Matilda Bruckner's work on hospitality in romance inspired me to reflect on the related topic of the favorable reception of strangers at court. If hospitality is one side of the coin, a convention that requires hosts to respond favorably to those who request lodging and sustenance, the other side is what the stranger at court does, especially those behaviors that lead to court admiration, appreciation, and a warm reception. In such cases the outsider does not threaten or alienate, as one might imagine, but enhances the court by increasing its courtliness and, in turn, its prestige.

Bruckner distinguishes commercial hospitality (in which one pays for services such as lodging) from courtly hospitality (in which services are offered freely, but as part of an exchange of courtly goods and services at the heart of the feudal economy). In the courtly model, a castle lord enhances his status by offering hospitality and thereby accruing status through the act of demonstrating his wealth and largesse. The feudal economy recognizes the lord's offering as an indication of his good manners, behavior that the court expects and reads as an indicator of the lord's status and the court's prestige. The hospitality convention does not require any contribution on the part of the outsider – its purpose is to bolster the position of the lord of the castle, and it successfully fulfills that purpose.