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butterflies-dragons · 2 years

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Art credit: Maurice Greiffenhagen

In this second encounter, the Templar aimed at the centre of his antagonist's shield, and struck it so fair and forcibly, that his spear went to shivers, and the Disinherited Knight reeled in his saddle. On the other hand, that champion had, in the beginning of his career, directed the point of his lance towards Bois-Guilbert's shield, but, changing his aim almost in the moment of encounter, he addressed it to the helmet, a mark more difficult to hit, but which, if attained, rendered the shock more irresistible. Fair and true he hit the Norman on the visor, where his lance's point kept hold of the bars. Yet, even at this disadvantage, the Templar sustained his high reputation; and had not the girths of his saddle burst, he might not have been unhorsed. As it chanced, however, saddle, horse, and man, rolled on the ground under a cloud of dust.

IVANHOE: A Romance By Sir Walter Scott

Let’s talk about IVANHOE by Sir Walter Scott, the story that inspired GRRM to write about tourneys, jousting, heraldry, gallant knights and fair maidens.

I started writing this post two years ago, with a complete different idea in my mind about all the parallels between IVANHOE and ASOIAF, but I let it unfinished for some reasons.

I started reading IVANHOE again during mid December last year and I finished last week. And it took me one more week to finish writing this piece.

Now, this is just a compilation of parallels and similarities between Scott and Martin’s works, focused mostly on the things I enjoyed the most about them, but this is, in no way, as comprehensive as I originally planned.

This post contains spoilers.

Here we go!

FROM ASHBY TO ASHFORD, TO HARRENHAL, TO THE GATES OF THE MOON

GRRM has repeatedly stated how IVANHOE by Sir Walter Scott, has served as inspiration for the tourneys, jousting, melee, heraldry, etc, depicted in ASOIAF:

Firstly, thanks for that very thorough response on the tournaments and knighthood. Fascinating. In particular given the notes about _Ivanhoe_ and its influence -- I've only witnessed the A&E production of it, although maybe about time I read it. Seems it might be ripe for ideas.

IVANHOE is well worth a read, although the style is very old fashioned, of course. Still it has some fabulous characters and scenes, and so far as I know the definitive portrayal of a medieval tournament, both melee and joust.

It has been filmed three times that I know of. The recent A&E production had some good moments, as did the older Sam Neill version... the CLASSIC version, however, is still MGM's 50s version, starring Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, and George Sanders. The jousts are wonderful, Liz is radiant, and George Sanders steals the film as Bois-Gilbert. You should definitely rent that one and have a look.

—GRRM - 1999

Sir Walter Scott is hard going for many modern readers, I realize, but there's still great stuff to be found in IVANHOE and his other novels.

—GRRM - 2013

The novelist is midway through something of a European tour. After his trip to Switzerland, he is due in Scotland for the Edinburgh book festival. It has often been suggested that Ivanhoe (by the Scottish 19th-century novelist Walter Scott) was, alongside the War of the Roses, a major influence on A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones.

Martin was first turned on to Ivanhoe by the 1952 MGM movie starring Robert Taylor, George Sanders and a young Elizabeth Taylor. "I think it was Elizabeth Taylor at the peak of her...," his voice tails off before he clarifies. "She was the most beautiful woman in the world. I think I was nine years old when I saw that movie. How could you not fall in love with her? But the jousting and the pageantry of it made me love that story. Later, in high school, I did read that book. For a modern reader, it's a little tough to get through. The prose is very Victorian and thick but if you fight your way through it, the story is there. It has everything the movie has and more – the heraldry and jousting and the insight into the times. It was an influence in that sense."

—GRRM - Independent - 2014

[…] I knew I wanted to be in this book [Legends], so when he [Robert Silverberg] invited me to be in this book I gleefully accepted, and then I had to think, well, what am I gonna write for this book? I’m still in the middle of writing… I think I was still in the middle of writing Clash of Kings, I mean the only book out there was Game of Thrones. Well, am I gonna write a story about Tyrion or Arya or Jon Snow? No! I can’t do that. I have to save that for the book. I have to do this, I have to do a prequel. So I started thinking about my history and what would be a good area to write it, and I came up with the Dunk and Egg stuff. I was particularly attracted… that whole story [The Hedge Knight] is built around a tournament. I love medieval tournaments, reading about them, writing about them. There’s of course some of them in the main books, but this was an opportunity in a time of peace, not war, to look at a medieval tournament with all its pageantry and the jousting and the combat and reveal a little of Westerosi History.

—In conversation: George R.R. Martin with Dan Jones FULL EVENT- August 2019

And who is the ASOIAF character that incarnates GRRM’s huge love for tourneys, pageantry, heraldry and chivalry? The answer is, unquestionably, Sansa Stark.

I’ve already written about this subject in these posts:

GRRM has projected his romantic nature on Sansa Stark

GRRM has projected his love for knights and chivalry on Sansa Stark

GRRM has projected his love for medieval tourneys, heraldry, pageantry, knights and chivalry on Sansa Stark

And talking about Sansa Stark, the fair lady of ASOIAF, let me introduce to you the Lady Rowena of Hargottstandstede, the fair lady of IVANHOE:

THE LADY ROWENA

Art credit: Anatoly Itkin

Formed in the best proportions of her sex, Rowena was tall in stature, yet not so much so as to attract observation on account of superior height. Her complexion was exquisitely fair, but the noble cast of her head and features prevented the insipidity which sometimes attaches to fair beauties. Her clear blue eye, which sate enshrined beneath a graceful eyebrow of brown, sufficiently marked to give expression to the forehead, seemed capable to kindle as well as melt, to command as well as to beseech. If mildness were the more natural expression of such a combination of features, it was plain that, in the present instance, the exercise of habitual superiority, and the reception of general homage, had given to the Saxon lady a loftier character, which mingled with and qualified that bestowed by nature. Her profuse hair, of a colour betwixt brown and flaxen, was arranged in a fanciful and graceful manner in numerous ringlets, to form which art had probably aided nature. These locks were braided with gems, and being worn at full length, intimated the noble birth and free-born condition of the maiden.

—IVANHOE: A Romance

Rowena was a Saxon princess, a celebrated beauty, a very courteous lady, and the love interest of the hero of the story, Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe.

Wilfred and Rowena grew up together, as Rowena was the ward of Wilfred’s father, Cedric of Rotherwood, also known as Cedric the Saxon. They were also distantly related.... Cousins, maybe?

“Cedric is not her father,” replied the Prior, “and is but of remote relation: she is descended from higher blood than even he pretends to, and is but distantly connected with him by birth. Her guardian, however, he is, self-constituted as I believe; but his ward is as dear to him as if she were his own child.

(...)

“And be careful how you look on Rowena, whom he [Cedric the Saxon] cherishes with the most jealous care; an he take the least alarm in that quarter we are but lost men. It is said he banished his only son from his family for lifting his eyes in the way of affection towards this beauty, who may be worshipped, it seems, at a distance, but is not to be approached with other thoughts than such as we bring to the shrine of the Blessed Virgin.”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

Yes, IVANHOE is also the story of the forbidden [by Cedric] love between Wilfred and Rowena.

Cedric of Rotherwood dreamed with an England ruled by Saxon royalty, free of Norman invaders. So in order to fulfill his dream, he pushed for the marriage of his ward, the Lady Rowena, a descendant of Alfred the Great, with Athelstane of Coningsburgh, a descendant of the last Saxon kings that ruled England; even though the bride and groom did not love each other. Rowena’s true love was Wilfred, while Athelstane’s true love was food, and only food!

The restoration of the independence of his race was the idol of his heart, to which he [Cedric] had willingly sacrificed domestic happiness and the interests of his own son.

(...)

An obstacle occurred to this his favourite project in the mutual attachment of his ward and his son; and hence the original cause of the banishment of Wilfred from the house of his father.

This stern measure Cedric had adopted in hopes that, during Wilfred’s absence, Rowena might relinquish her preference; but in this hope he was disappointed—a disappointment which might be attributed in part to the mode in which his ward had been educated. Cedric, to whom the name of Alfred was as that of a deity, had treated the sole remaining scion of that great monarch with a degree of observance such as, perhaps, was in those days scarce paid to an acknowledged princess. Rowena’s will had been in almost all cases a law to his household; and Cedric himself, as if determined that her sovereignty should be fully acknowledged within that little circle at least, seemed to take a pride in acting as the first of her subjects. Thus trained in the exercise not only of free will but despotic authority, Rowena was, by her previous education, disposed both to resist and to resent any attempt to control her affections, or dispose of her hand contrary to her inclinations, and to assert her independence in a case in which even those females who have been trained up to obedience and subjection are not infrequently apt to dispute the authority of guardians and parents. The opinions which she felt strongly she avowed boldly; and Cedric, who could not free himself from his habitual deference to her opinions, felt totally at a loss how to enforce his authority of guardian.

It was in vain that he attempted to dazzle her with the prospect of a visionary throne. Rowena, who possessed strong sense, neither considered his plan as practicable nor as desirable, so far as she was concerned, could it have been achieved. Without attempting to conceal her avowed preference of Wilfred of Ivanhoe, she declared that, were that favoured knight out of question, she would rather take refuge in a convent than share a throne with Athelstane, whom, having always despised, she now began, on account of the trouble she received on his account, thoroughly to detest.

—IVANHOE: A Romance

Oh, how I love a woman with some amount of agency in the Middle Ages! Cedric you idiot! Imagine calling a woman “despotic”, when she was subjected to your will and foolish dream of Saxon restoration, when you betrothed her with someone she detested, but mostly, when she was willing to reject the throne of England rather than marry without love. And even if we consider her a “spoiled brat” (the most popular opinion among readers), Cedric himself admitted that he was the one to blame for it:

“Cedric, though surprised, and perhaps not altogether agreeably so, at his ward appearing in public on this occasion, hastened to meet her, and to conduct her, with respectful ceremony, to the elevated seat at his own right hand appropriated to the lady of the mansion.”

***

“Rowena’s will had been in almost all cases a law to his household and Cedric himself, as if determined that her sovereignty should be fully acknowledged within that little circle at least, seemed to take a pride in acting as the first of her subjects.”

Opposite to being “despotic,” Rowena seemed to inspire loyalty among her retinue, especially in her handmaid Elgitha, who was always ready to defend her Lady even against Cedric himself:

“Elgitha, let thy Lady Rowena know we shall not this night expect her in the hall, unless such be her especial pleasure.”

“But it will be her especial pleasure,” answered Elgitha, with great readiness, “for she is ever desirous to hear the latest news from Palestine.”

Cedric darted at the forward damsel a glance of hasty resentment; but Rowena and whatever belonged to her were privileged, and secure from his anger. He only replied, “Silence, maiden; thy tongue outruns thy discretion. Say my message to thy mistress, and let her do her pleasure. Here, at least, the descendant of Alfred still reigns a princess.”

(...)

If, leaving this task, which might be compared to spurring a tired jade, or to hammering upon cold iron, Cedric fell back to his ward Rowena, he received little more satisfaction from conferring with her. For, as his presence interrupted the discourse between the lady and her favourite attendant upon the gallantry and fate of Wilfred, Elgitha failed not to revenge both her mistress and herself by recurring to the overthrow of Athelstane in the lists, the most disagreeable subject which could greet the ears of Cedric.

—IVANHOE: A Romance

Rowena convinced Cedric to help Isaac and Rebecca (and a wounded Wilfred hidden in a litter as a sick friend of Isaac and his daughter), when they were left alone and unsafe in the road:

“The man is old and feeble,” she said to her guardian, “the maiden young and beautiful, their friend sick and in peril of his life; Jews though they be, we cannot as Christians leave them in this extremity. Let them unload two of the sumpter mules and put the baggage behind two of the serfs. The mules may transport the litter, and we have led horses for the old man and his daughter.”

