Module overview
The figures of King Arthur, Guinevere, his knights and court have exercised a powerful hold over the minds of readers for many centuries. But have you ever wondered about where this legend came from, how it developed, and about the enduring nature of its appeal? On this module, we will examine a range of Arthurian stories from medieval, renaissance and later periods. Our focus will be on the physical and social worlds created by these texts, and their relationship to the worlds in which these stories were enjoyed. We will consider how writers in different periods and genres used Arthurian stories, environments, motifs, and a mythologised past world to explore and critique the political, social and gender relations of their own societies; to forge and contest identities; and to figure new relationships between past and present worlds.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- Key themes in Arthurian texts, such as their role in the formation of gendered roles and expectations and national and religious identities
- A range of Arthurian texts, including those produced in the Medieval period
- The relationships between these texts and the cultures that produced and read them
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Carry out research and analysis on a range of source types from different periods
- Plan and carry out different assessment tasks to deadlines
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Identify and make use of appropriate historical, literary, or theoretical secondary reading in academic writing
- Read and analyse medieval texts, including in earlier forms of English where appropriate
- Analytically compare the way the Arthurian legend has been deployed in different contexts and periods
Syllabus
The texts we will examine on this module will take us from the rise of Arthurian stories in England and Wales, through fourteenth-sixteenth century vernacularisations, critiques, and reimaginings of the legend, to attempts to on the one hand remould the legend and, on the other, establish its historicity, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Specific texts for study will vary from year to year but will normally include a selection from the following:
Geoffrey of Monmouth, History of the Kings of Britain
Chretien de Troyes, Perceval
Marie de France, Lais
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Geoffrey Chaucer, the Wife of Bath’s Tale
Thomas Malory, Morte DArthur
Edmund Spenser, Faerie Queene
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Idylls of the King
E.L. Hervey, The Feasts of Camelot
Roger Lancelyn Green, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
T. H. White, The Once and Future King
Wendy Mnookin, Guenever Speaks
Terry Gilliam (dir.) The Fisher King
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
1 lecture and 1 seminar per week
Group work
Informal individual and group presentations
Individual study
This module includes a Learning Support Hour. This is a flexible weekly contact hour, designed to support and respond to the particular cohort taking the module from year to year. This hour will include (but not be limited to) activities such as language, theory and research skills classes; group work supervisions; assignment preparation and essay writing guidance; assignment consultations; feedback and feed-forward sessions.
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Teaching | 12 |
| Follow-up work | 8 |
| Lecture | 10 |
| Wider reading or practice | 10 |
| Completion of assessment task | 50 |
| Seminar | 10 |
| Preparation for scheduled sessions | 50 |
| Total study time | 150 |
Resources & Reading list
Internet Resources
Sources for the Study of the Arthurian Legends.
Journal Articles
Arthuriana.
Textbooks
Daniel P. Nastali and Phillip C. Boardman (2004). The Arthurian Annals : The Tradition in English from 1250 to 2000. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Alan Lupack (2005). The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Derek Pearsall (2003). Arthurian Romance: A Short Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.
Roger Sherman Loomis (1959). Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages : A Collaborative History. Oxford: Clarendon.
William W. Kibler and R. Barton Palmer (2014). Medieval Arthurian Epic and Romance : Eight New Translations. Jefferson NC: McFarland.
Michelle R. Warren (2000). History on the edge : Excalibur and the borders of Britain, 1100-1300. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Patricia Clare Ingham (2001). Sovereign Fantasies: Arthurian Romance and the Making of Britain. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Rachel Bromwich, A.O.H. Jarman, Brynley F. Roberts (1991). The Arthur of the Welsh : The Arthurian Legend in Medieval Welsh Literature. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
Elizabeth Archibald and Ad Putter (2009). The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dixon, Jeffrey John (2014). The Glory of Arthur: The Legendary King in Epic Poems of Layamon, Spenser and Blake. Jefferson NC: McFarland.
Assessment
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Essay | 70% |
| Critical Analysis | 30% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Essay | 100% |
Repeat
An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Essay | 100% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External