The stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table are some of the most popular in medieval Europe: how did this tradition arise, and why did it flourish?  Why does it continue to inspire books and films today?  This course will introduce students to the Middle English language through a study of some examples of Arthurian Romance, including works by Chaucer and Malory, as well as the great anonymous poems Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Alliterative and the Stanzaic More Arthur.  Consideration will be given also to European analogues and sources, particularly in French romance, but the primary texts studied will be Middle English.

22.02  Intro to Arthur, Geoffrey of Monmouth

01.03   Layamon’s Brut I: The beginnings

08.03  Layamon’s Brut II: The court (11337-488)

15.03  Breton Arthur: Sir Launfal 1

22.03  Sir Launfal contd.

29.03  Arthur’s Knights: Gawain and the Green Knight

05.04  Gawain and the Green Knight II

12.04  The Green Knight on film

19.04   EASTER VAC

26.04  Gawain and Guinevere: Terne Wathelyne I

03.05  Gawain and Guinevere: Terne Wathelyne II

10.05  Malory’s Launcelot and Guinevere

17.05  Malory’s Arthur: The King’s Death

31.05  Victorian Arthur: Tennyson’s The Passing of Arthur

• Knowledge of basic grammar of Middle English language
• Basic training in reading Middle English
• Broad appreciation of the development of written English in manuscript and the beginning of print
• Understanding of post-Conquest English literature and culture
• Appreciation of importance of the medieval world in the modern English imagination, and sense of ‘Englishness’