Cedric readily assented to what she proposed, and Athelstane only added the condition, “That they should travel in the rear of the whole party, “where Wamba,” he said, “might attend them with his shield of boar’s brawn.”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

Rowena was also generous and grateful, as we can see in this passage, when she addressed her rescuers from Torquilstone (Robin Hood & Co.), with these words:

As Rowena bent her steed towards Locksley’s seat, that bold yeoman, with all his followers, rose to receive her, as if by a general instinct of courtesy. The blood rose to her cheeks as, courteously waving her hand, and bending so low that her beautiful and loose tresses were for an instant mixed with the flowing mane of her palfrey, she expressed in few but apt words her obligations and her gratitude to Locksley and her other deliverers. “God bless you, brave men,” she concluded—“God and Our Lady bless you and requite you for gallantly perilling yourselves in the cause of the oppressed! If any of you should hunger, remember Rowena has food; if you should thirst, she has many a butt of wine and brown ale; and if the Normans drive ye from these walks, Rowena has forests of her own, where her gallant deliverers may range at full freedom, and never ranger ask whose arrow hath struck down the deer.” “Thanks, gentle lady,” said Locksley—“thanks from my company and myself. But to have saved you requites itself. We who walk the greenwood do many a wild deed, and the Lady Rowena’s deliverance may be received as an atonement.”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

As you can see Rowena wasn't a despot or a spoiled brat, she was just a very sheltered young noble lady. She was kind and smart and a fervent defender of Wilfred’s honor and of her love for him. And that requires courage, especially in the Middle Ages:

“Let Prior Aymer hold my pledge and that of this nameless vagrant, in token that, when the Knight of Ivanhoe comes within the four seas of Britain, he underlies the challenge of Brian de Bois-Guilbert, which, if he answer not, I will proclaim him as a coward on the walls of every Temple court in Europe.”

“It will not need,” said the Lady Rowena, breaking silence: “my voice shall be heard, if no other in this hall is raised, in behalf of the absent Ivanhoe. I affirm he will meet fairly every honourable challenge. Could my weak warrant add security to the inestimable pledge of this holy pilgrim, I would pledge name and fame that Ivanhoe gives this proud knight the meeting he desires.”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

Rowena knew what she wanted, she wasn’t power hungry, she loved Wilfred dearly and she faithfully waited for him.

Rowena represents a happy and peaceful childhood and the hope of a domestic and peaceful adult life as well, in contrast to the adventurous and perilous life of a knight errant or a crusader in his quest to conquer the Holy Land.

This conflict of the heart is vastly illustrated in the book, especially in these dialogues between Rebecca with Wilfred, and Cedric with King Richard - Coeur de Lion, who was still disguised as the Black Knight:

“Glory!” continued Rebecca; “alas! is the rusted mail which hangs as a hatchment over the champion’s dim and mouldering tomb, is the defaced sculpture of the inscription which the ignorant monk can hardly read to the inquiring pilgrim—are these sufficient rewards for the sacrifice of every kindly affection, for a life spent miserably that ye may make others miserable? Or is there such virtue in the rude rhymes of a wandering bard, that domestic love, kindly affection, peace and happiness, are so wildly bartered, to become the hero of those ballads which vagabond minstrels sing to drunken churls over their evening ale?”

(...)

“I know,” he said, “that ye errant knights desire to carry your fortunes on the point of your lance, and reck not of land or goods; but war is a changeful mistress, and a home is sometimes desirable even to the champion whose trade is wandering. Thou hast earned one in the halls of Rotherwood, noble knight. Cedric has wealth enough to repair the injuries of fortune, and all he has is his deliverer’s. Come, therefore, to Rotherwood, not as a guest, but as a son or brother.”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

At the end, to the vast dismay of many readers that, until today, root for a Wilfred and Rebecca happy ending romance, Wilfred chose Rowena, and by choosing his first love, he chose home, he chose peace.

Read more about Rowena Defense Squad here.

Now, let me tell you that the dynamics between Cedric and his dream of Saxon restoration, his ward the Lady Rowena, and Athelstane of Coningsburgh, the last descendant of the old Saxon kings of England, made me think, in a darker way, about the dynamics between Petyr Baelish and his dream of Westeros domination, his bastard “daughter” Alayne Stone (Sansa Stark), and Harry Harding AKA Harry the Heir.

Even Sweetrobin (Baelish’s stepson), like our good Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe (Cedric’s son), fits in the role of the unlucky suitor rejected by the lady’s guardian/father.

FAIR COMPLEXIONS AND INSIPIDITY

And now let me draw your attention to Scott’s seemingly disdain of people with fair complexions and Martin’s apparently homage to it. Let’s see:

As many readers have already noted, Scott seemed to think less of people with fair complexions, as we can see in these passages:

“Her complexion was exquisitely fair, but the noble cast of her head and features prevented the insipidity which sometimes attaches to fair beauties.”

(...)

“Her disposition was naturally that which physiognomists consider as proper to fair complexions—mild, timid, and gentle.”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

So Rowena, despite her fair complexion, was blessed with beautiful features and not so blonde hair (“her profuse hair, of a colour betwixt brown and flaxen” & “graceful eyebrow of brown”), but she was not exempted of the natural disposition that came with a fair complexion, so she was mild, timid and gentle....

It is because of these kind of assertions that readers tend to perceive Rowena as bland and boring, especially in comparison with the dark haired Rebecca.

Now let’s see how two of Martin’s heroes (Dunk & Jon Snow) react to certain “fair ladies”

The banner-bearer was a tall knight in white scale armor chased with gold, a pure white cloak streaming from his shoulders. Two of the other riders were armored in white from head to heel as well. Kingsguard knights with the royal banner. Small wonder Lord Ashford and his sons came hurrying out the doors of the keep, and the fair maid too, a short girl with yellow hair and a round pink face. She does not seem so fair to me, Dunk thought. The puppet girl was prettier.

—The Hedge Knight

After them came the children. Little Rickon first, managing the long walk with all the dignity a three-year-old could muster. Jon had to urge him on when he stopped to visit. Close behind came Robb, in grey wool trimmed with white, the Stark colors. He had the Princess Myrcella on his arm. She was a wisp of a girl, not quite eight, her hair a cascade of golden curls under a jeweled net. Jon noticed the shy looks she gave Robb as they passed between the tables and the timid way she smiled at him. He decided she was insipid. Robb didn’t even have the sense to realize how stupid she was; he was grinning like a fool.

—A Game of Thrones - Jon I

So Dunk thought that Tanselle, with her olive skin and dark tresses, was prettier than the blonde Lady Ashford, and while our good Jon Snow didn’t directly compared the blonde Princess Myrcella with anyone, he described her as “shy,” “timid” “stupid” and “insipid” (now imagine what would Scott say about Targies?).

RADIANT LADIES

But it is very interesting than after describing blonde Princess Myrcella as “timid” and “insipid,” (like Scott did with Rowena), Jon Snow proceeded to describe his redhead half-sister Sansa as “radiant.”

His half sisters escorted the royal princes. Arya was paired with plump young Tommen, whose white-blond hair was longer than hers. Sansa, two years older, drew the crown prince, Joffrey Baratheon. He was twelve, younger than Jon or Robb, but taller than either, to Jon’s vast dismay. Prince Joffrey had his sister’s hair and his mother’s deep green eyes. A thick tangle of blond curls dripped down past his golden choker and high velvet collar. Sansa looked radiant as she walked beside him, but Jon did not like Joffrey’s pouty lips or the bored, disdainful way he looked at Winterfell’s Great Hall.

—A Game of Thrones - Jon I

Jon later even said that blonde Prince Joffrey “looked like a girl.” Like his “insipid” little sister, perhaps? Bold of you Jon Snow! You can’t acknowledge Cersei and Jaime's beauty and then proceed to call their offsprings and mini me-s “insipid.”

Anyways, we all know that the Stark men (with the Stark look), likes their ladies with red hair.

And we all know that later Dunk got really passionated about a redhead lady called Rohanne Webber.

Back to Rowena, she was not once described as “radiant,” but our gallant Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe did describe her as “bright.”

And “bright” is a synonym of “radiant.”

“Rebecca,” said Ivanhoe, “thou hast painted a hero; surely they rest but to refresh their force, or to provide the means of crossing the moat. Under such a leader as thou hast spoken this knight to be, there are no craven fears, no cold-blooded delays, no yielding up a gallant emprize, since the difficulties which render it arduous render it also glorious. I swear by the honour of my house—I vow by the name of my bright ladylove, I would endure ten years’ captivity to fight one day by that good knight’s side in such a quarrel as this!”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

My bright ladylove.... *sigh*

Sorry Rebecca, this man was taken.

Read more about about the word “radiant” in ASOIAF in these posts:

Jon calling Sansa ‘radiant’ has romantic connotations

ASOIAF & A Song for Lya

Candles and torches can’t match a radiant sun

A FEAST OF THE SWORDS

While reading the following passage:

“Pledge me in a cup of wine, Sir Templar,” said Cedric, “and fill another to the Abbot, while I look back some thirty years to tell you another tale. As Cedric the Saxon then was, his plain English tale needed no garnish from French troubadours when it was told in the ear of beauty; and the field of Northallerton, upon the day of the Holy Standard, could tell whether the Saxon war-cry was not heard as far within the ranks of the Scottish host as the cri de guerre of the boldest Norman baron. To the memory of the brave who fought there! Pledge me, my guests.” He drank deep, and went on with increasing warmth—“Ay, that was a day of cleaving of shields, when a hundred banners were bent forward over the heads of the valiant, and blood flowed round like water, and death was held better than flight. A Saxon bard had called it a feast of the swords—a gathering of the eagles to the prey—the clashing of bills upon shield and helmet, the shouting of battle more joyful than the clamour of a bridal. But our bards are no more,” he said; “our deeds are lost in those of another race; our language—our very name—is hastening to decay, and none mourns for it save one solitary old man. (...)"

—IVANHOE: A Romance

I wondered if Cedric’s words were the inspiration for GRRM to name the third and four ASOIAF books “A Storm of Swords” and “A Feast for Crows,” because these lines: “A feast of the swords” and “A gathering of the eagles to the prey” are basically the same, and they come from the same context as well, fights, battles, war:

He found himself outside the city, walking through a world without color. Ravens soared through a grey sky on wide black wings, while carrion crows rose from their feasts in furious clouds wherever he set his steps.

—A Clash of Kings - Tyrion XV

High, low, overhand, he rained down steel upon her. Left, right, backslash, swinging so hard that sparks flew when the swords came together, upswing, sideslash, overhand, always attacking, moving into her, step and slide, strike and step, step and strike, hacking, slashing, faster, faster, faster . . .

—A Storm of Swords - Jaime III

The rain was falling from a black iron sky, pricking the green and brown torrent with ten thousand swords.

—A Storm of Swords - Arya IX

It could be just a coincidence, but the images and metaphors evoked by Cedric really got me thinking about the ASOIAF books titles.

A TOURNEY NEAR A MEADOW

A major event in IVANHOE is the tourney, or Passage of Arms, that happens at the town of Ashby, also called Ashby-de-la-Zouche. But more precisely, the tourney takes place near a meadow:

The passage of arms, as it was called, which was to take place at Ashby, in the county of Leicester, as champions of the first renown were to take the field in the presence of Prince John himself, who was expected to grace the lists, had attracted universal attention, and an immense confluence of persons of all ranks hastened upon the appointed morning to the place of combat.

The scene was singularly romantic. On the verge of a wood, which approached to within a mile of the town of Ashby, was an extensive meadow of the finest and most beautiful green turf, surrounded on one side by the forest, and fringed on the other by straggling oak-trees, some of which had grown to an immense size.

—IVANHOE: A Romance

The major event of the first Dunk & Egg tale, The Hedge Knight, is also a tourney that takes place near a meadow:

On the outskirts of the great meadow, a good half mile from town and castle, he found a place where a bend in a brook had formed a deep pool. Reeds grew thick along its edge, and a tall, leafy elm presided over all. The spring grass there was as green as any knight’s banner and soft to the touch. It was a pretty spot, and no one had yet laid claim to it. This will be my pavilion, Dunk told himself, a pavilion roofed with leaves, greener even than the banners of the Tyrells and the Estermonts.

—The Hedge Knight

As you can see, GRRM took inspiration from the Passage of Arms at Ashby Meadow from IVANHOE, for the Tourney at Ashford Meadow from The Hedge Knight.

Later, GRRM also wrote about a tourney as the major event of the third Dunk & Egg tale, The Mystery Knight.

