The Function of Food and Dinner in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. (Marije Pots)

It would almost seem like a therapy session: to ask someone to close his or her eyes, and imagine the Middle Ages. Just visualising it would not be enough, however. You should be able to feel it, smell it, as if you are part of a painting which suddenly comes alive. What would you dream of? Would you work the fields with the peasants, or visit a nobleman’s house? Not a very difficult question, you would say. But then this one: Would you want to be in Robin Hood’s band, or be one of King Arthur’s knights? There the choice would be harder to make. Let’s pick the last one, since the courtly luxury of the otherwise so dark and gloomy Middle Ages would almost certainly appeal to many. You would probably picture Camelot, the large and beautiful castle of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. You would walk through the long and narrow passageways, illuminated by torches, which all come out onto a huge hall, with the highest ceiling, like a church. There would be very magnificently decorated tapestries hanging from the walls, and long tables standing in the middle of the chamber. Many people, barons, dukes, knights and ladies, wearing the most beautiful clothes, would occupy the tables, which are filled with so many different kinds of food, that one could hardly see the plates anymore. It would closely resemble a dining scene from one of the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling, where everyone is seated in a large hall, treated to the dishes they love most, and where the persons of highest importance are seated upon some kind of platform. In this medieval dream, one of the persons on the dais is dressed most superbly, and has a distinguished air around him. You will know in an instant, as if you have already seen him before, that this is King Arthur. Although everything seems perfect, and the food looks so delicious you could almost taste it yourself, the king is not eating, nor are most of the people in the hall. Everybody knows that there will not be any filling of their empty stomachs, until King Arthur, and with him all of them, has been entertained.

This daydream is not just an anecdote that has blindly been picked out of a huge pile of Arthurian stories. The whole picture which has just been drawn here recurs in one Arthurian romance after another. The poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a very splendid example of this[1]. In this work, King Arthur’s reluctance to start eating without having been entertained is described very elaborately. The author makes known to us that the legendary king:

This interesting fact, together with the explicit dinners and dining customs which surround it, has been allotted quite a large number of lines in this work. In fact, the Gawain-poet has dedicated a considerably large part of the poem to food, dinner and dining customs. To find out the exact function and significance of these meals in relation to the narrative of SGGK, I will give a detailed analysis of all the passages in this poem in which food plays a part. Eventually, I hope to show that all the meals and dinners described in this Arthurian romance have been assigned a specific role by its author. The analysis of this work, written by a very talented but unknown medieval author, will show that if “literary motifs and devices should be as rich and varied as courses of a banquet, then” this romancer gave “us no less of a treat than the one [his] fictional hosts provide for their guests” (Putter 1995, 54-55).

There are several things which I wish to discuss in order to draw a clearer picture of food and dinner in SGGK. In order to keep a clear view of everything that is going on in the poem, I will discuss the food scenes and everything which has something to do with them in textual order. The Gawain-poet has divided the poem into four sections, or fitts, and I will follow this example in my paper. In the first chapter I will examine the first fitt. Here, the story takes place at King Arthur’s court, and I will discuss the Christmas dinner scene, the king’s peculiar habit, the arrival of the Green Knight and the decapitation of this apparition.

In the second chapter, the focus will move away from the New Year’s Day dinner at Camelot in fitt I, to Sir Gawain’s farewell party in fitt II. The knight’s quest for the Green Chapel, his arrival at castle Hautdesert and his stay there during the Christmas festivities fill the remainder of the section and as such also of this chapter. Practically each event during the first half of the story involves a scene in which food plays a role. Most of the dinner scenes in this fitt take place at the castle of Sir Bertilak, but there are also interesting scenes which take place outside the safety of the castle. I will examine the way the feasts are portrayed by the Gawain-poet, and the action which takes place during these dinner scenes.

In the third chapter of this paper, I will discuss the third section of the poem, which describes the exchange of winnings, in which both Sir Bertilak’s hunting and Sir Gawain’s adventures at the castle include some interesting scenes in which food plays a role. In the fourth chapter, I will discuss the final section of SGGK, in which the number of references to food and dinner diminishes drastically. The fourth fitt opens with the morning on which Sir Gawain has to meet the Green Knight. His journey to the Green Chapel, the fulfilment of the exchange of blows game and his return to Camelot hardly contain any references to food. As this stands in contrast to the abundance of food in the remainder of the poem, it is all the more interesting to find out the meaning of this reduction. In the final chapter of this paper I will therefore present my conclusions.

Now the time has come to go back to the dream about knights, castles and wonderful feasts. Try to go back in time and imagine everything so vividly that you can almost smell the various dishes on the tables. The dining table filled with the loveliest dishes which even the king would only have been able to taste during such a special day as Christmas, would surely have made everyone’s mouth water. In the poem this dinner is described in considerable detail:

Imagine having all of this lovely food in front of you, all the meat, fish, poultry, fruits, drinks and desserts, and add a huge rumbling in your stomach to it. If you follow the king’s example, however, you will not even be allowed to take a sip of wine, let alone eat a crumb of bread. So, please, let the entertainment begin before we all starve!

