 Feudalism: system of land ownership  Noblemen swear allegiance to king in exchange for land  Chivalry: code of conduct developed by nobles  Knights are to be brave warriors and virtuous Christians  Chivalry emphasizes honor and loyalty

 Ideals of chivalry gave rise to legends such as King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table  Legend of Arthur based on the life of a Celtic warrior who fought Anglo-Saxons in the 6 th century  He was known as the defender of England and set the ideal for knights  By the 11 th century the legend of King Arthur was widely known

 British romances derived from Breton lays  Lay: a short narrative or lyric poem intended to be sung  Stories of romance believed to have been based on Celtic legends  Sir Launfal  Medieval Romance is an adventure story that features kings, knights, and damsels in distress  Tells of quests, battles, and doomed love  Many medieval romances concern King Arthur and his knights

 Heroic figures and memorable deeds  Quests, contests, and tests  Patterned events  Embellishment of legends  Detailed character descriptions  Plot twists  Connections to Beowulf and Anglo-Saxon times…?

 Author unknown  Based on dialect of poem, though, from rural England  Almost an exact contemporary of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales  Tells the story of Sir Gawain, King Arthur’s nephew  Combines two plots common to folklore and romance: the beheading contest and the attempted seduction of the hero by a lady  He is tested by three challenges  As a hero he “gains in human credibility what he loses in ideal perfection” (160)  Story begins at the New Year’s Eve feast at King Arthur’s Court in Camelot  Festivities are interrupted by the arrival of a massive green knight, riding a green horse, and carrying an ax…. Sounds like trouble!