purposes: “to create by her marriage peaceful bonds between two previously or potentially hostile kin-groups, or tribes, and after her marriage to encourage and support peaceful and harmonious relations among the members of the kin-group…that she has joined” (7). The first purpose is admittedly passive; the woman is merely moved from father to husband with little or no action or approval on her part. The second purpose, however, requires a great deal of effort. Keeping the peace, especially in a warrior society, is no small feat.

In Welsh’s first purpose, a woman joins two tribes together through marriage when she becomes “the invisible solder which wields man to man” (Kliman 33). It seems ironic that the marriage between man and woman has as its ultimate purpose the binding of two men rather than the couple getting married. This role is clearly seen in Beowulf through Hildeburh, Wealhtheow, and Freawaru and other smaller female roles. Hildeburh’s story is related in the Finnsburgh Episode of Beowulf. The daughter of a Danish King, Hildeburh “was married to Finn, king of Friesland, presumably to help end a feud between their peoples” (Greenblatt 63). Wealhtheow, King Hrothgar’s wife, is referred to as the “frithu-sibb folcu” translated as “the peaceful tie between nations” (Kliman 33), clearly indicating her role as peace-weaver. Hrothgar plans on marrying his daughter to Ingeld in the “hopes [she] will heal old wounds and grievous feuds” (2027-2028). All three women are used as a visible, emotional link between tribes, a symbol to each man in her life – father and husband – that their two peoples are connected and should live peacefully.

While marriage is certainly one way a woman could create a bond between two nations, other methods also exist. One way a woman could foster peace between tribes other than marriage was through the giving of gifts. Wealhtheow gives Beowulf gifts of her own outside of those provided by her husband Hrothgar (1215) showing she has an active role – or at least can take an active role – in maintaining close relationships with foreign nations. Wealhtheow gives Beowulf a necklace and simultaneously entreats him to “treat [her] sons / with tender care” (1226-1227) combining her role as a mother and a peace-weaver as she appeals to Beowulf to maintain peace between their respective nations even through her children.

Another example of a woman maintaining the peace between two tribes is the Faerie Queen in Marie de France’s Lay of Lanval. Markedly different from the examples in Beowulf, the Faerie Queen operates outside the influence or control of a husband. She asserts her own authority and rescues her lover from King Arthur’s court after he is unjustly accused of grievously insulting Guinevere. While the threat of violence between the two nations is more focused in this instance – on one individual, Lanval – the mediator of peace between the two nations is still a queen, a woman. What is truly interesting in this particular case is the question of how the Faerie Queen’s role is modified by her being a faerie. Written differently, the Faerie Queen could easily fall into the mischief-maker category as she defies traditional gender roles in her relationship with Lanval. She is the instigator of their romance, she is the one who sets the terms of their relationship, and ultimately she is the knight-in-shining armor who rescues her lover from imprisonment and possibly death. Despite all of this, Marie de France sets up the Faerie Queen as a peace-weaver rather than a mischief-maker, and this distinction may be allowed due to the Faerie Queen not being a human woman.

Welsh’s second purpose of the peace-weaver states that women not only created and maintained peace between nations but were also the architects of peace within the household. Women kept the peace through calming their husbands and the other men in the house, reminding men of the necessity for civilized behavior, and creating bonds of friendship among the men in their care.

The most obvious method of calming one’s husband in medieval literature appears to be sex. A wife is “a balm in bed” (63) like Onela’s queen in Beowulf, a poem which also references the marital relations between kings and their wives as a way for the husbands to de-stress in trying times. Twice in Beowulf, the author references Hrothgar’s heading off to or coming from the bed he shares with Wealhtheow in what can clearly be construed as a veiled reference to the sexual relationship the two share.

Wealhtheow’s ability to calm her husband extends beyond the bedroom though as seen when she gently reminds her husband, King Hrothgar, to dole out presents wisely to Beowulf. Hrothgar, in his effort to reward Beowulf for killing Grendel, adopts Beowulf “as a dear son” (946) and promises Beowulf that “there’ll be nothing [he’ll] want for, / no worldly goods that won’t be yours” (948-949). In her fear that Beowulf may replace her sons as heir to Hrothgar’s throne and fortune, Wealhtheow skillfully manipulates her speech to subtly remind Hrothgar to remember his sons, suggesting that Hrothgar “be open-handed, happy and fond” (1171) with Beowulf and the Geats, but to “bequeath / kingdom and nation to your kith and kin” (1178-1179). As Kliman argues, “nothing could so poignantly illustrate the diplomacy which is born of impotence than [Wealhtheow’s] disjointed statements unconnected to any request or demand of her own” (Kliman 33). While she can’t directly command her husband to stop giving away all of the goods to Beowulf, she can make simple statements reminding him of his obligation to his offspring. To calm her exuberantly generous husband, Wealhtheow is subtle in her protestation.

A woman’s skills in fostering collaboration are mirrored in her ability to foster other admirable traits in the men around her. According to Scott Farrell, writer for Chivalry Today, a knight’s first stop after accomplishing a quest or feat was the Queen and her ladies. The knight would recount his tale for the women, and they would pass judgement on his actions: “it was the job of the Queen and her ladies to either praise the knight for adhering to the true spirit of chivalry, or rebuke him for succumbing to the temptations of vanity, pride or greed” (Farrell). They were the moral authority and their judgement could bring honor and wealth to the knight or dangerous quests and shame. Farrell contends that this role provided “a needed balance within the literature of chivalry,” a yin-yang dynamic.

Along with presiding over rituals and festivities, women (primarily wives) could help foster peace within the household through the distribution of gifts; similar to the way Wealhtheow creates a bond between the Danes and the Geats through gift-giving in Beowulf. While the lord of the house was the common giver of gifts, his queen could also pass out money and jewels. For example, Hygel distributes gifts to her own people (1929). Through her participation in this activity, a woman not only strengthened the bond between warrior/knight and household/lord, she also increased a warrior/knight’s fidelity to her specifically, in this way encouraging him to behave in a civilized manner.

The civilizing effect of women on men is often exemplified in medieval literature. Gerald Morgan defines a knight as “a warrior who has been civilized by the life of courts and above all by the company of ladies” (267). Simply by being present, the female characters influence male behavior, particularly at meals and social gatherings involving both sexes. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, for example, Guinevere, and to an extent Lady Bertilak and Morgan Le Fay, function as a calming presence as they remind men of the necessity for civilized behavior. This particular female duty can also be a more active effort. For example, Wealhtheow actually speaks in order to remind men of appropriate social behavior as when “her gentle words calm those whose spirits have been inflamed by the bitter flyting of Unferth and Beowulf” (Kliman 33). These women and their “gentle words” are only one representation of women in medieval literature; some women’s words are not so gentle.

For more on these not-so-gentle women, check on next week's Medieval Monday.