SGGK opens with a description of Britain’s foundation by Felix Brutus, the isle’s first king. Many kings have followed in his footsteps, none of whom have been as honourable as King Arthur: “Bot of alle þat here bult, of Bretaygne kynges / Ay wat3 Arthur þe hendest, as I haf herde telle” (“But of all who lived here, of the kings of Britain, Arthur, as I’ve heard tell, was the noblest ever”, l. 25-26). Therefore, it is this leader and his knights of whom the Gawain-poet has chosen to relate. Presumably as a means to explain King Arthur’s claim to the title “þe hendest”, the author has chosen to depict the king and his men during a season filled with joviality and mirth: the first fitt takes place at Camelot during the Christmas festivities. Although the first fitt is the shortest in the poem, it includes more lines on food, dining and dinner customs than any of the other three fitts. Almost twenty percent of the section is concerned with this topic (see Figure 1). This shows that dining plays a major role in this part of the poem, and therefore I will use this first chapter to take a better look at each line in the first fitt which is concerned with dinner traditions. On the whole, the first fitt can be divided into three topics which are in harmony with the food and dining, namely the dinner traditions at Camelot, King Arthur’s “no adventure – no dinner” custom, in which he “wolde not ete til al were serued”, and the reception of the Green Knight, or rather the hospitality shown towards him.

	Total of Lines	Stanzas	Lines Concerning Dinner	Percentage
Fitt I	490	21	90	18,4 %
Fitt II	635	24	57	9 %
Fitt III	872	34	34	3,9 %
Fitt IV	533	22	1	0,2 %

Dinner Inventory: the percentage of lines dedicated to food, dining and dinner customs in each fitt.

The first fitt takes place at a hibernal Camelot during Christmas time, but there is much more to the story than that. The length of the Christmas festivities for King Arthur and his entourage, for example, differs considerably from what we are used to nowadays, with Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. Medieval Camelot overflows with celebrating knights and ladies expecting the most exquisite food and the best behaviour from the host from Christmas Eve until the beginning of January: “Þe fest wat3 ilyche ful fiften dayes, / With alle þe mete and þe mirþe þat men couþe avyse” (“The celebrations went on continuously for fully fifteen days, with all the feasting and merry-making which could be devised”, l. 44-45). The Gawain-poet rushes through these two weeks, and only slows down to describe the celebrations on New Year’s Day, but these two lines alone are enough to imagine all the joy the occupants and visitors of Camelot have during the remainder of the holiday. Derek Brewer thinks that the number of days has not been picked randomly: “The fifteen days of Arthur’s feast is the traditional Arthurian and romance period. ‘Fifteen’ is a ‘magic’ number from long back, found in Middle English religious formulas as well as in the period of feasts” (Brewer 1997, 137). The narrator of SGGK, however, limits himself to describing the proceedings during New Year’s Day.

At the beginning of the poem the reader is promised a wonder: “Forþi an aunter in erde I attle to schawe, / Þat a selly in si3t summe men hit holden, / And an outrage awenture of Arthure3 wondere3” (“And so I mean to unfold an actual adventure, such that some men consider it a veritable marvel, and an extraordinary episode from the strange tales of Arthur”, l. 27-29). This marvel is provided on New Year’s Day, which, however, commences without a foreboding of the adventures that will come later on. “Wyle Nw 3er wat3 so 3ep þat hit wat3 nwe cummen, / Þat day doubble on þe dece wat3 þe douth serued” (“While New Year was so young that it had just newly arrived, on the day itself the company was served with redoubled splendour at table”, l. 60-61). It begins as a day picked out of the fifteen before mentioned due to its “redoubled splendour” at the dinner table. The description of all the proceedings surrounding dinner in the great hall is splendid in itself. It seems as if nothing is forgotten.

Throughout the first fitt, the Gawain-poet mentions washing, table-seating, manner of serving, the food itself, and even the behaviour of the diners. Several of these matters are to be found in the following description:

Although the mentioning of merry-making and the table-seating will here seem most interesting, there also is a phrase in the above quotation with a certain hygienic significance attached to it: “When þay had waschen worþyly”. Washing your hands before dinner is still a widely-spread custom, but that does not mean that one would mention it in a book. In the poem, the diners are not served individually, but have to share food with their direct neighbour, a custom to which even the king and his noble guests are used. One should note that “napkins, like forks, were not used at this time” and therefore “the cleanliness of one’s neighbour’s fingers was a matter of personal interest” (Tannahil 1973, 90 and 192). This shows that the washing of hands certainly is no luxury, and reflects the court’s status and its adherence to etiquette.

