Wanderer the Role of Comitatus

Wanderer

The Role of Comitatus in "The Wanderer"

The complex relationship between a vassal -- the weaker, poorer, more populous, and lower class of individual involved in the comitatus relationship -- and his lord is a highly complex one, and is often grossly oversimplified in modern understandings and explanations of the feudal system. The modern (and perhaps distinctly American) trend of rooting for the underdog and mistrusting signs of nobility and un-democratic prosperity leads to a reading of the feudal relationship that places the lord in a position of unfair advantage over the vassal, who is exploited for their labor and given just enough compensation to keep them alive. This, of course, was not truly the case; though the economic and political system created by the medieval application of the comitatus was distinctly undemocratic, there was a great deal of mutual respect and an extreme sense of duty and honor on both sides of the relationship. This is shown quite clearly in any surviving Old English texts. Unlike the satire of the comitatus relationships that appears in Chaucer's Middle English Canterbury Tales, the Old English text known as "The Wanderer" shows how deeply and profoundly influential and pervasive this relationship was.

Though the author of "The Wanderer" and the year of its writing are unknown, other historical and literary texts such as Beowulf make it evident that the depiction of the comitatus in the piece is indicative of its ole in society and the sentiments held towards it. The poem is concerned with a vassal who, after the death of his lord, finds himself without any companions or a hall to call home. The militaristic aspects of the comitatus are of extreme importance to everyone involved in the arrangement, providing not only protection and a means of attaining wealth and property but also companionship and community. Without an army and lord, the wanderer of the army is left without a place in society, making the comitatus central to the speaker of the poem.

This connection between the life and duties of a soldier and the sense of community that existed in the Middle Ages is made immediately clear in the first words that the wanderer himself speaks. After a brief introduction that sets the scene of the lonely wandered in a broader sense, he reflects on his own particular circumstances: "there is now none among the living to whom I dare clearly express the thought of my heart" (112). In referencing the fact that he can trust no one living, the wanderer is clearly lamenting the dead, his fallen comrades. He has lost any sort of friend or confidant, to the point that there is no one he even feels he may speak freely to or around. The word "now" (though admittedly a translation) is also quite telling, as it give his loss a sense of immediacy and shows a clear shift in circumstances. While the lord and other vassals survived to uphold the bond of the comitatus, the wanderer was able (it is implied) to speak the thoughts of is heart; again, this was not merely a mercenary band, but a rather true community and even a sort of socially contracted family.

There is another hugely important implication in this relatively simple sentence regarding the wanderer's social position now that his lord and companions are dead. It is not simply that he has lost his former community and confidantes, but that he is unable to trust (and is probably himself not trusted by) everyone else he meets. In a world of allegiances as strict and pervasive as those created by the comitatus, anyone not a member of the same allegiance is automatically regarded with suspicion. When joined to a group by the comitatus, this would not be so bad; though the majority of people would not be trusted, there was always a circle of trust in the community. The wanderer, however, is utterly isolated by such suspicions.

It should be clear even from this brief utterance of the wanderer how essential the comitatus was to an individual's sense of identity and the practicalities of day-to-day living during the time in which the poem was written, but "The Wanderer" illustrates the importance of this relationship to its society on an even deeper. The comitatus was viewed in many ways as emblematic of the way life, history, and the world works, showing the fundamentally different perspective that such a way of life instills. The wanderer reflects on "how ghostly it will be when all the wealth of this world stands waste...Wine-halls totter, the lord lies bereft of joy, all the company has fallen, bold men beside the wall" (113). In the proven inevitability of separation from one's lord, the wanderer sees reflected the inevitability of history wiping away all of mankind's wealth and efforts. He is essentially musing on the ultimate loneliness of mankind and the individuals that comprise the species, noting that while his own specific circumstances may seem extreme, they are largely insignificant in the broader circumstances of humanity. This is drawn into a very extended metaphor about the relationship of all of mankind as vassals to the Lord in heaven, meaning that the relationship between man and God is seen as paralleled by the relationship between vassal and lord. The heavenly comitatus, however, is permanent, and it is this community that the wanderer sets his eye towards.

The comitatus was not important merely for day-to-day life in the Middle Ages, but was truly an all encompassing perspective and/or philosophy that colored every aspect of humanity. Even religion was seen in the same light of this "natural order." Though strange to our democratic sensibilities, it provided purpose and clarity to many for a thousand years.

Work Cited

Unknown. "The Wanderer." Greenblatt, Stephen and Abrams, M.H., eds. Norton Anthology of English Literature. 8th Edition. Vol. I. Norton, 2006. 111-113.

Wanderer Outline

Thesis: Without an army and lord, the wanderer of the army is left without a place in society, making the comitatus central to the speaker of the poem.