The Custom of the Castle

📖 The Scoop

The Custom of the Castle: From Malory to Macbeth explores the enduring narrative motif of the “custom of the castle,” from its early conception by Chrétien de Troyes in twelfth-century romances to its reimagining in Renaissance literature. This study goes beyond previous interpretations that view the motif merely as heroic tests or courtly conventions, instead situating it within shifting legal and cultural contexts in France, Italy, and England. By examining key works by Sir Thomas Malory, Matteo Maria Boiardo, Ludovico Ariosto, and Edmund Spenser, this volume reveals how the motif evolved to address profound social questions regarding justice, civility, violence, and the constraints of political and social norms. In doing so, it uncovers new connections between these earlier uses and Shakespeare’s complex depiction of custom in Macbeth and other plays.

Through close readings of “vile customs” that impose moral challenges on knights and travelers, The Custom of the Castle sheds light on how narratives helped shape and critique social order, often questioning the value and origin of customs and highlighting their role in defining or subverting social structures. The book traces how chivalric tales used the “custom of the castle” to expose limits of the social and moral imagination, exploring the conflicts between individual ethics and communal norms. As the book illustrates, by the seventeenth century, castles and their customs became relics in literature, symbolizing both the grandeur and the obsolescence of old social orders. This work provides fresh insights into Renaissance literature’s engagement with the evolving concept of custom, offering a valuable resource for readers interested in the intersection of literature, law, and cultural history.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1997.

Genre: Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh (fancy, right?)