Ormrod, Mark, 'Knights of Venus', Medium Aevum 73 (2004), 290-305

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Quick Summary

The medieval chronicler Thomas Walsingham criticized Richard II and his courtiers for their refusal to support a military campaign in Brittany

  • Walsingham thought Richard II’s courtiers were reluctant to fulfil their destiny as a warrior elite
  • The king’s favourites opposed military action in Brittany in 1388
  • Walsingham criticized the degeneracy of chivalric culture and sexual mores
Key Conclusion

Ormrod explores the background to a specific passage in the chronicle of Thomas Walsingham, monk of St Albans: ‘more of them were knights of Venus rather than of Bellona, showing more prowess in the bedroom than on the field of battle’ (p. 290). This passage refers to the courtiers of Richard II who were targeted by the Lords Appellants in the Merciless Parliament of 1388 for exploiting their influence over the king. Ormrod concludes that Walsingham’s ‘knights of Venus’ passage stemmed from his frustration at the refusal of Richard and his friends to fulfil their destiny as a warrior elite. The passage was designed to expose a type of courtier politician who was ‘all words and no action’ (p. 298).

Content Overview

Ormrod seeks to answer the question: why was it necessary for a monk writing about court politics to criticize the pursuit of love and valorize the cult of arms? (p. 290).  Writing in 1388, Walsingham’s passage criticizes the stance adopted by the king’s favourites – Robert de Vere, Michael de la Pole, Simon Burley and Richard Stury – who opposed a military expedition to Brittany. The passage also refers to the king’s inner circle of friends, including those executed or expelled from the household in 1388 by the Merciless Parliament. More broadly, Ormrod argues that Walsingham ‘saw reluctance to participate in war as part of a more general curse of cowardice afflicting contemporary society’ (p. 291).

Further Findings

Historians have often quoted the ‘knights of Venus’ passage as evidence that those who informed royal policy in the 1380s lacked commitment to the prosecution of warfare in France. Scholars have also taken the passage as evidence of a ‘shift away from martial values’ in the court of Richard II (p. 290). Building on these interpretations, Ormrod places the passage within a broader tradition of contemporary comment about the ‘lack of social stability and responsibility, the failure of political consensus… and the degeneracy of cultural and sexual mores’ (p. 298). The passage is also consistent with allegations of homosexuality, directed against the king and his favourites, made by Walsingham and others towards the end of Richard’s reign.

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