The Middle Ages in Comic Books! A thread.

Today, let’s look at #Marvel Avengers 200 (which has all sorts of problems of its own, notably the Rape of Ms Marvel). I’ll focus, though, on the knight and the use of the colour red. #medievaltwitter #comics 1/12

We meet the knight as he comes upon Scarlet Witch, one of the Avengers. His first greeting to her is “Stand to, tainted damsel!” So we already know this is not going to go well. #medievaltwitter #comic 2/12

In the next panel, we find that our knight is so upset because of her “blood-hued garb,” which marks her “for a sorceress, a devil!.”

First, sorceress =/= devil. And really, I think he’d be more scandalized by the cut of her clothing than its colour.

Let’s compare. 3/12

Here we have a 15th c. Burgundian painting, showing quite the red gown.

(From knight’s armor, guessing he’s late MA.)

But, in SE France, prostitutes had to wear red armbands or an aiguilette, a cord that fell from the shoulder, its colour contrasting that of their dress. 4/12

He didn’t call her a prostitute, though. He called her a devil. What was the devil’s colour in the MA?

Usually black, according to Jeffrey Burton Russell.

Whether it’s his skin, or his clothing, or his animal form: almost always black. #medievaltwitter #color 5/12

Red was a devil option, but he could also be green.

In Chaucer’s Friar’s Tale, the devil is red. But there’s some devilishness in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. #medievaltwitter #devil 6/12

But let’s look at the colour red as a knight would. Let’s assume he’s fairly typical (boy howdy, he isn’t, but we’re assuming here). So, he’s heard lots of romances and chansons de geste. #medievaltwitter 7/12

In those stories, the red knight tended to be hostile to the hero. He was evil, perfidious. Like the Red Knight challenging King Arthur, whom Percival kills in Sir Percyvelle of Galles (12th c.). #medievaltwitter 8/12

The Red Knight could also be the devil’s messenger.

Or, he could be Lancelot in disguise, as in Chretien de Troyes’ Lancelot.

(Sorry, couldn’t resist the Smurf’s Lancelot or how this Force of Will card plays with the idea of Lancelot + Demon.) 9/12

The point is, red is not a simple colour. I don’t think our knight would have been making those assumptions.

If anything, it’s the Scarlet Witch's red hair that would make him think of evil, not the clothes. #medievaltwitter #MarvelsAvengers 10/12

Scholars like Jeffrey Burton Russell and R. Mellinkoff have looked at how the devil’s pointed hair could be a depiction of flaming (red) hair, or a nod to barbarians who greased their hair to sweep it up in points. #devil #medievaltwitter 11/12

And that’s just these two #MarvelsAvengers panels and the colour red. I have more thoughts on our interloper knight. Those will have to wait.

But really, why isn’t he noticing the spandex? People wrote that the #blackdeath had been caused by indecent clothing! FIN