Something else which was in common use during the Middle Ages is the high table, of old a conventional table arrangement. The author’s description of Guinevere gives a further insight into this tradition:

A description of the table-seating comes in conveniently for the audience, who are now enabled to picture the table seating in the Great Hall, and who are given a clear view of the main characters of the poem. The only noble person mentioned so far is Queen Guinevere and her appearance clarifies a mystery: the absence of the famous Round Table, normally a common feature of Arthurian literature. The Gawain-poet does mention the Round Table several times, but the object itself does not belong to the furniture in the Great Hall. In the poem, King Arthur is referred to as “þe ryche ryal kyng of þe Rounde Table” (“the right royal king of the Round Table”, l. 313 and 538), and the symbol in itself is twice linked with revelry and renown. Due to the mentioning of Queen Guinevere one no longer needs to ponder the omission of the visual object from the dinner scene. As Derek Brewer points out in A Companion to the Gawain-Poet, “in real life, as in medieval poems, the presence of ladies was one of the delights of the feast. Only in the original primitive twelfth-century Arthurian fantasy of the Round Table, designed to prevent quarrels over precedence, were there no seats for ladies” (1997, 142). During such a festival as Christmas, the absence of ladies would be unimaginable, which might explain the absence of the Round Table. The Gawain-poet may have chosen to mention Queen Guinevere first when referring to the noble persons placed on the dais in order to denote the attendance of ladies, and as such to increase the knights’ joy and mirth. They might have thought that a splendid meal is all the more marvellous in the presence of women.

A few stanza’s further into the poem, the poet unveils the identity of the male guests placed at the high table:

The illustration of table seating is here completed. Sir Gawain, the main character throughout the following three fitts, is allotted a place on the dais as well, in fact, he is graced with a seat beside the queen. He is allotted this seat both due to his prowess as a knight and his kinship to the king. The above quotation shows that the dais serves partly as a token of reputation: “Sitting along one long side of this high table, the honored could see and be seen by all others who sat in descending order of social rank on benches or stools at long tables” (Cosman 1976, 16). Therefore, as a host it is important to pay close attention to the selection of the guests who will be allowed to sit on the dais. Especially during a festivity such as Christmas “verbinden die Mahlzeiten die Teilnehmer zu engerer Gemeinschaft” (Wiswe 1970, 85). The best agreements can be made within these joyful circumstances. Besides that, a host can assert his authority by selecting or rather by passing over certain guests when arranging table seating. This shows that dinners “served as a binding social function, and provided a site for the display and propagation of power” (Weber 1998, 151-53). They enable King Arthur to show everyone in the Great Hall which nobleman he looks upon with dignity, and which one has fallen from his grace. Bishop Bawdewyn, seated next the king, certainly belongs to the first group, because “hoe dichter bij de heer, hoe eervoller. Aan het Engelse hof heette de plaats onmiddellijk rechts van de koning de reward ” (Uytven 1998, 154).

After the Gawain-poet has made the reader acquainted with the seating arrangement, he turns to a description of the food, or rather the abundance of it:

Even for a wealthy medieval person, there is not always much food to obtain, and “dergelijke rituele schranspartijen waren om zo te zeggen een wraakneming voor de vele dagen van kommer en kwel en van verplichte soberheid” (Uytven 1998, 154). Among the inventory of this New Year’s Day dinner, beer and wine are mentioned as well. Nowadays, these drinks would always turn an ordinary dinner into a feast, but one should note that during the Middle Ages these beverages replaced water as a necessity of life, because that liquid mostly was of poor quality or simply not on hand. Therefore, it is important to remember that “veel middeleeuwers in de eerste plaats wijn dronken om hun dorst te lessen en hun maaltijden door te spoelen en dus niet als fijnproevers” (Uytven 1998, 23). However, the fact that the author mentions “Good ber and bry3t wyn,” which King Arthur and his men only drink on special occasions, denotes that the diners surely try to escape the “verplichte soberheid.” This is illustrated by the rare dishes, the loud music and the splendid decoration of the Great Hall, as well as by the joyous atmosphere which follows from this.

In this splendid account of the dinner which King Arthur and his entourage are served, Derek Brewer is struck by the fact that the Gawain-poet has omitted “the kitchen accounts, the hundreds of animals, birds, fishes, the floods of wine and beer”, but he does add that “the visual splendour which all celebratory ceremonial aims at, is warmly conveyed” (Brewer 1991, 19-20). In fact, these kitchen accounts would not be able to compete with the effect that the dinner scene now has on both the readers and the diners. The joy and mirth which emanate from the festivities so vividly described by the Gawain-poet predominate the beginning of the first fitt. So far, everyone seems happy, and who would not be content in such an environment? The food and drink are plentiful, everybody is seated according to protocol, good manners are emphasised, the knights are accompanied by their women and the feast lasts for two weeks. The marvel which had been promised at the very beginning of the poem will, however, test the strength and duration of the joyous atmosphere during the remainder of the fitt.

