The Faerie Queene, Book IV — The Virtue of Friendship
- Ken Kalis
- Nov 18
- 3 min read
Robert and I have been friends since June 1951.
We are from the same neighborhood, share a German-American heritage and the Protestant faith.
Yet we move in different worlds, he a successful businessman and I a literary life..
We love our wives and children and one another.
Spenser understood this; that's what Book IV of the Faerie Queen is about.
“
A friend loveth at all times.” — Proverbs 17:17
Friendship is one of God’s richest gifts — a bond of loyalty, courage, and self-giving love.In Book IV of The Faerie Queene, Edmund Spenser celebrates this virtue through the story of two companions: Cambell and Triamond, warriors bound together not by blood but by sacrificial devotion.
Spenser’s vision of friendship isn’t sentimental.It is covenantal — fierce, steadfast, and alive with Christian grace.
I. Spenser’s Story: When Friendship Outshines Fear
Book IV opens with a puzzle: a tournament where countless knights clash, yet two stand firm together, refusing to fight one another.
“And each to other did his faith assure,That never for death nor life they would dissever.”— FQ IV.i.41
Spenser tells us why: They were knit together in a spiritual bond deeper than rivalry or ambition. Later he writes:
“Such was their love, and such their loyalty,That wonder was to see their amity.”— FQ IV.ii.24
When danger comes — and it comes violently — they do not shrink back. They stand shoulder-to-shoulder, each willing to die for the other.
This is Christian love in armor.
II. Friendship Grounded in Sacrifice
Spenser’s real lesson is that true friendship always costs something. It is not maintained by convenience, but by covenant.
“For love is not of things that transient be,But of the heart, which none can take away.”— FQ IV.ix.6
In modern terms: Friendship is not built on seasons, but on souls.
The New Testament echoes this truth:
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” — Jesus in John 15:13
Cambell and Triamond illustrate that kind of self-emptying love — loyalty willing to endure wounds, hardship, and loss.
Spenser is inviting us to ask: Do we love like this? Do we stand by those God has given us, even when it costs us?
III. The Christian Shape of Friendship
Spenser — in his usual subtle way — anchors friendship in Christ Himself.
He describes a friendship so noble that it comes from above:
“Friendship’s self, the band of bliss and peace.The chiefest knot of grace, and sweetest bond.”— FQ IV.x.1
Friendship is a grace. A divine gift. Something heaven-shaped.
When Christ called His disciples “friends,” He elevated earthly companionship into a holy fellowship. He brings us into His own circle of love, making us friends of God.
IV. Application: A Call to Deep Friendship Today
We live in a world of substitutes:• social media connections• acquaintances in passing• relationships built on convenience
But Book IV presses us upward to a forgotten virtue: faithful, Christ-like friendship.
Use this Tuesday’s meditation to examine your own heart:
Who has God given you to love well? Who needs your loyalty, your sacrifice, your presence? How can you become a friend shaped by Christ?
True friendship strengthens the weary, protects the vulnerable, and reflects the love of Jesus.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, Friend of sinners, You have called us not servants, but friends.Teach us the noble virtue Spenser saw —friendship that is loyal, sacrificial, and steadfast.
Help us to love others as
You have loved us,to stand beside our brothers and sisters in every trial,and to be true companions on the way to Your Kingdom.
Make our friendships holy,and let them shine with the grace of Christ. Amen.
Spenser shows friendship as sacrificial, loyal, and God-centered. What friendship in your own life has shaped your walk with Jesus — and how might God be calling you to deepen it today?
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We all need a good flesh-and blood friend. If you don't have one, ask the Lord to give you one. Always remember too,
The best friend to have is Jesus,
The best friend to have is Jesus,
He will help you when you fall,
He will hear you when you call;
Oh, the best friend to have is Jesus.
--Pe¬ter P. Bil¬horn, 1891
I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. Jesus in John 15:15-16
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