QUEEN OF LOVE AND BEAUTY

Art credit: Hulton Archive

As it was pointed out back in 2005, the election of the Queen of Love and Beauty probably has its origins in IVANHOE:

Opposite to this royal gallery was another, elevated to the same height, on the western side of the lists; and more gaily, if less sumptuously decorated, than that destined for the Prince himself. A train of pages and of young maidens, the most beautiful who could be selected, gaily dressed in fancy habits of green and pink, surrounded a throne decorated in the same colours. Among pennons and flags bearing wounded hearts, burning hearts, bleeding hearts, bows and quivers, and all the commonplace emblems of the triumphs of Cupid, a blazoned inscription informed the spectators, that this seat of honour was designed for “La Royne de las Beaulte et des Amours”. But who was to represent the Queen of Beauty and of Love on the present occasion no one was prepared to guess.

(...)

Whether from indecision or some other motive of hesitation, the champion of the day remained stationary for more than a minute, while the eyes of the silent audience were riveted upon his motions; and then, gradually and gracefully sinking the point of his lance, he deposited the coronet which it supported at the feet of the fair Rowena. The trumpets instantly sounded, while the heralds proclaimed the Lady Rowena the Queen of Beauty and of Love for the ensuing day, menacing with suitable penalties those who should be disobedient to her authority. They then repeated their cry of “Largesse,” to which Cedric, in the height of his joy, replied by an ample donative, and to which Athelstane, though less promptly, added one equally large.

There was some murmuring among the damsels of Norman descent, who were as much unused to see the preference given to a Saxon beauty as the Norman nobles were to sustain defeat in the games of chivalry which they themselves had introduced. But these sounds of disaffection were drowned by the popular shout of “Long live the Lady Rowena, the chosen and lawful Queen of Love and of Beauty!” To which many in the lower area added, “Long live the Saxon Princess! long live the race of the immortal Alfred!”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

But GRRM is also a great fan of Arthurian Legends where we can find more examples of knights giving a golden circlet or another jewell to the “fairest lady” or “Queen of Beauty and of Love” at a tournament:

[…] Ah, said the knight, that is the best knight I trow in the world, and the most man of prowess, and he hath been served so as he was even more than ten times, and his name hight Sir Pelleas, and he loveth a great lady in this country and her name is Ettard. And so when he loved her there was cried in this country a great jousts three days, and all the knights of this country were there and gentlewomen, and who that proved him the best knight should have a passing good sword and a circlet of gold, and the circlet the knight should give it to the fairest lady that was at the jousts. And this knight Sir Pelleas was the best knight that was there, and there were five hundred knights, but there was never man that ever Sir Pelleas met withal but he struck him down, or else from his horse; and every day of three days he struck down twenty knights, therefore they gave him the prize, and forthwithal he went thereas the Lady Ettard was, and gave her the circlet, and said openly she was the fairest lady that there was, and that would he prove upon any knight that would say nay.

—Le Morte D'Arthur - BOOK IV - CHAPTER XX - How a knight and a dwarf strove for a lady, by Thomas Malory (1485)

‘Lead then,’ she said; and through the woods they went. And while they rode, the meaning in his eyes, His tenderness of manner, and chaste awe, His broken utterances and bashfulness, Were all a burthen to her, and in her heart She muttered, 'I have lighted on a fool, Raw, yet so stale!’ But since her mind was bent On hearing, after trumpet blown, her name And title, 'Queen of Beauty,’ in the lists Cried—and beholding him so strong, she thought That peradventure he will fight for me, And win the circlet: therefore flattered him, Being so gracious, that he wellnigh deemed His wish by hers was echoed; and her knights And all her damsels too were gracious to him, For she was a great lady.

And when they reached Caerleon, ere they past to lodging, she, Taking his hand, 'O the strong hand,’ she said, 'See! look at mine! but wilt thou fight for me, And win me this fine circlet, Pelleas, That I may love thee?’

(…)

Then blushed and brake the morning of the jousts, And this was called 'The Tournament of Youth:’ For Arthur, loving his young knight, withheld His older and his mightier from the lists, That Pelleas might obtain his lady’s love, According to her promise, and remain Lord of the tourney. And Arthur had the jousts Down in the flat field by the shore of Usk Holden: the gilded parapets were crowned With faces, and the great tower filled with eyes Up to the summit, and the trumpets blew. There all day long Sir Pelleas kept the field With honour: so by that strong hand of his The sword and golden circlet were achieved.

Then rang the shout his lady loved: the heat Of pride and glory fired her face; her eye Sparkled; she caught the circlet from his lance, And there before the people crowned herself: So for the last time she was gracious to him.

—Idylls of the King - Pelleas and Ettarre, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1859 - 1885)

So Tristram won, and Lancelot gave, the gems, Not speaking other word than “Hast thou won? Art thou the purest, brother? See, the hand Wherewith thou takest this, is red!” to whom Tristram, half plagued by Lancelot’s languorous mood, Made answer, “Ay, but wherefore toss me this Like a dry bone cast to some hungry hound? Lest be thy fair Queen’s fantasy. Strength of heart And might of limb, but mainly use and skill, Are winners in this pastime of our King. My hand—belike the lance hath dript upon it— No blood of mine, I trow; but O chief knight, Right arm of Arthur in the battlefield, Great brother, thou nor I have made the world; Be happy in thy fair Queen as I in mine.”

And Tristram round the gallery made his horse Caracole; then bowed his homage, bluntly saying, “Fair damsels, each to him who worships each Sole Queen of Beauty and of love, behold This day my Queen of Beauty is not here.” And most of these were mute, some angered, one Murmuring, “All courtesy is dead,” and one, “The glory of our Round Table is no more.”

(...)

Then in the light’s last glimmer Tristram showed And swung the ruby carcanet. She cried, “The collar of some Order, which our King Hath newly founded, all for thee, my soul, For thee, to yield thee grace beyond thy peers.”

“Not so, my Queen,” he said, “but the red fruit Grown on a magic oak-tree in mid-heaven, And won by Tristram as a tourney-prize, And hither brought by Tristram for his last Love-offering and peace-offering unto thee.”

—Idylls of the King - The Last Tournament, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1859 - 1885)

Wilfred, under the disguise of a Mystery Knight, crowning Rowena, a Saxon Princess, over the Norman ladies, during a tourney organized by Prince John and his retinue of Norman lords, reminded me of Rhaegar Targaryen crowning Lyanna Stark over his own wife, Princess Elia Martell.

But by crowning Rowena, Wilfred not only offended Prince John and the Norman lords and ladies, he also offended Athelstane of Coningsburgh, Rowena’s betrothed.

So great was the offense to Athelstane, that he decided to join the team of the Norman lords to fight against the team of the Mystery Knight (Wilfred) at the melee during the second day of the tournament:

About the same time arrived Cedric the Saxon, with the Lady Rowena, unattended, however, by Athelstane. This Saxon lord had arrayed his tall and strong person in armour, in order to take his place among the combatants; and, considerably to the surprise of Cedric, had chosen to enlist himself on the part of the Knight Templar. The Saxon, indeed, had remonstrated strongly with his friend upon the injudicious choice he had made of his party; but he had only received that sort of answer usually given by those who are more obstinate in following their own course than strong in justifying it.

His best, if not his only, reason for adhering to the party of Brian de Bois-Guilbert, Athelstane had the prudence to keep to himself. Though his apathy of disposition prevented his taking any means to recommend himself to the Lady Rowena, he was, nevertheless, by no means insensible to her charms, and considered his union with her as a matter already fixed beyond doubt by the assent of Cedric and her other friends. It had therefore been with smothered displeasure that the proud though indolent Lord of Coningsburgh beheld the victor of the preceding day select Rowena as the object of that honour which it became his privilege to confer. In order to punish him for a preference which seemed to interfere with his own suit, Athelstane, confident of his strength, and to whom his flatterers, at least, ascribed great skill in arms, had determined not only to deprive the Disinherited Knight of his powerful succour, but, if an opportunity should occur, to make him feel the weight of his battle-axe.

—IVANHOE: A Romance

A knight crowning a lady betrothed to another as his Queen of Love and Beauty? An offended betrothed? A battle axe? This is Robert Baratheon and his war hammer against Rhaegar Targaryen all over again....

QUEEN IMAGERY

Art credit: Charles Edmund Brock

Also take note how Rowena is surrounded by “queen imagery.” She was a Saxon Princess betrothed with a Saxon claimant to the throne of England, just like Sansa Stark was betrothed with Joffrey Baratheon, the heir to the Iron Throne.

Rowena was crowned Queen of Love and Beauty during the tourney at Ashby by her first love Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, disguised as the Disinherited Knight, the same way Ser Loras Tyrell (Sansa’s crush), known as the Knight of Flowers, unofficially crowned Sansa Stark as Queen of Love and Beauty during the Hand’s Tourney celebrated in Kings Landing.

Take note that Loras played a reverse Rhaegar to Sansa's Lyanna during the Hands's Tourney. Rhaegar was adorned with RED rubies and crowned Lyanna with BLUE roses; while Loras was adorned with BLUE sapphires and gifted Sansa with a RED rose. The author's intention to make us think about the Great Tourney at Harrenhal is hidden at plain sight.

And finally, Rowena had a throne:

A short passage, and an ascent of seven steps, each of which was composed of a solid beam of oak, led him to the apartment of the Lady Rowena, the rude magnificence of which corresponded to the respect which was paid to her by the lord of the mansion. The walls were covered with embroidered hangings, on which different-coloured silks, interwoven with gold and silver threads, had been employed, with all the art of which the age was capable, to represent the sports of hunting and hawking. The bed was adorned with the same rich tapestry, and surrounded with curtains dyed with purple. The seats had also their stained coverings, and one, which was higher than the rest, was accommodated with a footstool of ivory, curiously carved.

(...)

The Lady Rowena, with three of her attendants standing at her back, and arranging her hair ere she lay down to rest, was seated in the sort of throne already mentioned, and looked as if born to exact general homage. The Pilgrim acknowledged her claim to it by a low genuflection.

“Rise, Palmer,” said she graciously. ”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

Rowena is often depicted seated on her high seat or throne (see the illustrations above), that curiously enough reminded me a lot of the Queen in the North’s Throne.

Read more about Sansa Stark & Queen Imagery in these posts:

QUEEN SANSA

QUEENS = Alyssa/Cersei; Alysanne/Sansa; Rhaena/Margaery; and Elinor/Daenerys

Sansa - Alayne - Alysanne - Sara - Sansara - ALL the similarities between Good Queen Alysanne & Sansa

Eleanor of Aquitaine = GRRM inspiration for Good Queen Alysanne, Catelyn Stark, Brienne of Tarth and Sansa Stark

THE ARMS OF COURTESY

When I read the following passage:

Secondly, any knight proposing to combat might, if he pleased, select a special antagonist from among the challengers, by touching his shield. If he did so with the reverse of his lance, the trial of skill was made with what were called the arms of courtesy, that is, with lances at whose extremity a piece of round flat board was fixed, so that no danger was encountered, save from the shock of the horses and riders. But if the shield was touched with the sharp end of the lance, the combat was understood to be at outrance, that is, the knights were to fight with sharp weapons, as in actual battle.

—Ivanhoe - a Romance - Sir Walter Scott

Especially this part: “the arms of courtesy, that is, with lances at whose extremity a piece of round flat board was fixed, so that no danger was encountered, save from the shock of the horses and riders.”

I immediately thought of Sansa’s iconic line: “courtesy is a lady’s armor,” because, like the “arms of courtesy” in a tournament, courtesy is for Sansa an instrument that, although it cannot physically hurt anyone, can still provide protection against her enemies

Also, the two ends of a lance determining if the joust would be with the “arms of courtesy” or with sharp weapons, reminded me of the two Stark sisters being the two sides of the same coin: Sansa with her sewing needles and Arya with her sword Needle.

MYSTERY KNIGHTS AND TREE SIGILS

Art credit: Edward A. Wilson

Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe joined the tourney at Ashby-de-la-Zouche as a Mystery Knight designated as the “Disinherited Knight” by the inscription on his shield, the Spanish word “Desdichado,” meaning precisely “Disinherited.”