Judging the dinner scene which has just been discussed, one would assume that all the diners would now set upon the food which has been set before them, were it not that there has as yet been omitted some information which will overturn this assumption. Everything and everyone seems set for an exuberant evening filled with food and drink, but it is not as it appears. King Arthur is the one who puts a spoke in the wheel of the festivities:

Although this quotation is enacted in the poem before the food is served, King Arthur’s hunger for an adventure is by then still far from satisfied. The king’s unwillingness to eat at first sight seems to have its origin in a feeling of equality or hospitality towards his guests, because he does not want to indulge in his food before everyone has been served. Jonathan Nicholls comments on King Arthur’s behaviour that “a residing Lord at a banquet would normally expect to be served first; King Arthur inverts these normal rules of precedence, but does not act discourteously. Everything is still affected with the utmost attention to the requirements of good manner” (Nicholls 1985, 116-17). Further on during the description of King Arthur’s custom, however, it becomes clear that he also does not want to eat until he or one of his knights has proven himself an honourable member of the Round Table through a successfully accomplished task. It becomes clear here, that, although the Round Table is not tangibly present in this scene, its spirit does shine through.

Since King Arthur does not indulge in his New Year’s Day dinner, it would be logical to assume that his knights and all the ladies follow this example. However, this appears not to be so: as soon as everyone is served, “Iche lede as he loued hymselue / Þer laght withouten loþe” (“Everyone helped himself as he pleased, without stint”, l. 126-27), although a wonder has not yet taken place. The diners either do not doubt the brisk arrival of an adventure or they agree with the Gawain-poet, who calls King Arthur childish in the description of the king’s custom. This is probably due to the fact that the adventure or rather the “entertainment was [to the king] more important than the meal itself” (Swabey 1998, 140). The author also describes King Arthur as being very active, and says that he cannot remain seated for long. However, King Arthur’s decision to wait patiently until all are served, combined with the fact that the guests at the high table remain seated, gives rise to the assumption that the king is still seated after all. Derek Brewer tries to solve this apparent contradiction by suggesting that “Arthur stands politely chatting in front of High Table […] while all wait for something interesting to happen” (Brewer 1997, 137). This is a suitable possibility, as it enables the king to occupy himself gracefully until everybody is served, without the risk of insulting anyone. Besides that, King Arthur might be convinced that it is useless to be at the table as long as he has not seen a marvellous deed. The text itself, however, does not clearly state whether the king is sitting down or standing.

It becomes clear here that King Arthur’s “no adventure – no dinner” custom is “die Grundlage seiner Stellung als König, aber auch die Ursache seiner Ohnmacht”, because he can never be entirely sure when and even if a wonder will be presented to him (Köhler 1962, 208). Besides, no one knows when and even if the dinner party can be continued. After all, the amount of food presented in the remainder of the fitt depends on the outcome of this custom. The Celtic counterpart to the Middle English “maner”, the “geis”, would nowadays be looked upon as a taboo.[3] It has been assigned the following meaning: “any thing or act forbidden because of the ill luck that would result from its doing” (Nutt 1965, 213). King Arthur’s custom, however, does not seem to bring a chance of ill luck when it is broken, but rather when it is fulfilled. The danger lies in the fact that the realisation of the adventure which follows from the custom could have an unpleasant result, ranging from food that has gone cold to the death of a knight. That is, however, a risk which King Arthur and his knights must have been aware of when the tradition was introduced to their court. Whatever the consequences, the custom “formed a traditional code of chivalrous practice” (Reinhard 1933, 15) and the honour which could be gained from it overcame the fear of death or failure. This corresponds with the fact that King Arthur has assumed this tradition as a point of honour, as is stated in the description of the custom.

The Gawain-poet is not the first author to mention King Arthur’s custom, and over the years it has become a well-known characteristic of Arthurian literature, as it is a perfect means to add the appropriate suspense to the storyline, or to introduce the characters to the inhabitants of the supernatural world. Even in medieval literature outside this genre, the custom has come up for discussion. In “A Gest of Robyn Hode”, for example, Robin refuses to eat before an adventure has occurred (ed. Knight and Ohlgren 1997, 90). Returning to Arthurian literature, it becomes clear that most of the renderings of King Arthur’s custom differ largely from the version which the author of SGGK gives. In “The Turke and Gowin”, it is Sir Gawain who makes use of the tradition during his sojourn with the king of Man (ed. Hales 1968, 96). In The Quest of the Holy Grail, King Arthur had to be reminded of the custom when he “decided it was time to dine and ordered the cloths to be spread” (ed. Matarasso 1969, 34). In Lai du Cort Mantel, on the other hand, the king has to remind his knights of the tradition (ed. Rawie and Wissen 2001, 10-15). Compared to these examples, the version which we discuss here seems to be perfect, both in itself and in accordance with etiquette. Especially during Christmas time, the custom is too important for King Arthur to forget about it, no matter how delicious the food in front of him appears. The custom has become part of the court’s protocol, and apparently the deliciously cooked food tastes even better after an adventure.

