ABSTRACT
In medieval Mariology courtesy is one of the most familiar attributes of the Virgin Mary. The author of the Middle English Pearl, for example, repeatedly describes her as ‘Quen of cortaysye’. Sir Crudor, like Sir Terpine, is a gross and blatant example of discourteous conduct. In dealing with offenders against laws of civility and hospitality Calidore acts with dignity and restraint. But the moral which he impresses on Crudor at end of canto is very lesson which he himself must learn in the final cantos of the book. That Calidore’s sojourn among the shepherds represents a neglect of his mission is a point on which few modern critics would disagree. But although the view that Spenser was recommending the virtues of country life in opposition to the life of the court is no longer widely accepted,9 at the same time it is commonly felt that the pastoral episode is not entirely relevant to the central issues of the book.