All eyes were turned to see the new champion which these sounds announced, and no sooner were the barriers opened than he paced into the lists. As far as could be judged of a man sheathed in armour, the new adventurer did not greatly exceed the middle size, and seemed to be rather slender than strongly made. His suit of armour was formed of steel, richly inlaid with gold, and the device on his shield was a young oak-tree pulled up by the roots, with the Spanish word Desdichado, signifying Disinherited. He was mounted on a gallant black horse, and as he passed through the lists he gracefully saluted the Prince and the ladies by lowering his lance. The dexterity with which he managed his steed, and something of youthful grace which he displayed in his manner, won him the favour of the multitude, which some of the lower classes expressed by calling out, “Touch Ralph de Vipont's shield—touch the Hospitallers shield; he has the least sure seat, he is your cheapest bargain.”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

But the the Spanish word “Desdichado” has other acceptations that translated to English mean “joyless” or “unhappy,” which made me think about another Mystery Knight: “The Knight of Tears” AKA Aemon the Dragonknight:

Bran nodded sagely. Mystery knights would oft appear at tourneys, with helms concealing their faces, and shields that were either blank or bore some strange device. Sometimes they were famous champions in disguise. The Dragonknight once won a tourney as the Knight of Tears, so he could name his sister the queen of love and beauty in place of the king’s mistress.

—A Storm of Swords - Bran II

Wilfred was indeed a “Desdichado.” His father separated him from Rowena, his first love, and from his own home and fortune, he was disinherited and unhappy, a man in tears, just like Aemon the Dragonknight, “The Knight of Tears”, and his doomed love for his brother’s wife.

But Wilfred also bore a tree on his shield: “a young oak-tree pulled up by the roots” as a homage to the forest of oak-tress that surrounded the meadow:

—IVANHOE: A Romance

And this is exactly what happened with Dunk in The Hedge Knight. Dunk chose an elm tree as part of the device to be painted in his shield, as a homage to the huge elm tree by the pool near Ashford, the place he turned into his pavilion:

(...)

“What color paint do you have?” he asked, hoping that might give him an idea.

“I can mix paints to make any color you want.”

The old man’s brown had always seemed drab to Dunk. “The field should be the color of sunset,” he said suddenly. “The old man liked sunsets. And the device…”

“An elm tree,” said Egg. “A big elm tree, like the one by the pool, with a brown trunk and green branches.”

“Yes,” Dunk said. “That would serve. An elm tree…but with a shooting star above. Could you do that?”

The girl nodded. “Give me the shield. I’ll paint it this very night and have it back to you on the morrow.”

—The Hedge Knight

And a tree on a shield also made me think about another important Mystery Knight from ASOIAF, the “Knight of the Laughing Tree” AKA Lyanna Stark and the weirwood tree with a laughing face on her shield:

But late on the afternoon of that second day, as the shadows grew long, a mystery knight appeared in the lists.

Bran nodded sagely. [...] “It was the little crannogman, I bet.”

“No one knew,” said Meera, “but the mystery knight was short of stature, and clad in ill-fitting armor made up of bits and pieces. The device upon his shield was a heart tree of the old gods, a white weirwood with a laughing red face.”

(...)

“Whoever he was, the old gods gave strength to his arm. The porcupine knight fell first, then the pitchfork knight, and lastly the knight of the two towers. None were well loved, so the common folk cheered lustily for the Knight of the Laughing Tree, as the new champion soon was called.”

—A Storm of Swords - Bran II

The same way that Dunk chose an elm tree that was located next to a pool, as the device on his shield, Lyanna, as a member of House Stark that worshipped the Old Gods, chose a weirwood tree as the device on her shield. Near Harrenhal there was the Isle of Faces, full of weirwood trees with their carved faces, at the centre of the Gods Eye lake. And take note that The Heart Tree at Winterfell is also located next to a pool.

Read more about about Dunk’s shield and the hints of Jon Snow’s true parentage in these posts:

DUNK SNOW - Parallels and Similarities between Ser Duncan the Tall (Dunk) and Jon Snow

THE BLACK PRINCE WITH THE WHITE GUARDIAN - Jon Snow, Sansa Stark, the Tourney at Ashford Meadow and the songs about Florian and Jonquil.

Now, particularly about the laughing tree, Lyanna laughed at everyone, because she was no knight but a young girl. The same way Dunk laughed at everyone because he was no knight at all, he was never anointed as one.

And Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, somehow despite being a “Desdichado,” also laughed at everyone because he was a Saxon knight that favored a Norman monarch, but not Prince John, the organizer of the tourney, but King Richard - Coeur de Lion.

Also the laughing tree gives us the image of the laughing face of a jester or a fool, that abounds to the “knight and fool imagery” that surrounds many characters of IVANHOE and ASOIAF.

Continuing with the parallels, Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, as the Disinherited Knight, beat, among others, three Norman knights: Brian de Bois-Guilbert, Reginald Front-de-Boeuf and Philip de Malvoisin, three of the main bad guys of the story, that were conspiring with Prince John to usurp the throne of England to the detriment of King Richard - Coeur de Lion.

The same way, Lyanna Stark, as the Knight of the Laughing Tree, also beat three southern knights, the porcupine knight (House Blount), the pitchfork knight (House Haigh), and the knight of the twin towers (House Frey), whose squires bullied Howland Reed (vassal of House Stark).

BAD BOYS

BRIAN DE BOIS-GILBERT

Pictures credit: Edited by me from: 1. Sam Neill as Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert for the film Ivanhoe (1982); 2. House Stark Sigil stained glass window by Spin Dunbar; and 3. House Corbray of Heart's Home Sigil.

Brian de Bois-Gilbert was a Templar knight, an old creep in his forties predating young girls just because his first love left him for some simple guy with no great money or glory like the celebrated knight of the Temple that fought in the Holy Land... A combination of Jorah Mormont, Petyr Baelish, Tyrion Lannister and the hound.... Pathetic.... But, unlike me, most of the readers and GRRM himself seem to love him....

Anyways, Bois-Gilbert’s personal sigil reminded me of House Corbray’s sigil:

Lastly, he laid aside his shield, which had received some little damage, and received another from his squires. His first had only borne the general device of his rider, representing two knights riding upon one horse, an emblem expressive of the original humility and poverty of the Templars, qualities which they had since exchanged for the arrogance and wealth that finally occasioned their suppression. Bois-Guilbert’s new shield bore a raven in full flight, holding in its claws a skull, and bearing the motto, Gare le Corbeau.

—IVANHOE: A Romance

Coat of armsThree black ravens in flight, holding three red hearts, on a white field (Argent, three ravens volant sable, each clutching in their claws a heart gules).

—House Corbray of Heart's Home

So, it could be that GRRM took inspiration in Bois-Gilbert’s sigil to create House Corbray’s sigil.

GRRM’s affection for Bois-Gilbert could also explain why he commissioned the glass artist Spin Dunbar, a House Corbray Sigil stained glass window, among other great houses of Westeros, like Stark, Arryn, Lannister, Greyjoy and Targaryen.

And this made me think about Lyn Corbray, that at this point of the story is in the Vale next to Alayne Stone (Sansa Stark), and maybe planning some dubious deed like kidnapping a maiden or something.... More about this later.

REGINALD FRONT-DE-BOEUF

I’m only mentioning this cruel and perverse character because of his name and sigil. Front de Boeuf means Ox face or Ox forehead and his sigil was a black bull’s head:

The gigantic Front-de-Bœuf, armed in sable armour, was the first who took the field. He bore on a white shield a black bull’s head, half defaced by the numerous encounters which he had undergone, and bearing the arrogant motto, Cave, Adsum. Over this champion the Disinherited Knight obtained a slight but decisive advantage. Both Knights broke their lances fairly, but Front-de-Bœuf, who lost a stirrup in the encounter, was adjudged to have the disadvantage.

—IVANHOE: A Romance

Front de Boeuf was a huge and strong man, described as gigantic, and he was also a cruel and perverse man, so of course this villain reminded me of Gregor Clegane the Mountain.

Also the black bull’s head of his sigil reminded me of Gendry’s helmet and somehow the hound’s helmet as well....

MAURICE DE BRACY

Maurice De Bracy was a mercenary knight at the order of Prince John:

“The Saxon porker,” he said, “is either asleep or minds me not. Prick him with your lance, De Bracy,” speaking to a knight who rode near him, the leader of a band of free companions, or condottieri; that is, of mercenaries belonging to no particular nation, but attached for the time to any prince by whom they were paid.

—IVANHOE: A Romance

De Bracy wasn’t as evil as Bois-Gilbert or Front-de-Bœuf, he was just an ambitious fool that Rowena reduced into a puddle of shame at the end.

FOLDED HANDS AND TEARLESS EYES

Moving forward, the guarded reaction of Rowena to the revelation of the Disinherited Knight’s true identity and to Wilfred passing out at her feet due to his wounds at the en of the melee, reminded me of Sansa’s reaction to the death of Ser Hugh of the Vale at the hands of Gregor Clegane:

When the helmet was removed, the well-formed yet sun-burnt features of a young man of twenty-five were seen, amidst a profusion of short fair hair. His countenance was as pale as death, and marked in one or two places with streaks of blood.

Rowena had no sooner beheld him than she uttered a faint shriek; but at once summoning up the energy of her disposition, and compelling herself, as it were, to proceed, while her frame yet trembled with the violence of sudden emotion, she placed upon the drooping head of the victor the “splendid chaplet which was the destined reward of the day, and pronounced in a clear and distinct tone these words: “I bestow on thee this chaplet, Sir Knight, as the meed of valour assigned to this day’s victor.” Here she paused a moment, and then firmly added, “And upon brows more worthy could a wreath of chivalry never be placed!” The knight stooped his head and kissed the hand of the lovely Sovereign by whom his valour had been rewarded; and then, sinking yet farther forward, lay prostrate at her feet.

(...)

“I was somewhat afflicted,” he said, “to see the grief of the Queen of Love and Beauty, whose sovereignty of a day this event has changed into mourning. I am not a man to be moved by a woman’s lament for her lover, but this same Lady Rowena suppressed her sorrow with such dignity of manner that it could only be discovered by her folded hands and her tearless eye, which trembled as it remained fixed on the lifeless form before her.”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

Despite Ser Hugh of the Vale being nothing to Sansa, her reaction to his death was identical to Rowena’s reaction at a wounded and unconscious Wilfred, with folded hands and no tears:

Jeyne covered her eyes whenever a man fell, like a frightened little girl, but Sansa was made of sterner stuff. A great lady knew how to behave at tournaments. Even Septa Mordane noted her composure and nodded in approval.

(...)

The most terrifying moment of the day came during Ser Gregor's second joust, when his lance rode up and struck a young knight from the Vale under the gorget with such force that it drove through his throat, killing him instantly. The youth fell not ten feet from where Sansa was seated. The point of Ser Gregor's lance had snapped off in his neck, and his life's blood flowed out in slow pulses, each weaker than the one before. His armor was shiny new; a bright streak of fire ran down his outstretched arm, as the steel caught the light. Then the sun went behind a cloud, and it was gone. His cloak was blue, the color of the sky on a clear summer's day, trimmed with a border of crescent moons, but as his blood seeped into it, the cloth darkened and the moons turned red, one by one.

Jeyne Poole wept so hysterically that Septa Mordane finally took her off to regain her composure, but Sansa sat with her hands folded in her lap, watching with a strange fascination. She had never seen a man die before. She ought to be crying too, she thought, but the tears would not come. Perhaps she had used up all her tears for Lady and Bran. It would be different if it had been Jory or Ser Rodrik or Father, she told herself. The young knight in the blue cloak was nothing to her, some stranger from the Vale of Arryn whose name she had forgotten as soon as she heard it. And now the world would forget his name too, Sansa realized; there would be no songs sung for him. That was sad.

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa II

I’ve always admired Sansa’s ability to suppress her emotions and vailed them with courtesy (THE FOLDED HANDS!!!), so reading Rowena’s emotions seeing Wilfred for the first time after his exile and how that happiness shortly morphed into sorrow, strongly reminded me of Sansa and made me love Rowena in a similar way.

These passages from Sansa and Rowena also reminded me of this scene from Eugénie Grandet, where the heroine of the story had to hide her sorrow at the betrayal of her only love, her cousin Charles, with a courteous smile in front of everyone who was expecting a flood of tears:

She appeared in the evening at the hour when the usual company began to arrive. Never was the old hall so full as on this occasion. The news of Charles’s return and his foolish treachery had spread through the whole town. But however watchful the curiosity of the visitors might be, it was left unsatisfied. Eugenie, who expected scrutiny, allowed none of the cruel emotions that wrung her soul to appear on the calm surface of her face. She was able to show a smiling front in answer to all who tried to testify their interest by mournful looks or melancholy speeches. She hid her misery behind a veil of courtesy.

—Eugénie Grandet

Also look at this:

A lady’s armor is her courtesy. Alayne could feel the blood rushing to her face. No tears, she prayed. Please, please, I must not cry.