King Arthur’s custom serves as an invitation to any creature roaming the earth to come to Camelot and serve the king his wonder. Whether it might be lucky or unlucky, the creature does not let the crowd in the Great Hall wait long. The Gawain-poet invokes the coming of King Arthur’s adventure as follows:

Riding into the Great Hall on his huge green horse, the visitor, clad in green and of immense size, seems to impersonate the superlative itself. This Green Knight surely must have given all the guests and occupants of Camelot a fright, especially as he seems to have come to the castle with a purpose: “Þis haþel helde3 hym in and þe halle entres, / Driuande to þe he3e dece, dut he no woþe” (“The man came forward and entered the hall, making for the high table, regardless of danger”, l. 221-22). The Green Knight immediately directs himself to the leader, and although he does not know exactly who that is, he is wise enough to ride up to the dais. Here one can find another valid reason for the absence of the Round Table. It would have made it more difficult for the Green Knight to find King Arthur and it would have made a far less spectacular sight to see the impressive stranger circling a round table. Figures 2, 3 and 4 will illustrate this. Figure 2 is a fifteenth-century illustration which shows several knights seated at a round table when King Arthur, Sir Gawain and Sir Lancelot enter the Great Hall.

Figure 3 is an illustration from the poem SGGK in the fourteenth-century manuscript Cotton Nero X.a. It depicts two separate scenes in the poem, namely the acceptation of the Green Knight’s proposal for a Christmas game as well as the beheading of the same character by Sir Gawain. The Green Knight is seated on his horse in front of the high table, behind which King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, Sir Gawain and Sir Agravain can be seen.

The dais: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. “Folio 90b” of MS Cotton Nero A.x. 14^th century.

Figure 4 shows a late fourteenth-century illustration on which Galahad has just entered the Great Hall where dinner is being served on a round table with an opening in the centre. It becomes clear here that a table seating as in Figure 2 does not give all the diners a clear vision onto the persons who have just entered the Great Hall, nor would they have had a completely free path towards for example the king. The round table with the opening as in Figure 4 already seems a much better option, although it does not seem likely that a knight on a horse could manage to ride into the middle of the table. The table-seating which has been used by the Gawain-poet indeed seems to be the perfect choice for the situation in SGGK. The open space between the side tables and the high dais serves as a red carpet which leads the Green Knight straight into the king’s arms.

The round table with an open centre: La Queste del Saint Graal. “Folio 3” of MS 343. 14^th century.

While the knight advances to the high table, he is being closely watched by everyone present: “Al studied þat þer stod, and stalked hym nerre / Wyth al þe wonder of þe worlde what he worch schulde” (“All who were standing there watched him intently, and cautiously walked closer to him with the greatest curiosity as to what he would do”, l. 237-38). The mentioning of ‘standing’ and ‘walked’ is more significant than it seems at first sight. Earlier on in the story, the noble guests were already seated at the high table, and most probably so were the guests who were allotted a seat at one of the side tables. It is stated specifically in the poem that “to answare wat3 ar3e mony aþel freke, / And al stouned at his steuen and stonstil seten / In a swoghe silence þur3 þe sale riche” (“many a noble knight was afraid to reply, and all were stunned by his words and sat stock-still in a dead silence throughout the royal hall”, l. 241-43). This picture of the Great Hall in which everyone is seated is intensified in the following lines: “Þe renk on his rouncé hym ruched in his sadel, / […] / […] for to wayte quo-so wolde ryse” (“the man on horseback twisted himself in his saddle, […] to see who would rise”, l. 303 and 306). These sentences, however, do not enhance the understanding of the lines referring to the people who are standing. The only person to be standing could have been King Arthur, because he cannot sit still for long. This notion is intensified by the fact that the Green Knight does not immediately spot the king on the dais, which normally should pose no problems, as King Arthur would probably be dressed more splendidly than any of the other diners, or would wear another token of his power. It would, however, not be fitting for a king to walk up to a stranger to take a better look at him, as some people are reported to do in the poem. Therefore, these persons most probably are the waiters who have just finished serving the food.

The Green Knight requests to speak to “þe gouernour of þis gyng” (“the ruler of this company”, l. 225), and after the first astonishment has worn off, Arthur makes himself known to the man. Although the king might be surprised or even scared, his sense of hospitality never leaves him. He behaves according to etiquette and says: “Li3t luflych adoun and lenge, I þe praye, / And quat-so þy wylle is we schal wyt after” (“Be so good as to dismount and stay with us, I beg you, and whatever your pleasure is we shall learn it later”, l. 254-55). A host “should be courtly and liberal, and receive people well, and be as nice and courteous as possible to friends and strangers” (Putter 1995, 51). Camelot is known to welcome strangers, especially during holidays. The Green Knight, however, does not return King Arthur’s good manners. He refuses the offer and immediately informs all the diners of his motives for having come to Camelot. The man does not have time “for hospitality and its rituals” and defies “the rules of hospitality that seek to convert the stranger/enemy into the guest” (Putter 1995, 88). The Green Knight “is not hampered by the restrictions of ritualised politeness,” and the Gawain-poet illustrates this by refusing to let the stranger fall in with Arthur’s hospitality (Nicholls 1985, 115). Accepting King Arthur’s proposition and delaying his game would endanger the knight’s plans for the following year. King Arthur’s request sets hospitality against the refusal of it, and as such the rules of courtly etiquette are reconfirmed to the audience of the Gawain-poet.

