Ivanhoe

The first chapters of the novel set up much of the historical and sociocultural background of the story, depicting characters from all walks of Medieval English life as Scott explores Hierarchies of Religion, Class, and Gender in Medieval Europe. The conflict between the Normans and the Saxons—still ongoing centuries after the Norman conquest of 1066—quickly rises to the forefront of the story. After Scott’s historical sketch of this conflict, he depicts a conversation between the Saxon bondsmen Wamba and Gurth, who reflect on the feeling of displacement and disenfranchisement shared by Saxon nobles and commoners alike. Wamba, the fool, refers comically but insightfully to language differences: There are, for example, two words for pigs, a Saxon word (“swine”) for the animals when they are being raised and bred, and a Norman word (“pork”) for when they are butchered and served as food. Here, the linguistic contexts of the Saxon and Norman words reflect the power imbalance between these two peoples, as Saxon words are increasingly used in contexts of service while Norman words are used in contexts of leisure and consumption (Wamba notes a similar pattern in the distinction between Saxon “ox” and Norman “beef”).

Within this background of tense ethnic relations, the nobleman Cedric stands out for his emphatic Saxon-ness. Cedric’s servants comment on how resolutely he fights for Saxon rights and privileges. Cedric even dreams of having a Saxon monarch on the throne again, hoping to achieve this by marrying his ward Rowena (a descendant of the earlier Saxon king Alfred) to his friend Athelstane, the most high-born of the living Saxon nobles. Even the furnishings of Cedric’s home are self-consciously Saxon. Cedric is fearless even before the ruling Normans. He refuses to speak to his Norman visitors in French and even refers to the Norman Duke William, who conquered England at the Battle of Hastings, as “William the Bastard.” Of course, even the rich and proud Cedric is forced to recognize the superior power of the Normans, and this recognition sometimes angers him. He is disturbed by the bold way the Norman knight Brian de Bois-Guilbert stares at Rowena, feeling that it is duty to protect her but knowing that his own powers are limited. Similarly, he grows angry at the mention of the Norman-imposed “curfew,” and gruffy rejects the offer of his Norman visitors to supply protection for him if he travels with them to the tournament by insisting that he can protect himself in his own land.

The power of the church is illustrated in these early chapters too, above all in the character of Aymer, the rich and important Prior of the Abbey of Jorvaulx. Scott describes the ostentatious outfit and personality of the Prior in detail, noting that Aymer exceeds the luxuries permitted to his order. Aymer is clearly depicted as a Norman who is using his high social position to feed his worldly appetites. In the novel, he is only the first of several clergymen who highlight the ambivalence of the church in the Medieval Period, when piety was often used as a cover for worldly appetites and ambitions.

If Aymer represents the Medieval church, then it is the Templar Bois-Guilbert who represents the Medieval military. Bois-Guilbert embodies the theme of Chivalry as a Means of Legitimating Power: Though he is a brave, disciplined, and skilled knight, these good qualities are undermined by his obvious arrogance and cruelty—vices that Rebecca will later argue are natural outgrowths of the chivalric ideology. As a Norman, Bois-Guilbert demands Cedric’s hospitality rather than asking for it, and even when Cedric receives him warmly, he refuses to speak to him in the Saxon language. Bois-Guilbert’s affiliation with the Templar order of knights, moreover, connects him to the church as well, for all Templars were required to take religious vows, and they all wore a large cross to distinguish themselves. Bois-Guilbert thus represents the dark sides of both the church and chivalry. The Palmer, in contrast to both Aymer and Bois-Guilbert, embodies a gentler, more virtuous aspect of the church and the military, presenting himself as a humble pilgrim even though—as at least one character realizes early on—he is really a distinguished knight in disguise. Indeed, the Palmer will soon be revealed as Wilfred of Ivanhoe, the disinherited son of Cedric, foreshadowed throughout the early chapters of the novel. It soon becomes clear that there is some connection between Cedric’s son and Richard’s Crusade, a connection underscored increasingly by Rowena’s undisguised interest in news of the Crusade. Rowena’s interest, of course, stems from her affection for Cedric’s son, who was banished partly on her account—though the reader does not learn the details of this until much later. The connection between Cedric’s son and the knighthood of Ivanhoe is another example of foreshadowing—when the Palmer and Bois-Guilbert describe Ivanhoe’s valor, the reader does not yet know that the knight of Ivanhoe is actually Cedric’s son Wilfred.

The early chapters also depict the prejudice of the Europeans against non-Christians—a prejudice much more severe than even the ethnic tensions between Saxons and Normans. This prejudice is depicted chiefly in the character of the Jewish moneylender Isaac of York. When Isaac comes to Rotherwood to seek Cedric’s hospitality, everybody in the hall—Norman, Saxon, noble, and bondsman—treats him with unveiled disdain. Nobody even stirs to give him a place at the table, though the Palmer does give him his seat by the fire. Later, Isaac is given the worst room to sleep in. The cruel Bois-Guilbert even plans to ransom Isaac, and Isaac is saved only through the Palmer’s kindness. Scott describes the persecution directed against the Jews of Europe during this period, writing that “there was no race existing on the earth, in the air, or the waters, who were the object of such unintermitting, general, and relentless persecution as the Jews of this period” (62). This persecution forced the Jews of Europe to adapt to their harsh reality, and this, Scott explains to his reader, is the reason that Isaac sometimes displays traits that seem unpleasant, including paranoia and deceit—traits that should be interpreted not as unsympathetic but rather as necessary defense mechanisms.