—The Winds of Winter - Alayne I

Courtesy is a lady’s armor... Indeed.

NO ONE WILL EVER MARRY ME FOR LOVE

Rowena reminded me of Sansa in so many ways, she was also the object of desire for many greedy men who wanted to marry her to restore ancient claims to the England throne or to increase their riches.

The same way Rowena’s guardian, Cedric, betrothed her with Athelstane of Coningsburgh in order to restore Saxon royalty and claim the throne of England, Prince John gave Rowena’s hand in marriage to Maurice de Bracy, in order to cement the Norman conquest over Saxon lands:

“We shall cheer her sorrows,” said Prince John, “and amend her blood, by wedding her to a Norman. She seems a minor, and must therefore be at our royal disposal in marriage. How sayst thou, De Bracy? What thinkst thou of gaining fair lands and livings, by wedding a Saxon, after the fashion of the followers of the Conqueror?”

“If the lands are to my liking, my lord,” answered De Bracy, “it will be hard to displease me with a bride; and deeply will I hold myself bound to your Highness for a good deed, which will fulfil all promises made in favour of your servant and vassal.”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

This is Tywin Lannister saying “the key to the north is Sansa Stark” when he informed Tyrion that he must marry Sansa at once and reclaim the North to the crown, all over again.

TRUE KNIGHT

Art credit: John Rush

The true knights of Ivanhoe are of course Wilfred of Ivanhoe and King Richard - Coeur de Lion, but one can argue that they were more fools than true knights.

If you want to find the real true knights of the story you need to look in the direction of Wamba, the actual fool, and Gurth, the swineherd. They were also slaves, property of Cedric the Saxon, which made their role as true knights even more compelling.

But let’s talk of King Richard - Coeur de Lion here, who first appeared in the story disguised as a Mystery Knight designated as the “Black Knight”:

There was among the ranks of the Disinherited Knight a champion in black armour, mounted on a black horse, large of size, tall, and to all appearance powerful and strong, like the rider by whom he was mounted. This knight, who bore on his shield no device of any kind, had hitherto evinced very little interest in the event of the fight, beating off with seeming ease those combatants who attacked him, but neither pursuing his advantages nor himself assailing any one. In short, he had hitherto acted the part rather of a spectator than of a party in the tournament, a circumstance which procured him among the spectators the name of Le Noir Faineant, or the Black Sluggard.

(...)

And now, valiant knight, may I pray ye for the name of my honourable guest?”

“Truly,” said the knight, “Holy Clerk of Copmanhurst, men call me in these parts the Black Knight; many, sir, add to it the epithet of Sluggard, whereby I am no way ambitious to be distinguished.”

(...)

“Deny it not, Sir Knight, you are he who decided the victory to the advantage of the English against the strangers on the second day of the tournament at Ashby.”

“And what follows if you guess truly, good yeoman?” replied the knight. “I should in that case hold you,” replied the yeoman, “a friend to the weaker party.”

“Such is the duty of a true knight at least,” replied the Black Champion; “and I would not willingly that there were reason to think otherwise of me.”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

King Richard - Coeur de Lion saved Wilfred twice in the story, not to mention all the times that he probably helped Wilfred during their adventures at Holy Land....

Indeed, King Richard - Coeur de Lion, disguised as the Black Knight, saved Wilfred at the melee, when he was fighting against three powerful opponents at the same time: Rowena’s offended betrothed Athelstane of Coningsburgh, the Templar Bois-Gilbert and the gigantic Front-De-Beouf. Wilfred was about to lose and even worse, to die, at the hands of those three men, until the Black Knight came to his rescue and defeated his adversaries, getting the victory of the tournament.

Later, King Richard - Coeur de Lion rescued a wounded and kidnapped Wilfred from the flames that were consuming Torquilstone:

“I had not found thee, Wilfred,” said the Black Knight, who at that instant entered the apartment, “but for thy shouts.”

“If thou be’st true knight,” said Wilfred, “think not of me—pursue yon ravisher—save the Lady Rowena—look to the noble Cedric!”

“In their turn,” answered he of the Fetterlock, “but thine is first.”

And seizing upon Ivanhoe, he bore him off with as much ease as the Templar had carried off Rebecca, rushed with him to the postern, and having there delivered his burden to the care of two yeomen, he again entered the castle to assist in the rescue of the other prisoners.

—IVANHOE: A Romance

King Richard - Coeur de Lion performed the most valiant and formidable chivalric deeds of the story. Wilfred was his fair maiden and also the voice of the reason, because Richard was happy playing the gallant knight here and there neglecting his real and royal duty of claiming his throne and rule his country (hence Scott also designated him as Le Noir Faineant, or the Black Sluggard). If not for Wilfred, constantly reminding him his duty, Richard would still be playing the knight errant with Robin Hood & Co.

Sounds familiar? Look at this:

“Good man!” The king clapped him on the shoulder. “I’ve half a mind to leave them all behind and just keep going.”

A smile touched Ned’s lips. “I do believe you mean it.”

“I do, I do,” the king said. “What do you say, Ned? Just you and me, two vagabond knights on the kingsroad, our swords at our sides and the gods know what in front of us, and maybe a farmer’s daughter or a tavern wench to warm our beds tonight.”

“Would that we could,” Ned said, “but we have duties now, my liege…to the realm, to our children, I to my lady wife and you to your queen. We are not the boys we were.”

—A Game of Thrones - Eddard II

Coeur de Lion was a fool (and Robert too), as I said before.

And all this talk about knights and fools inevitably reminded me of Sansa Stark, the ASOIAF character who is most surrounded by knight and fool imagery. More about this later.

ABDUCTING A MAIDEN AFTER A TOURNEY IN ORDER TO MARRY HER

After the tourney at Ashby a kidnapping happened. A kidnapping that was intended to cement a marriage.

Sounds familiar?

What on earth dost thou purpose by this absurd disguise at a moment so urgent?”

“To get me a wife,” answered De Bracy coolly, “after the manner of the tribe of Benjamin.”

“The tribe of Benjamin?” said Fitzurse; “I comprehend thee not.”

“Wert thou not in presence yester-even,” said De Bracy, “when we heard the Prior Aymer tell us a tale in reply to the romance which was sung by the Minstrel?—He told how, long since in Palestine, a deadly feud arose between the tribe of Benjamin and the rest of the Israelitish nation; and how they cut to pieces well-nigh all the chivalry of that tribe; and how they swore by our blessed Lady, that they would not permit those who remained to marry in their lineage; and how they became grieved for their vow, and sent to consult his holiness the Pope how they might be absolved from it; and how, by the advice of the Holy Father, the youth of the tribe of Benjamin carried off from a superb tournament all the ladies who were there present, and thus won them wives without the consent either of their brides or their brides’ families.”

“I have heard the story,” said Fitzurse, “though either the Prior or thou has made some singular alterations in date and circumstances.”

“I tell thee,” said De Bracy, “that I mean to purvey me a wife after the fashion of the tribe of Benjamin; which is as much as to say, that in this same equipment I will fall upon that herd of Saxon bullocks, who have this night left the castle, and carry off from them the lovely Rowena.”

“Art thou mad, De Bracy?” said Fitzurse. “Bethink thee that, though the men be Saxons, they are rich and powerful, and regarded with the more respect by their countrymen, that wealth and honour are but the lot of few of Saxon descent.”

“And should belong to none,” said De Bracy; “the work of the Conquest should be completed.”

“This is no time for it at least,” said Fitzurse “the approaching crisis renders the favour of the multitude indispensable, and Prince John cannot refuse justice to any one who injures their favourites.”

“Let him grant it, if he dare,” said De Bracy; “he will soon see the difference betwixt the support of such a lusty lot of spears as mine, and that of a heartless mob of Saxon churls. Yet I mean no immediate discovery of myself. Seem I not in this garb as bold a forester as ever blew horn? The blame of the violence shall rest with the outlaws of the Yorkshire forests. I have sure spies on the Saxon’s motions—To-night they sleep in the convent of Saint Wittol, or Withold, or whatever they call that churl of a Saxon Saint at Burton-on-Trent. Next day’s march brings them within our reach, and, falcon-ways, we swoop on them at once. Presently after I will appear in mine own shape, play the courteous knight, rescue the unfortunate and afflicted fair one from the hands of the rude ravishers, conduct her to Front-de-Bœuf’s Castle, or to Normandy, if it should be necessary, and produce her not again to her kindred until she be the bride and dame of Maurice de Bracy.”

“A marvellously sage plan,” said Fitzurse, “and, as I think, not entirely of thine own device.—Come, be frank, De Bracy, who aided thee in the invention? and who is to assist in the execution? for, as I think, thine own band lies as far off as York.”

“Marry, if thou must needs know,” said De Bracy, “it was the Templar Brian de Bois-Guilbert that shaped out the enterprise, which the adventure of the men of Benjamin suggested to me. He is to aid me in the onslaught, and he and his followers will personate the outlaws, from whom my valorous arm is, after changing my garb, to rescue the lady.”

“By my halidome,” said Fitzurse, “the plan was worthy of your united wisdom! and thy prudence, De Bracy, is most especially manifested in the project of leaving the lady in the hands of thy worthy confederate. Thou mayst, I think, succeed in taking her from her Saxon friends, but how thou wilt rescue her afterwards from the clutches of Bois-Guilbert seems considerably more doubtful—He is a falcon well accustomed to pounce on a partridge, and to hold his prey fast.”

“He is a Templar,” said De Bracy, “and cannot therefore rival me in my plan of wedding this heiress;—and to attempt aught dishonourable against the intended bride of De Bracy—By Heaven! were he a whole Chapter of his Order in his single person, he dared not do me such an injury!”

“Then, since nought that I can say,” said Fitzurse, “will put this folly from thy imagination, for well I know the obstinacy of thy disposition, at least waste as little time as possible; let not thy folly be lasting as well as untimely.”

“I tell thee,” answered De Bracy, “that it will be the work of a few hours, and I shall be at York at the head of my daring and valorous fellows, as ready to support any bold design as thy policy can be to form one. But I hear my comrades assembling, and the steeds stamping and neighing in the outer court. Farewell. I go, like a true knight, to win the smiles of beauty.”

“Like a true knight!” repeated Fitzurse, looking after him; “like a fool, I should say, or like a child, who will leave the most serious and needful occupation to chase the down of the thistle that drives past him. But it is with such tools that I must work—and for whose advantage? For that of a Prince as unwise as he is profligate, and as likely to be an ungrateful master as he has already proved a rebellious son and an unnatural brother. But he—he too is but one of the tools with which I labour; and, proud as he is, should he presume to separate his interest from mine, this is a secret which he shall soon learn.”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

Rhaegar, is that you?

Was Rhaegar trying to perform a wedding in the manner of the tribe of Benjaming? Or more precisely, Freefolk style?

So, Rowena and Rebecca were abducted after the tourney at Ashby by two men, De Bracy and Bois-Gilbert, who wanted to make the girls their wife and mistress respectively. Both girls were captives at Torquilstone, a castle that ended burned and destroyed.

The same way Lyanna was “abducted” by Rhaegar, who later impregnated her and put her in a tower, the so called Tower of Joy. After Lyanna’s death Eddard torn the tower down.

Now, Lyn Corbray being a dubious character, bearing a similar sigil to Bois-Gilbert’s sigil, and being so near to Alayne Stone (Sansa Stark) at the Vale, and with a tourney about to start at the Gates of the Moon, got me thinking about the possibility of Sansa being abducted by Corbray, with the help of some other dubious knights (Ser Byron, Ser Morgarth, and Ser Shadrich), that are also at the Vale for the tourney. All of them supposedly under Petyr Baelish commands....

TAMING A NOT SO FIERCE BEAST

As I said before, Maurice De Bracy wasn’t as evil as Bois-Gilbert and Front-de-Bœuf, he was just an ambitious fool that Rowena reduced into a puddle of shame at the end. Let’s see:

After kidnapping Rowena, De Bracy wore his best attire and presented himself to his intended bride:

He saluted Rowena by doffing his velvet bonnet, garnished with a golden brooch, representing St. Michael trampling down the Prince of Evil. With this, he gently motioned the lady to a seat; and, as she still retained her standing posture, the knight ungloved his right hand, and motioned to conduct her thither. But Rowena declined, by her gesture, the proffered compliment, and replied, “If I be in the presence of my jailor, Sir Knight—nor will circumstances allow me to think otherwise—it best becomes his prisoner to remain standing till she learns her doom.”