In the story discussed here, the Green Knight decides to express his wishes rather than to involve himself with protocol. Under the proper circumstances “the guest does not contradict the host in his own house. […] To do what the host wanted was a fundamental point of courtesy,” and the Green Knight acts in the exact opposite way (Nicholls 1985, 115). The unusual behaviour of this stranger might remind the reader of the actions of Perceval, a hero of Chrétien de Troyes’ making. Perceval rides into the Great Hall when King Arthur and his knights are dining. He rides up to the dais and greets the king. King Arthur is deep in thought, and does not answer straight away, which enrages Perceval. Thereupon, the boy insults the king, something which the Green Knight also does, as one can read further on. Aroused from his daydreams, King Arthur asks the boy to dismount, which he declines to do (ed. Bryant 1982, 11-12). It becomes clear here that both visitors to Camelot lack good manners, and especially in SGGK, the actions of the stranger clash with the well-behaved audience. It must be noted, however, that the behaviour of the Green Knight seems to be intentional, whereas Perceval does not know any better. He is as yet untutored in knighthood.

In this poem, the Green Knight follows his own desires rather than protocol. The knight wishes to play a Christmas game, in which a volunteer may strike off his head with the axe he has brought. When nobody replies to this proposition, as everyone is still overcoming the shock of the apparition’s entrance and subsequently his gothic idea of a game, the Green Knight gets enraged and starts to rant at the court which he just before complimented. This infuriates everybody on the receiving end of the insults, but King Arthur is the first to rush towards the stranger. Moments later, while both the Green Knight and the king prepare the beheading, Sir Gawain addresses King Arthur in an attempt to save his leader’s life. Spontaneity, however, is overruled by the courtly protocol, and Sir Gawain cannot act before asking permission to rise:

The noble knight continues his speech by saying that he believes it wise to exchange places with the king, as he would not be missed as much as King Arthur or any other knight when by any chance the Green Knight will survive the blow and return one to his assailant. After this proposal has democratically been approved by all the nobles, “Þen comaunded þe kyng þe kny3t for to ryse; / And he ful radly vp ros, and ruchched hym fayre, / Kneled doun before þe kyng, and cache3 þat weppen” (“then the king commanded the knight to rise from the table; and he promptly arose and courteously made ready, knelt down before the king and took the weapon”, l. 366-68). After the rules of the game have been clarified, Sir Gawain fulfils his part of the agreement: he beheads the Green Knight. This does not kill the stranger, but no one would have expected that anymore.

The first part of the exchange of blows had to be performed in order to qualify the event as an adventure, and accordingly to enable the continuation of the New Year’s Day dinner. A more gruesome pastime could hardly have been imaginable. The sight of the headless, but sprightly knight probably spoiled the appetite of many diners: “He brayde his bulk aboute, / Þat vgly bodi þat bledde; / Moni on of hym had doute” (“He twisted his trunk around, that gruesome bleeding corpse; many were afraid of him”, l. 440-42). This, however, is not the worst. The Green Knight has not had his last say, and in order to address the right person “þe hede in his honed he halde3 vp euen, / Towards þe derrest on þe dece he dresse3 þe face” (“he actually held up the head in his hand, turning the face towards the greatest nobles on the dais”, l. 444-45). Sir Gawain has seated himself at the high table again, and the stranger has to inform the knight of his whereabouts. With the last words “come, oþer recreaunt be calde þe behoues” (“Come, or you are bound to be called a coward”, l. 456), the Green Knight leaves the Great Hall and its occupants behind.

Everyone is shaken by the short but violent sojourn of the stranger, but King Arthur has to rise above that:

The host of the festivities has to set the example, and therefore treats the happenings as something comical. The joyous atmosphere left the Great Hall the moment the Green Knight appeared, and although everyone tries their best to revive the happiness, it only survives “as an emotion that is ‘made’” as is shown by the behaviour of King Arthur and Sir Gawain (Putter 1995, 75). They pretend to be unaffected by the marvel which has just occurred in front of their eyes, whereas everyone else still discusses it.

King Arthur’s behaviour, however, is necessary, because as a host one should “toon je gasten een opgetogen gelaat, want een opgewekte gastheer vervolmaakt de vreugde” (Meder 1988, 92). The guests soon follow the king’s example. The adventure indeed was marvellous, but the rediscovery of the food displayed on the tables eventually invokes the realisation that life goes on. After all, food and laughter are the perfect remedy against the pain and fear which can overcome someone during such a dismal moment as the Green Knight’s presence. Therefore, King Arthur says to Sir Gawain:

Here, it seems as if King Arthur and his knights hardly are stirred by the adventure. William R.J. Barron commends in his edition of SGGK, that the arrival of the Green Knight merely “fulfill[ed] Arthur’s expectations, and his role as challenger of the round table is formulaic” (1974, 6). After all, King Arthur was waiting for an apparition, adventure or wonder to visit him. This does not mean, however, that everyone in the Great Hall was ready for the Green Knight. Not every one is used to supernatural creatures like the stranger. After all, as William R.J. Barron wonders, what are the diners “to expect of a character quite outside their familiar experience, neither knight nor supernatural creature but a fusion of both?” (SGGK 1974, 7). They all might have known that an adventure was to arrive, but that does not mean that they had already read the scenario.

