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Shame and Honor: A Vulgar History of the Order of the Garter by Stephanie Trigg

2015; Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies; Volume: 32; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/pgn.2015.0070

1832-8334

Graham Tulloch,

Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis

Reviewed by: Shame and Honor: A Vulgar History of the Order of the Garter by Stephanie Trigg Graham Tulloch Trigg, Stephanie, Shame and Honor: A Vulgar History of the Order of the Garter, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012; cloth; pp. 322; 30 b/w illustrations; R.R.P. US $55.00; ISBN 9780812243918. Neither cover, nor title, tells the full story of this fascinating book by Stephanie Trigg, but both suggest much of what it contains. The cover – a splendid painting by Rex Whistler entitled ‘Allegory: HRH the Prince Regent awakening the Spirit of Brighton’, in which the prince, naked apart from the insignia of the Garter, impends over a nude woman – offers an [End Page 279] image of the ‘shame’ of the title but little of its ‘honor’. Deeply suggestive (in more than one sense), it alludes, by associating the Garter with sexuality, to one of the book’s prominent themes. While the title redresses the balance by its inclusion of ‘honor’, it notably places it second, reflecting some of the implications of the subtitle. This is a ‘vulgar’ history in more than one sense as Trigg herself explains: ‘First, it … moves between historical and thematic approaches, bypassing the commemorative impulses of official histories … Second [it] returns repeatedly to the myth of the woman’s dropped garter, so often dismissed as a “vulgar” invention’ (p. 15). While the first of these interpretations might not immediately occur to the reader, the choice of the word ‘vulgar’, rather than the traditional ‘popular’, is apt. This is not a ‘popular history’, a history written for popular consumption, but instead takes a ‘vulgar’ view of the Garter rather than one devoted to exalting and honouring the order. A vulgar view is not necessarily a negative view – it can be one that appreciates the honour inherent in the Garter – but it will not only see honour in the Order’s history. It is also one that can embrace the implications of sexual impropriety in the myth of the Garter’s origins. Trigg points out that the historical origins of the Order are hidden in obscurity but notes that: ‘The story of a medieval royal scandal about sex and underclothes has often been dismissed as a fantastic or romantic invention, but it has nevertheless given rise to a long and beloved tradition’ (p. 5). It is this tradition and the significance of its continuing popularity – its vulgar appeal – that particularly interests her. Furthermore, she claims that ‘while the uncertainty about the Order’s origins may seem a simple matter of lost or missing evidence, we may still acknowledge that the uncertainty … might actually be integral to the mythic structure and resonance of the Order’ (p. 50). A substantial part of the book is consequently devoted to an examination of the myth and the associated ‘enigmatic’ (p. 5) motto (‘Honi soit qui mal y pense’). Trigg is well placed to tease out the significance of all this and these sections of the book contain some of her most characteristically subtle and perceptive writing. While the book’s countering of a purely honorific history of the Garter is primarily through the ‘vulgar’ perspective, it also offers two specific counter-narratives, one covering the periods of neglect which the Order has suffered and another detailing how women, after occupying an important role in the order in earlier centuries, played no part for 400 years until Edward VII made Queen Alexandra a ‘Lady’ of the order despite the determined opposition of the Garter King of Arms. On the other hand, the present queen’s extension of membership to non-royal women excited no comment, demonstrating a constant theme of the book, the order’s capacity and (occasional) willingness to adapt to modern attitudes despite its medieval (or medievalist) trappings. [End Page 280] One thing not hinted at in the title is nevertheless a key aspect of the book: Trigg’s concern with the Garter as an example of both the medieval and medievalism. As she explains, ‘to contemplate the ongoing life of the medieval into modernity and postmodernity … remains the ultimate aim of this book’ (p. 15) and ‘it is precisely because this Order … has had to make...