“Alas! fair Rowena,” returned De Bracy, “you are in presence of your captive, not your jailor; and it is from your fair eyes that De Bracy must receive that doom which you fondly expect from him.”

“I know you not, sir,” said the lady, drawing herself up with all the pride of offended rank and beauty—“I know you not; and the insolent familiarity with which you apply to me the jargon of a troubadour forms no apology for the violence of a robber.”

“To thyself, fair maid,” answered De Bracy, in his former tone—“to thine own charms be ascribed whate’er I have done which passed the respect due to her whom I have chosen queen of my heart and loadstar of my eyes.”

“I repeat to you, Sir Knight, that I know you not, and that no man wearing chain and spurs ought thus to intrude himself upon the presence of an unprotected lady.”

“That I am unknown to you,” said De Bracy, “is indeed my misfortune; yet let me hope that De Bracy’s name has not been always unspoken when minstrels or heralds have praised deeds of chivalry, whether in the lists or in the battlefield.”

(...)

“Proud damsel,” said De Bracy, incensed at finding his gallant style procured him nothing but contempt—“proud damsel, thou shalt be as proudly encountered. Know, then, that I have supported my pretensions to your hand in the way that best suited thy character. It is meeter for thy humour to be wooed with bow and bill than in set terms and in courtly language.”

“Courtesy of tongue,” said Rowena, “when it is used to veil churlishness of deed, is but a knight’s girdle around the breast of a base clown. I wonder not that the restraint appears to gall you: more it were for your honour to have retained the dress and language of an outlaw than to veil the deeds of one under an affectation of gentle language and demeanour.”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

As you can see, Rowena knew since the beginning that De Bracy kidnapped her dressed as an outlaw and later came dressed as a gallant knight as her rescuer. Such a brilliant plan Maurice.... You can’t fool my clever girl Rowena!

And since his fake gallantry didn’t work, De Bracy tried to convince Rowena by threatening the lives of Wilfred and Cedric.

When the Bois-Gilbert and De Bracy performed the abduction of Rowena, they also abducted Cedric, Athelstane and the Jews Isaac of York and his daughter Rebecca.

Unbeknownst to Rowena, Athelstane and Cedric, who helped Isaac and Rebecca on the road, a wounded Wilfred was hidden in the Jews’s litter. And when Bois-Gilbert and De Bracy stormed upon them, only De Bracy inspected the litter and recognized the wounded Wilfred.

So, faced with Rowena's firm reluctance to be his bride, De Bracy threatened her with handing the wounded Wilfred over to the cruel Front-de-Beouf, Wilfred’s rival for the Barony of Ivanhoe:

“Wilfred here!” said Rowena, in disdain; “that is as true as that Front-de-Bœuf is his rival.”

(...)

“Save him, for the love of Heaven!” said Rowena, her firmness giving way under terror for her lover’s impending fate.

“I can—I will—it is my purpose,” said De Bracy; “for, when Rowena consents to be the bride of De Bracy, who is it shall dare to put forth a violent hand upon her kinsman—the son of her guardian—the companion of her youth? But it is thy love must buy his protection. I am not romantic fool enough to further the fortune, or avert the fate, of one who is likely to be a successful obstacle between me and my wishes. Use thine influence with me in his behalf, and he is safe; refuse to employ it, Wilfred dies, and thou thyself art not the nearer to freedom.”

(...)

“Cedric’s fate also depends upon thy determination,” said De Bracy, “and I leave thee to form it.”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

At that point, at the possibility to lose the lives of her guardian Cedric and her beloved Wilfred, Rowena burst desperately into tears:

After casting her eyes around, as if to look for the aid which was nowhere to be found, and after a few broken interjections, she raised her hands to heaven, and burst into a passion of uncontrolled vexation and sorrow. It was impossible to see so beautiful a creature in such extremity without feeling for her, and De Bracy was not unmoved, though he was yet more embarrassed than touched. He had, in truth, gone too far to recede; and yet, in Rowena’s present condition, she could not be acted on either by argument or threats. He paced the apartment to and fro, now vainly exhorting the terrified maiden to compose herself, now hesitating concerning his own line of conduct.

“If,” thought he, “I should be moved by the tears and sorrow of this disconsolate damsel, what should I reap but the loss of those fair hopes for which I have encountered so much risk, and the ridicule of Prince John and his jovial comrades? And yet,” he said to himself, “I feel myself ill framed for the part which I am playing. I cannot look on so fair a face while it is disturbed with agony, or on those eyes when they are drowned in tears. I would she had retained her original haughtiness of disposition, or that I had a larger share of Front-de-Bœuf’s thrice-tempered hardness of heart!”

Agitated by these thoughts, he could only bid the unfortunate Rowena be comforted, and assure her that as yet she had no reason for the excess of despair to which she was now giving way.” But in this task of consolation De Bracy was interrupted by the horn, “hoarse-winded blowing far and keen,” which had at the same time alarmed the other inmates of the castle, and interrupted their several plans of avarice and of license. Of them all, perhaps, De Bracy least regretted the interruption; for his conference with the Lady Rowena had arrived at a point where he found it equally difficult to prosecute or to resign his enterprise.

—IVANHOE: A Romance

Rowena's tears demolishing de Bracy's determination and turning him into a puddle of shame, reminded me of Sansa taming a far more dangerous beast, the hound, when he attempted to rape her during the night of the Blackwater Bay Battle.

But De Bracy’s graceless interactions with Rowena didn’t end there, the best part was Rowena’s coup de grâce after she was rescued by the joined forces of Cedric, the Black Knight and Robin Hood & Co.

Again bowing from her palfrey, Rowena turned to depart; but pausing a moment, while Cedric, who was to attend her, was also taking his leave, she found herself unexpectedly close by the prisoner De Bracy. He stood under a tree in deep meditation, his arms crossed upon his breast, and Rowena was in hopes she might pass him unobserved. He looked up, however, and, when aware of her presence, a deep flush of shame suffused his handsome countenance. He stood a moment most irresolute; then, stepping forward, took her palfrey by the rein and bent his knee before her.

“Will the Lady Rowena deign to cast an eye on a captive knight—on a dishonoured soldier?”

“Sir Knight,” answered Rowena, “in enterprises such as yours, the real dishonour lies not in failure, but in success.”

“Conquest, lady, should soften the heart,” answered De Bracy; “let me but know that the Lady Rowena forgives the violence occasioned by an ill-fated passion, and she shall soon learn that De Bracy knows how to serve her in nobler ways.”

“I forgive you, Sir Knight,” said Rowena, “as a Christian.”

“That means,” said Wamba, “that she does not forgive him at all.”

“But I can never forgive the misery and desolation your madness has occasioned,” continued Rowena.

—IVANHOE: A Romance

Rowena annihilated De Bracy. And she did it with her armor of courtesy.

HARPS ARE WEAPONS

At this point of the story, I found this little parallel about the power of music and songs:

“I promise thee, brother Clerk,” said he, “I will ask thee no more offensive questions. The contents of that cupboard are an answer to all my inquiries; and I see a weapon there (here he stooped and took out the harp) on which I would more gladly prove my skill with thee than at the sword and buckler.”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

“I also planted the notion of Ser Loras taking the white. Not that I suggested it, that would have been too crude. But men in my party supplied grisly tales about how the mob had killed Ser Preston Greenfield and raped the Lady Lollys, and slipped a few silvers to Lord Tyrell's army of singers to sing of Ryam Redwyne, Serwyn of the Mirror Shield, and Prince Aemon the Dragonknight. A harp can be as dangerous as a sword, in the right hands.

—A Storm of Swords - Sansa VI

Harps are weapons indeed.

REBECCA

Art credit: Edouard Henri Théophile Pingret

And now, at last, let’s talk about Rebecca. Not so much tho, because she is a readers’ favorite and many pieces have been written already extolling her many virtues.

Rebecca was the daughter of Isaac of York. Her father and her were Jews. She was a healer. She treated Wilfred’s wounds and saved his life. She fell deeply enamoured of him. But despite the obvious physical attraction, her love was unrequited.

Rebecca also inflamed an unbridled passion in the Templar Brian de Bois-Gilbert, who wanted to possess her and tried to force himself on her many times, without the slightest success.

But I would like to comment a few scenes from Rebecca that reminded me of Sansa.

First, her suicide attempt at the face of rape:

“Remain where thou art, proud Templar, or at thy choice advance!—one foot nearer, and I plunge myself from the precipice; my body shall be crushed out of the very form of humanity upon the stones of that courtyard ere it become the victim of thy brutality!”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

The mention of the eventual destruction of her body made me think of a similar passage from Sansa:

Perhaps I will die too, she told herself, and the thought did not seem so terrible to her. If she flung herself from the window, she could put an end to her suffering, and in the years to come the singers would write songs of her grief. Her body would lie on the stones below, broken and innocent, shaming all those who had betrayed her. Sansa went so far as to cross the bedchamber and throw open the shutters … but then her courage left her, and she ran back to her bed, sobbing.

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa VI

Second, Rebecca’s prayers for her enemies:

Another name glided into her petition; it was that of the wounded Christian, whom fate had placed in the hands of bloodthirsty men, his avowed enemies. Her heart indeed checked her, as if, even in communing with the Deity in prayer, she mingled in her devotions the recollection of one with whose fate hers could have no alliance—a Nazarene, and an enemy to her faith. But the petition was already breathed, nor could all the narrow prejudices of her sect induce Rebecca to wish it recalled.

—IVANHOE: A Romance

Wilfred wasn't a real enemy, but not so long ago he had hurt her feelings with his change of demeanor when he realized she was a Jewess (that’s why she called him “an enemy to her faith”). But she was grateful he saved her father from a great danger, she healed his wounds and she had fell for him, so of course she prayed for his well being.

This scene is similar to Sansa praying even for Tyrion and the hound the day of the Blackwater Bay Battle:

She sang for mercy, for the living and the dead alike, for Bran and Rickon and Robb, for her sister Arya and her bastard brother Jon Snow, away off on the Wall. She sang for her mother and her father, for her grandfather Lord Hoster and her uncle Edmure Tully, for her friend Jeyne Poole, for old drunken King Robert, for Septa Mordane and Ser Dontos and Jory Cassel and Maester Luwin, for all the brave knights and soldiers who would die today, and for the children and the wives who would mourn them, and finally, toward the end, she even sang for Tyrion the Imp and for the Hound. He is no true knight but he saved me all the same, she told the Mother. Save him if you can, and gentle the rage inside him.

—A Clash of Kings - Sansa V

But we all know that, unlike Wilfred to Rebecca, Tyrion and the hound paid Sansa’s kindness with abuse.

And there will be a third scene to comment later.

LOVE TRIANGLES

As you may have already noticed, IVANHOE is full of love triangles. Some of them very similar the main ASOIAF love triangles. Let’s talk about them:

Wilfred - Rowena - Athelstane

In this triangle, Rowena is Lyanna Stark, Athelstane is Robert Baratheon, and the role of Rhaegar is played first by Wildred, who crowned Rowena as his Queen of love and Beauty during the tourney at Ashby, and later by Maurice De Bracy, who abducted Rowena after the tourney, and put her on a castle tower.

Athelstane fighting against Wilfred with his battle-axe at the melee, reminded me of Robert fighting Rhaegar with his war-hammer at the Trident.

Much later, during the Battle at Torquilstone, Athelstane thought that Bois-Gilbert was abducting Rowena again, and snatching a mace (similar to a hammer) from a dying soldier, run to fight the Templar knight. But unlike Robert killing Rhaegar with his war-hammer, Bois-Gilbert was the one who broke Athelstane’s mace and killed him (apparently):

Athelstane, who, as the reader knows, was slothful, but not cowardly, beheld the female form whom the Templar protected thus sedulously, and doubted not that it was Rowena whom the knight was carrying off, in despite of all resistance which could be offered.

“By the soul of St. Edward,” he said, “I will rescue her from yonder over-proud knight, and he shall die by my hand!”