One could conclude from the information found in the first fitt that dinner and food function here as elements of joy and mirth. A perfect picture of Camelot and its inhabitants would portray happy people in a warm and intimate atmosphere, and in this section of SGGK, food always is connected to happiness. Food is a part of all the joyful festivities and the author’s vivid description of this makes the difference between the dinner scene and the arrival of the Green Knight seem all the greater. The first topic which I have discussed, the dinner traditions at Camelot, depicts a near perfect world in which food plays a central role. King Arthur’s refusal to eat, however, invokes the temporary ruin of the feast. Food no longer plays a part here, only traditions surrounding dinner. After the Green Knight’s departure, King Arthur tries to restore the previous atmosphere of the Christmas dinner, and only succeeds with the help of food. It also has become clear from this fitt that a perfect dinner goes hand in hand with good manners and etiquette. King Arthur’s court, after all, “gillt allgemein als der Ort der guten costumes” (Schmolke-Hasselmann 1980, 73). In order to portray this notion in SGGK, “the poet is at pains to stress the excellence and courtesy of Camelot at Christmas time. […] The impression that we obtain from the description of the Christmas feast is of conventional courtesy and luxury being taken to their highest level” (Nicholls 1985, 116). Eventually, it seems that the use of the correct protocol, combined with the splendid food, has resulted in happy diners.

At the end of the first fitt, the performance of the Green Knight does not seem to have affected Sir Gawain even in the slightest way. Once the stranger has left the Great Hall, the festivities continue where they had abruptly come to an end only minutes earlier. Unfortunately, the regained cheerfulness of King Arthur and his knights, whether genuine or pretence, does not survive the transition to the second fitt. Scarcely five lines into this section of the poem, the joyful atmosphere is harshly put to an end by the narrator of the story:

As soon as the time of jollity, camaraderie and unity has passed, and the seasons have come round in rapid succession, reality replaces wonder. The consequences of the Christmas game finally dawn on everyone. In the first fitt, the audience was shown the function of food and dinner in situations of happiness, wonder and even fear, whereas the second fitt offers a look onto several new situations. At the beginning of this section, the farewell party for Sir Gawain is described, in which grief predominates. The knight then departs on his quest for the Green Chapel, in which he has to endure a fair share of hunger and loneliness. Eventually, Sir Gawain finds himself in a situation in which delight again seems to prevail.

Subsequent to Sir Gawain’s encounter with the Green Knight, peace had been restored and the Great Hall had regained the joyous atmosphere which it contained the moment that the dinner was served. Unfortunately, not everything could return to normal, because “[t]ha3 hym worde3 were wane when þay to sete wenten,/ Now ar þay stoken of sturne werk, stafful her hond” (“Though matter for discussion was larking when they went to table, now they are fully occupied with serious business, their hands are cram-full”, l. 493-4). Before the arrival of the Green Knight, everyone had been talking about trivialities, such as the games which had just been played, the food which they would eat and the gifts which they received. The happenings concerning the stranger triggered the realisation that death lingers around the corner. Although no soul dared utter it, everyone must have thought that Sir Gawain would now have to go on a quest from which he would most probably not return. All the wine, beer and good food, however, pressed these thoughts to the background, because all the visitors were “mery in mynde quen þay han mayn drynk” (“light-hearted when they have drunk strong drink”, l. 497). Once the alcohol had its effect, the whole situation was looked upon more positively, and eventually the gruesome Christmas game seemed an innocent pastime and the following New Year’s Day was too far ahead to be worthy of worries.

Carefree, the seasons passed by. During spring, the events were still observed carefully, but by the arrival of summer, everything seemed forgotten. With the arrival of the colder and gloomier autumn, however, everyone regained their senses, and not before long the departure of Sir Gawain became imminent. “3et quyl Al-hal-day with Arþer he lenges; / And he made a fare on þat fest for þe freke3 sake, / With much reuel and ryche of þe Rounde Table” (“Yet until All Saint’s Day he remained with Arthur; and he made a feast on that festival for the knight’s sake, with much splendid revelry of the Round Table”, l. 536-38). A farewell party was organised for Sir Gawain. This feast, however, is practically without food, as it is only mentioned once. All the information which is given, is that everyone has dinner together. All the knights, ladies, the king and the queen are emotional because of Sir Gawain’s departure, and the description of these feelings takes up all the space devoted to the farewell party. The festivities give all the knights and ladies the opportunity to say goodbye to their companion and to take one last good look at him, without running the risk of creating too much sorrow, as the revelry would raise his spirits as well as theirs. Although everyone is sad, they try to hide it from Sir Gawain and pretend to be cheerful. Ad Putter comments on this that “face and feeling in Gawain […] are not always identical,” as was already the case at the final dinner scene in the first fitt, when the dinner guests began to regard the actions of the Green Knight as fictive (1995, 79). It becomes clear here that “joy is […] not a romantic ‘spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings’. […] It is a quality that can be acted to cover up an inner turmoil” (Putter 1995, 73). In Chrétien de Troyes’ work Yvain, joyfulness is looked upon in the same way. It can be read there that it is allowed to fake happiness: “[S]uch deceit is honorable. Joy is part and parcel of the honour due to the guest” (Putter 1995, 73). It seems as if both Yvain and SGGK can in this case be looked upon as a practical extension of the theoretical courtesy books. In the Gawain-poet’s work, this cheerful pretense is put up to prevent Sir Gawain from losing courage when seeing how distressed everyone is, and the dinner is in service of this good cause. The knight, however, seems eager to go on the quest for the Green Chapel, “for after mete with mourning he mele3 to his eme, / And speke3 of his passage” (“for after dinner he spoke with concern to his uncle, and talked of his journey”, l. 543-44). Concerned though cheerful he tells everyone that he will depart the following morning.

