Course Description
Development of the Romance form (verse and prose) during the high middle ages and reasons for its historical and continuing appeal. Materials may include: Arthurian romance, the Grail Quest, English and Breton lais, and the matters of France, Rome, and Britain. Some works may be read in modern English translation.
Athena Title
Medieval Romance
Prerequisite
Two 2000-level ENGL courses or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 3000-level ENGL course) or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 2000-level CMLT course)
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course aims to trace the development of the Romance form during the high middle ages and seeks to understand the reasons for both its historical and continuing appeal. By the end of the course, students, having read a substantial body of literature, will be able to discuss these texts (both orally and in writing), elucidating something of the conventions and purpose of romance writing. They will also have learned something about the relationship between romance and other genres in the period and will be able to articulate a sophisticated understanding of medieval romances within their literary contexts.
Topical Outline
The choice and sequence of topics will vary from instructor to instructor and semester to semester. The literature will be read outside of class and discussed in class, examined individually and comparatively in the context of the times and the circumstances of their composition. Periodically during the semester, students will perform a number of graded tasks, including some combination of tests and out-of-class papers. A possible series of topics might resemble this: Early English Romance and the Lay: Havelok the Dane, Sir Orfeo, Sir Launfal, the lais of Marie de France. Arthurian Romance: Chrétien de Troyes, The Knight of the Cart, Cligès; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Malory, Morte Darthur; The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell; Alliterative and Stanzaic Mortes. Secular Hagiography or Pious Romance?: Selection of Narratives of Virgin Martyrs and Royal Saints from Biblical Apocrypha, the South English Legendary, the Cursor Mundi, etc.; Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, Clerk's Tale; Gower, Tale of Florent, Tale of Constance, Tale of Canace and Machaire; Robert of Sicily. Romance theory and Chivalric Biography/Education: Ramon Llull, Book of the Order of Chivalry; Andreas Capellanus, The Art of Courtly Love; Chandos Herald's Life of the Black Prince, Letters of the Black Prince; Froissart, Les Enseignements Edouard III; Geoffroi de Charny; Christine de Pizan, Book of Fayttes of Armes and Chivalry; Life of Henry V. Romance and History: Alexander and Charlemagne romances; Orange cycle material; Guy of Warwick; Chaucer, The Knight's Tale, Troilus and Criseyde; other selections from Troy Legends including Lydgate's Troy Book; Robert Henryson, Testament of Cressid. 'Romance Redyng on the Boke': Reception and Readership of Romance - The Auchinleck Manuscript; the Interaction of Hagiography and Romance - The Thornton Manuscripts, the Cambridge Miscellanies; the Troilus manuscript; Manuscripts and Gentry Culture in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century England; Paston's 'Grete Boke'. Romance and the Materials of Bourgeois Culture: The Paston Letters, Paston's 'Grete Booke'; conduct books, Hoccleve, Regiment; Le bon ménagier de Paris, the Book of the Knight of the Tour Landry.