“Think what you do!” cried Wamba; “hasty hand catches frog for fish; by my bauble, yonder is none of my Lady Rowena, see but her long dark locks! Nay, an ye will not know black from white, ye may be leader, but I will be no follower; no bones of mine shall be broken unless I know for whom. And you without armour too! Bethink you, silk bonnet never kept out steel blade. Nay, then, if wilful will to water, wilful must drench. Deus vobiscum, most doughty Athelstane!” he concluded, loosening the hold which he had hitherto kept upon the Saxon’s tunic.

To snatch a mace from the pavement, on which it lay beside one whose dying grasp had just relinquished it, to rush on the Templar’s band, and to strike in quick succession to the right and left, levelling a warrior at each blow, was, for Athelstane’s great strength, now animated with unusual fury, but the work of a single moment; he was soon within two yards of Bois-Guilbert, whom he defied in his loudest tone.

“Turn, false-hearted Templar! let go her whom thou art unworthy to touch; turn, limb of a band of murdering and hypocritical robbers!”

“Dog!” said the Templar, grinding his teeth, “I will teach thee to blaspheme the holy order of the Temple of Zion”; and with these words, half-wheeling his steed, he made a demi-courbetteeh towards the Saxon, and rising in the stirrups, so as to take full advantage of the descent of the horse, he discharged a fearful blow upon the head of Athelstane.

“Well,” said Wamba, “that silken bonnet keeps out no steel blade!” So trenchant was the Templar’s weapon, that it shore asunder, as it had been a willow twig, the tough and plaited handle of the mace, which the ill-fated Saxon reared to parry the blow, and, descending on his head, levelled him with the earth.

—IVANHOE: A Romance

But Athelstane wasn't really dead. Three days after his supposed death he appeared to his own obsequies like a ghost.... Asking for food....

Something similar happened to Dunk in The Mystery Knight, when he remained unconscious for several hours after a joust and everyone believed he was dead.

And this “resurrection” in IVANHOE of course reminded me of Jon Snow coming back to life in The Winds of Winter....

Rowena - Wilfred - Rebecca

This love triangle, somehow reminded me a bit of Catelyn - Eddard - Ashara. Mostly because there are still people that claim that Eddard never loved Catelyn and his true love was Ashara. There is also the fact that Eddard met Ashara during the tourney at Harrenhal, the same way Wilfred and Rebecca met at after the tourney at Ashby.

This love triangle also reminded me a bit of Elia - Rhager - Lyanna. At some point, Prince John even suggested the idea that the tourney’s champion must crown Rebecca, who was a Jewess, in order to offend the Christian Saxons. But Wilfred wasn’t a Normand, and he crowned Rowena, the Saxon Princess, offending the Normans instead.

Now, as I mentioned before, most of the readers wanted a Wilfred and Rebecca happy ending romance, just to be left disappointed at the end, when they read that Scott decided that Wilfred marry his first love Rowena. This “ships-war” was so intense that in 1850 another British author called William Makepeace Thackeray (the author of Vanity Fair), published an IVANHOE fan-fiction named “Rebecca and Rowena: A Romance Upon Romance.”

But in order to make Wilfred and Rebecca’s union possible, Mister Thackeray made Rowena a hateful woman, always reminding her husband that Rebecca loved him, then Mister Thackeray killed Rowena (Wilfred marries Rebecca after Rowena’s death) and his worst crime, Mister Thackeray made Rebecca convert into Christianity, which was, in no way, a good idea... Rebecca is, until today, so much admired precisely because she was not willing to renounce her faith in order to live a more advantageous life. Shame on you Mister Thackeray, shame on you!

The Italian composer, Gioachino Rossini, was smarter in adapting IVANHOE to an opera of the same name. He merged Rowena and Rebecca into one character named Leila:

The plot, derived from Sir Walter Scott, takes place in Great Britain and involves the enmity between the Saxons and Normans in the 12th century, with Ivanhoe (tenor) being the (disguised) son of the Saxon Cedric (baritone), enemy of Norman Brian de Boisguilbert (bass). The Muslims Ismael (baritone) and his daughter Leila (soprano) take refuge in Cedric’s castle, since Boisguilbert is pursuing them and is in love with Leila. All ends well when Ivanhoe duels with and kills Boisguilbert, and Leila turns out to be Edith, long-lost daughter of Olric, the last descendant of the Saxon kings. Ivanhoe and Edith are allowed to wed, with Saxons and Normans joining together in celebration against the French invaders.

[Source]

It’s not perfect, but it’s better than Mister Thackeray’s disproportionate contempt against Rowena....

My dear Rebecca, daughter of Isaac of York, has always, in my mind, been one of these; nor can I ever believe that such a woman, so admirable, so tender, so heroic, so beautiful, could disappear altogether before such another woman as Rowena, that vapid, flaxen−headed creature, who is, in my humble opinion, unworthy of Ivanhoe, and unworthy of her place as heroine. Had both of them got their rights, it ever seemed to me that Rebecca would have had the husband, and Rowena would have gone off to a convent and shut herself up, where I, for one, would never have taken the trouble of inquiring for her.

—Rebecca and Rowena: A Romance Upon Romance - William Makepeace Thackeray

And it gets even worse....

Sounds familiar?

Bois-Gilbert - Rebecca - Wilfred

This is the most tragic of the love triangles from the IVANHOE, because Bois-Gilbert’s passion for Rebecca was unrequited, because Rebecca’s infatuation with Wilfred was also unrequited, and because despite Wilfred’s physical attraction to Rebecca, he expressed more passion for chivalry itself than for Rebecca, and because he hadn't forgotten his love for Rowena either (He mentioned Rowena’s name in every dialogue he had with Rebecca). Not to mention the evident change in his demeanor towards Rebecca after knowing she was a Jewess.

Wilfred performed an grand gesture of gallantry for Rebecca near the end of the story, but he did it mostly for the love of chivalry itself than for her. He was enamoured of being a true knight and Rebecca played the part of the perfect maiden in distress. But when he opened his eyes from that fantasy, he chose a peaceful domestic life at his homeland with his first love Rowena.

This conflict of the heart was also reflected in King Richard - Coeur de Lion, when he, thanks to Wilfred’s insistence, decided to reveal his true identity at last and renounced to the fantasy of being a knight errant in order to do his duty as King and rule his country.

But Rebecca remained in Wilfred’s mind as a frequent memory, she represents the recurrent fantasy of an adventurous life as a knight errant in foreign lands.

WITCHERY

And here comes the third scene from Rebecca that reminded me of Sansa. The accusations and rumors of witchery.

Bois-Gilbert’s overflowed passion for Rebecca made him commit serious mistakes, and the worst of them was taking her to Templestowe. He, a knight Templar, who vowed to remain unmarried, took a young girl to a preceptory of his Order, secretly and without the allowance of his superiors.

And when the presence of the young beautiful Jewess Rebecca at Templestowe was known to everyone in the Order, since the Templars didn’t want to soil their reputation as decent devoted men, they decided to blame the girl:

If we were told that such a man, so honoured, and so honourable, suddenly casting away regard for his character, his vows, his brethren, and his prospects, had associated to himself a Jewish damsel, wandered in this lewd company through solitary places, defended her person in preference to his own, and, finally, was so utterly blinded and besotted by his folly, as to bring her even to one of our own preceptories, what should we say but that the noble knight was possessed by some evil demon, or influenced by some wicked spell?

—IVANHOE: A Romance

The Templars used Rebecca’s healing abilities against her and declared her a witch.

They even forged false testimonies, twisting real facts in order to accuse her of witchery:

Not to be behind his companion, this fellow stated that he had seen Rebecca perch herself upon the parapet of the turret, and there take the form of a milk-white swan, under which appearance she flitted three times round the castle of Torquilstone; then again settle on the turret, and once more assume the female form.

—IVANHOE: A Romance

This passage about Rebecca morphing into a swan and flying from a castle turret, reminded me of the folk legends that were born after the Purple Wedding about Sansa morphing into a direwolf or winged wolf, and then flying away from a tower window:

“I forgot, you’ve been hiding under a rock. The northern girl. Winterfell’s daughter. We heard she killed the king with a spell, and afterward changed into a wolf with big leather wings like a bat, and flew out a tower window. But she left the dwarf behind and Cersei means to have his head.”

—A Storm of Swords - Arya XIII

“The dwarf’s wife did the murder with him,” swore an archer in Lord Rowan’s livery. “Afterward, she vanished from the hall in a puff of brimstone, and a ghostly direwolf was seen prowling the Red Keep, blood dripping from his jaws.”

—A Storm of Swords - Jaime VII

Despite all the false accusations against her, Rebecca persisted in her innocence and demanded a trial by combat. If her champion lost, Rebecca would have been burned at the stake.

Rebecca’s trial at Templestowe got me thinking about the possibility of Sansa being put on trial. Her head is wanted for the kingslaying of Joffrey after all, and all those folk tales about her were born precisely after Joffrey’s death....

TRIAL BY COMBAT

Rebecca’s trial by combat is one of the last events of IVANHOE. The Templars’ champion was Bois-Gilbert, and at the last moment, after Isaac's pleas, Wilfred, still in recovery from his wounds, went to Templestowe to be Rebecca's champion.

At the end, Wilfred didn’t do much because in the middle of his fight against Bois-Gilbert, the Templar died. He just died. Probably from a heart attack. Very accurate, since his passion for Rebecca was always unrequited, undesired by her and impossible by their circumstances. A doomed passion.

And this trial by combat of course reminded me of the very particular trial by combat depicted in The Hedge Knight, more precisely, a Trial of Seven. Seven champions against seven champions. One party in favor of Dunk, accused of hitting a royal although while defending a young maiden from the abuse of said royal. The other party in favor of Prince Aerion Targaryen who broke the fingers of the Dornish puppeteer Tanselle, after she played a tale where a puppet knight killed a puppet dragon....

Dunk didn’t get to find seven champions to fight for him, the trial was about to start and he had only six champions, but at the last moment, a “Black Knight” came to fight in his favor. Said “Black Knight” was Prince Baelor Targaryen, the Prince of Dragonstone himself, willing to fight against his own blood, because Dunk’s claim was fair. Baelor was a real true knight, in the same fashion of King Richard - Coeur de Lion, fighting against the Norman lords that favored his brother Prince John.

And while Bois-Gilbert was the unexpected death in IVANHOE, Prince Baelor Targaryen was the unexpected death in The Hedge Knight. The only thing in which they can be compared, since Bois-Gilbert was the main villain of IVANHOE, while Prince Baelor was a real true knight. It must have been his maternal Dornish blood.

WHEN DO YOU EVER FIND FOLLY SEPARATED FROM VALOUR?

Knight and fool imagery

Art credit: Milo Winter

IVANHOE is not only full of love triangles, but it’s also full of knights that are truly fools and fools that are truly knights.

As I said before, if you want to find the real true knights of the story you need to look in the direction of Wamba, the actual fool, and Gurth, the swineherd. They were also slaves, property of Cedric the Saxon, which made their role as true knights even more compelling.

Meanwhile the supposed true knights....

Look at De Bracy’s foolish delusions of being a true knight through deception:

“I tell thee,” answered De Bracy, “that it will be the work of a few hours [abducting Rowena], and I shall be at York at the head of my daring and valorous fellows, as ready to support any bold design as thy policy can be to form one. But I hear my comrades assembling, and the steeds stamping and neighing in the outer court. Farewell. I go, like a true knight, to win the smiles of beauty.”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

Now look at Wamba the fool, teaching some lessons to King Richard - Coeur de Lion, still disguised as the Black Knight:

“Content you, Sir Knight, it is in safe keeping. When valour and folly travel, folly should bear the horn, because she can blow the best.”

“Nay but, rogue,” said the Black Knight, “this exceedeth thy license. Beware ye tamper not with my patience.”

“Urge me not with violence, Sir Knight,” said the Jester, keeping at a distance from the impatient champion, “or folly will show a clean pair of heels, and leave valour to find out his way through the wood as best he may.”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

Here we can see how Wamba the fool, was more observant and watchful of their surroundings than Coeur de Lion:

“You will not harm me, then?” said Wamba.

“I tell thee no, thou knave!”

“Ay, but pledge me your knightly word for it,” continued Wamba, as he approached with great caution.

“My knightly word I pledge; only come on with thy foolish self.”