Once everyone happily took part in the Christmas games, and even the wondrous Green Knight had been looked upon with mirth, but now that everyone realises what has come of it, dissension is rife. All are convinced that this quest will be Sir Gawain’s last, and many disapprove of King Arthur’s custom as talk spreads of what success could have been Sir Gawain’s had he been a duke or a leader:

Eventually, everyone feels guilty for having agreed to letting Sir Gawain strike the first blow, which will send him off to his own grave. They seem to forget, however, that it could have been their king in this awkward situation, had it not been for Sir Gawain who persuaded all to let him play the game instead. Their emotions seem to turn everything around. The knights and ladies start to doubt everything they normally believe in: their pride in the court, their king, their prowess and their traditions. In order to illustrate this sense of confusion, the Gawain-poet seems to have narrowed down the description of the farewell party to create room for a description of the people’s emotions. Food and dinner do not play a part anymore, nor does comfort, because a joyful dinner stands for unity and sociability, which Camelot seems to have lost by the departure of Sir Gawain.

On the day after the farewell party, which took place on All Saints Day, Sir Gawain sets out on his quest for the Green Chapel. After an elaborate description of his armour, he departs from the Great Hall in a manner similar to that of the Green Knight: “He sperred þe sted with þe spure3 and sprong on his way, / So stif þat þe stond-fyr stroke out þerafter” (“He set spurs to the horse and sprang on his way, so vigorously that sparks were struck from the stones behind him”, l. 671-72). He has to travel for weeks on end without gaining any information concerning the whereabouts of the Green Chapel. During his journey, many adventures present themselves: “Sumwhyle with worme3 he werre3, and with wolues als, / Sumwhyle with wodwos þat woned in þe knarre3” (“Sometimes he fought with dragons, and with wolves also, sometimes with forest trolls, who lived in the rocks”, l. 720-21). At King Arthur’s court, Sir Gawain has had a pretty easy job accepting the challenge, and was “serued of alle dayntye3 double” as a reward for this. Now that the real adventure has arrived, he no longer receives a reward for the hardship he endures. In fact, to preserve his strength, the knight has to keep warm and well-nourished, which is practically impossible to put into practice as the weather worsens and food and shelter are scarce. “Oft leudle3 alone he lenge3 on ny3te3 / Þer he fonde no3t hym byfore þe fare þat he lyked” (“Often, companionless, he spent the night alone where he found no food to his liking set before him”, l. 693-94). During this part of the second fitt, there are no other references to food, neither to the abundance nor to the lack of it. The only exception is the mentioning of the creatures which Sir Gawain fights, and these might have been edible. The lack of references to food, however, perfectly befits the situation. At the beginning of the poem, food and dinner was always mentioned in the presence of happiness, and, as is seen in the scene of the farewell party, the amount of references diminished when the atmosphere became heavier and the jollity faded away. It is therefore not surprising that food is hardly mentioned during Sir Gawain’s search for the Green Chapel. The knight can now show his true feelings as there is no one around for whom he has to pretend to be cheerful. At the moment loneliness, cold and a longing for the luxurious courtly cooking are the only feelings which Sir Gawain experiences.

The lack of food and the feeling of hunger form the clear opposite of the abundance of food at Camelot. Accordingly, this can also be said of the atmosphere at both locations: “The rich indoor revels […] are effectively alternated with cruel winter realities without, and so is the gay fellowship indoors with Sir Gawain’s stark loneliness as he goes by desolate crags to seek his death” (Loomis 1959, 539). Sir Gawain’s hardship is a result of the gruesome Christmas game, of King Arthur’s “no adventure-no dinner custom”. The results of this custom can also be regarded as a way of thanking for all the luxury which King Arthur and his men would otherwise take for granted. The adventures serve as Camelot’s fast which either precedes or follows a splendid feast. It seems as if the knights are being purified by their quests for the unknown. Only a year ago, Sir Gawain was celebrating with all the other knights, his king and his queen in the Great Hall, when “Þe fest wat3 ilyche ful fiften dayes”, and now it seems that the cold reality of outdoor life has harshly woken him up from that dream. The quest for the Green Chapel shows him what life can also be like.

In the description which the Gawain-poet gives of the seasons between the Christmas festivities at C