“Nay, then, valour and folly are once more boon companions,” said the Jester, coming up frankly to the Knight’s side; “but, in truth, I love not such buffets as that you bestowed on the burly Friar, when his holiness rolled on the green like a king of the nine-pins. And now that folly wears the horn, let valour rouse himself and shake his mane; for, if I mistake not, there are company in yonder brake that are on the look-out for us.”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

More words of wisdom from Wamba the fool:

“What, Wamba, art thou there?” said Richard; “I have been so long of hearing thy voice, I thought thou hadst taken flight.”

“I take flight!” said Wamba; “when do you ever find folly separated from valour? There lies the trophy of my sword, that good grey gelding, whom I heartily wish upon his legs again, conditioning his master lay there houghed in his place. It is true, I gave a little ground at first, for a motley jacket does not brook lance-heads as a steel doublet will. But if I fought not at sword’s point, you will grant me that I sounded the onset.”

“And to good purpose, honest Wamba,” replied the King. “Thy good service shall not be forgotten.”

—IVANHOE: A Romance

The knight and fool imagery was also present in Arthurian Legends, as we can see here:

Dagonet, the fool, whom Gawain in his mood Had made mock-knight of Arthur’s Table Round, At Camelot, high above the yellowing woods, Danced like a withered leaf before the hall. And toward him from the hall, with harp in hand, And from the crown thereof a carcanet Of ruby swaying to and fro, the prize Of Tristram in the jousts of yesterday, Came Tristram, saying, “Why skip ye so, Sir Fool?”

(...)

And little Dagonet on the morrow morn, High over all the yellowing Autumn-tide, Danced like a withered leaf before the hall. Then Tristram saying, “Why skip ye so, Sir Fool?” Wheeled round on either heel, Dagonet replied, “Belike for lack of wiser company; Or being fool, and seeing too much wit Makes the world rotten, why, belike I skip To know myself the wisest knight of all.”

—The Last Tournament, Idylls of the King - Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1859 - 1885)

A tournament? A fool and a knight? It seems that not only IVANHOE has influenced GRRM to write about tourneys, fools and knights.

This fool and knight imagery is very present in ASOIAF, not only in the main books but also in The Hedge Knight.

The story about Florian and Jonquil is an important theme in The Hedge Knight novella, in parallel with the tourney. The story of Dunk’s infatuation with the Dornish puppeteer Tanselle develops around the knight and fool imagery from the tale of Florian and Jonquil that Tanselle performed with her puppets at Ashford Meadow.

This morning the puppeteers were doing the tale of Florian and Jonquil. The fat Dornishwoman was working Florian in his armor made of motley, while the tall girl held Jonquil’s strings. “You are no knight,” she was saying as the puppet’s mouth moved up and down. “I know you. You are Florian the Fool.”

“I am, my lady,” the other puppet answered, kneeling. “As great a fool as ever lived, and as great a knight as well.”

“A fool and a knight?” said Jonquil. “I have never heard of such a thing.”

“Sweet lady,” said Florian, “all men are fools, and all men are knights, where women are concerned.”

It was a good show, sad and sweet both, with a sprightly swordfight at the end, and a nicely painted giant. When it was over, the fat woman went among the crowd to collect coins while the girl packed away the puppets.

Dunk collected Egg and went up to her.

“M'lord?” she said, with a sideways glance and a half-smile. She was a head shorter than he was, but still taller than any other girl he had ever seen.

“That was good,” Egg enthused. “I like how you make them move, Jonquil and the dragon and all. I saw a puppet show last year, but they moved all jerky. Yours are more smooth.”

“Thank you,” she told the boy politely.

Dunk said, “Your figures are well carved too. The dragon, especially. A fearsome beast. You make them yourself?”

She nodded. “My uncle does the carving. I paint them.”

“Could you paint something for me? I have the coin to pay.” He slipped the shield off his shoulder and turned it to show her. “I need to paint something over the chalice.”

The girl glanced at the shield, and then at him.

“What would you want painted?”

Dunk had not considered that. If not the old man’s winged chalice, what? His head was empty. Dunk the lunk, thick as a castle wall. “I don’t … I’m not certain.” His ears were turning red, he realized miserably.

“You must think me an utter fool.”

She smiled. “All men are fools, and all men are knights.”

—The Hedge Knight

The night after the first day of the tourney Prince Aerion Targaryen assaulted Tanselle. Alerted by Egg, Dunk struck Aerion in defense of the girl.

Dunk was imprisoned after the incident for striking the prince, but Dunk claimed he was only following the knightly vows to defend the weak and innocent. That was the reason why Aerion demanded a trial of seven to clear his name. Prince Daeron Targaryen also claimed to have been injured by Dunk, so Daeron made a claim against Dunk as well.

Dunk, who was often called Dunk the lunk (short for “lunkhead,” a fool), probably a bastard, someone not allowed to damage any royal, defended the weak and innocent even against an evil prince, because that’s what true knights must do. That night at Ashford Meadow, Dunk became a de facto knight.

Dunk was a fool to strike a prince but he was also a true knight to defend the innocent girl. Dunk became Florian the Fool.

In the main books, the character most associated with knight and fool imagery and Florian and Jonquil is Sansa Stark.

The stories about Florian and Jonquil are Sansa Stark’s favorite songs:

“Father, I only just now remembered, I can’t go away, I’m to marry Prince Joffrey.” She tried to smile bravely for him. “I love him, Father, I truly truly do, I love him as much as Queen Naerys loved Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, as much as Jonquil loved Ser Florian. I want to be his queen and have his babies.” —A Game of Thrones - Sansa III

She pulled a chair close to the hearth, took down one of her favorite books, and lost herself in the stories of Florian and Jonquil, of Lady Shella and the Rainbow Knight, of valiant Prince Aemon and his doomed love for his brother’s queen. —A Game of Thrones - Sansa IV

Home, she thought, home, he is going to take me home, he’ll keep me safe, my Florian. The songs about Florian and Jonquil were her very favorites. Florian was homely too, though not so old. —A Clash of Kings - Sansa II

Sansa Stark has these stories and songs so deep in her heart that she resorts to them at crucial moments.

Indeed, when Sansa defended and saved Dontos Hollard’s life, she used the knight and fool imagery to reason with Joffrey.

The king stood. “A cask from the cellars! I’ll see him drowned in it.” Sansa heard herself gasp. “No, you can’t.” Joffrey turned his head. “What did you say?” Sansa could not believe she had spoken. Was she mad? To tell him no in front of half the court? She hadn’t meant to say anything, only … Ser Dontos was drunk and silly and useless, but he meant no harm. “Did you say I can’t? Did you?” “Please,” Sansa said, “I only meant … it would be ill luck, Your Grace … to, to kill a man on your name day.” “You’re lying,” Joffrey said. “I ought to drown you with him, if you care for him so much.” “I don’t care for him, Your Grace.” The words tumbled out desperately. “Drown him or have his head off, only … kill him on the morrow, if you like, but please … not today, not on your name day. I couldn’t bear for you to have ill luck … terrible luck, even for kings, the singers all say so …” Joffrey scowled. He knew she was lying, she could see it. He would make her bleed for this. “The girl speaks truly,” the Hound rasped. “What a man sows on his name day, he reaps throughout the year.” His voice was flat, as if he did not care a whit whether the king believed him or no. Could it be true? Sansa had not known. It was just something she’d said, desperate to avoid punishment. Unhappy, Joffrey shifted in his seat and flicked his fingers at Ser Dontos. “Take him away. I’ll have him killed on the morrow, the fool.” “He is,” Sansa said. “A fool. You’re so clever, to see it. He’s better fitted to be a fool than a knight, isn’t he? You ought to dress him in motley and make him clown for you. He doesn’t deserve the mercy of a quick death.” The king studied her a moment. “Perhaps you’re not so stupid as Mother says.” He raised his voice. “Did you hear my lady, Dontos? From this day on, you’re my new fool. You can sleep with Moon Boy and dress in motley.“ — A Clash of Kings - Sansa I

Sansa was a fool to defy a king but she was also a true knight to defend the innocent drunkard knight. Sansa became Florian the Fool.

Littlefinger took advantage of this event and Sansa’s love for those stories and sent Dontos Hollard, a defenestrated knight turned fool, a poor version of the legendary Florian, to help Sansa escape King’s Landing.

“I prayed to the gods for a knight to come save me,” she said. “I prayed and prayed. Why would they send me a drunken old fool?” […] “The singers say there was another fool once who was the greatest knight of all…” “Florian,” Sansa whispered. A shiver went through her. “Sweet lady, I would be your Florian,” Dontos said humbly, falling to his knees before her. […] “I vow, with your father’s gods as witness, that I shall send you home.” He swore. A solemn oath, before the gods. “Then…I will put myself in your hands, ser.”

—A Clash of Kings - Sansa II

Sansa can easily play the role of the fair Jonquil, but Dontos was a false Florian only pretending under Littlefinger’s commands in exchange for gold.

Read more about Sansa Stark, the tourney at Ashford meadow and Florian and Jonquil in this post:

THE BLACK PRINCE WITH THE WHITE GUARDIAN - Jon Snow, Sansa Stark, the Tourney at Ashford Meadow and the songs about Florian and Jonquil.

MISCELLANY

Art credit: Frank E. Schoonover

And finally a less detailed little list of parallels and similarities between IVANHOE and ASOIAF that I found during my re-read:

The tourney at Ashby had a political background

Prince John and his Normand lords organized the tourney in order to gain the love of the natives of England by giving them entertainment in the form of sport games: jousting and melee. Prince John was conspiring to usurp the Throne of his brother Coeur de Lion:

In this manner did Prince John endeavour to lay the foundation of a popularity, which he was perpetually throwing down by some inconsiderate act of wanton aggression upon the feelings and prejudices of the people.

—IVANHOE: A Romance

This is repeated in The Hedge Knight and The Mystery Knight.

In the first tale, The Hedge Knight, the tourney at Ashford Meadow was organized to let Prince Valarr Targaryen shine in the jousting. His father Prince Baelor Targaryen was a renowned jouster, unlike Valarr, who, very curiously, only got easy adversaries during the lists.

In the third tale, The Mystery Knight, the tourney at Whitewalls was organized by rebels supporters of the Blackfyres. It was supposed to mark the start of the Second Blackfyre Rebellion, leaded by Dameon II Blackfyre, who first appeared in the tourney as the the hedge knight John the Fiddler.

The ancient English word “anon”

Before IVANHOE, I had only read the word “anon” in ASOIAF. The word is only repeated three times in a couple of Jon’s chapters from ADWD:

"You could dance with me, you know. It would be only courteous. You danced with me anon." "Anon?" teased Jon. "When we were children." She tore off a bit of bread and threw it at him. "As you know well."

—A Dance with Dragons - Jon X

A snowflake danced upon the air. Then another. Dance with me, Jon Snow, he thought. You'll dance with me anon.

—A Dance with Dragons - Jon XII

But in IVANHOE is plenty used, since the books was published in 1819. And I also read the word in some other ancient works cited here: Le Morte D'Arthur by Thomas Malory (1485) and Idylls of the King by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1859 - 1885).

Character names

GRRM has used some of the IVANHOE character names in ASOIAF. Here a few examples:

Cedric the Saxon: Ser Cedric Payne, cousin of our dear wee Podrick Payne.

Brother Ambrose: There is plenty of Ambrose-s in ASOIAF, The Sworn Sword and the Mystery Knight. Here is one of them: As for Elinor, she was promised to a young squire, a son of Lord Ambrose; they would be wed as soon as he won his spurs. —A Storm of Swords - Sansa II

Wat Tyrrel: There is plenty of Wat-s in ASOIAF and The Sworn Sword. And Tyrrel sounds pretty similar to Tyrell.

Tybalt: In IVANHOE, Wamba the fool sang a song with these lines: “O Tybalt, love, Tybalt, awake me not yet” - “Compared with these visions, O, Tybalt, my love?” - “But think not I dreamt of thee, Tybalt, my love.” Tybalt sounds pretty similar to Tybolt, and there was a Tybolt Lannister in The Hedge Knight.

Rowena: In the Appendix of AGOT we find out that Lady Rowena Arryn was the cousin and second wife of Jon Arryn.

And this is the end.

See you anon!

#IVANHOE #ASOIAF #Sansa Stark #jonsa #GRRM #Sir Walter Scott #Alayne Stone #Queen of Love and Beauty #Tourney at Ashby-de-la-Zouche #Tourney at Ashford Meadow #The Hedge Knight #Knight and Fool Imagery #Florian and Jonquil #Tourney at Harrenhal #The Knight of the Laughing Tree

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