1. Reading Quiz
Based on Lanval as well as the definition of medieval romance which you looked up for today, how is “romance” different in the Middle Ages compared to today? What are the features of medieval vs. modern “romances”?
Use direct examples from Lanval for full credit!

2. Anglo-Norman and Medieval Romance
1066 – 1500 (rough estimate)
A Sample Presentation by Megan With Her Imaginary Group Members

3. Major Historical Events
October 14, 1066
1099 – First Crusade to the Holy Land
1204: King John loses Normandy to Phillip II or France
Ca. 1200: Beginnings of Middle English Literature
: Great Famine
1347: Black Death ravages Europe % of the population dies.
1381: Peasant’s Revolt
: Geoffrey Chaucer, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
(?): Sir Thomas Malory writes Morte Darthur, based on continental Arthurian romances
1485: William Caxton’s Printing of Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte D’arthur, one of the first books printed in England

4. Language
English court changes – language is now (Old) French rather than Old English, lots of linguistic trading
Anglo-Norman
Eventually English wins out, but it has changed, language of the time is called Middle English

5. French Influence
The influence of French literature on English literature was big.
Romance introduced into English literature (ESPECIALLY in the stories of King Arthur).
Chrétien des Troyes’ romances about Arthur, written in Old French, greatly change the Arthurian myths.
Arthur appears in stories where he is not the central character, such as Lanval.

6. Major Authors Marie de France 1154 – 1189
Julian of Norwich 1342 – 1416
Margery Kempe 1373 – 1438
Geoffrey Chaucer 1343 – 1400
“Gawain-Poet” 1375 – 1400
Sir Thomas Malory 1405 – 1471

7. Works Cited
Greenblatt, Stephen, gen. ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th ed. Major Authors. New York: Norton, Print.
“King John.” Wikipedia. Accessed Sep

8. Lanval
Marie de France

9. Marie de France earliest French woman poet, probably active in England
lai, poetic and musical form popular among the poets (trouvères) of northern France; long poems with rhymed stanzas
Breton lai (or lay) short, rhymed romance supposedly practiced by Breton storytellers; often include elements of the supernatural, chivalry, influence of classical and Celtic mythology (land of faerie). Marie's Breton lai was a short romance, between one hundred and a thousand lines, unlike the courtly romances which stretched to several thousand lines.
Lais of Marie de France (c. 1160), twelve verse narratives in French (Anglo-Norman) language; octosyllabic couplets; dedicated to the "noble" king (likely Henry II)

10. Lanval Themes
The Court
Marvels and magic
Erotic desire
Women's power

11. Vocabulary
Romance: A fictional story in verse or prose that relates improbable adventures of idealized characters in some remote or enchanted setting; or, more generally, a tendency in fiction opposite to that of realism. Medieval romance is distinguished from epic by its concentration on courtly love rather than warlike heroism.
Allegory: A story or visual image with a second distinct meaning partially hidden behind its literal or visible meaning. The principal technique of allegory is personification, whereby abstract qualities are given human shape—as in public statues of Liberty or Justice. An allegory may be conceived as a metaphor that is extended into a structured system. In written narrative, allegory involves a continuous parallel between two (or more) levels of meaning in a story, so that its persons and events correspond to their equivalents in a system of ideas or a chain of events external to the tale.
Lai: A term from Old French meaning a short lyric or narrative poem. The Contes (c.1175) of Marie de France were narrative lais of Arthurian legend and other subjects from Breton folklore, written in octosyllabic couplets.

12. Freewrite individually (5 min) Then discuss with a partner or small group (5 min) Then discuss with the class (10 min)
Is Lanval a Female Fantasy or a Male Fantasy? Why might it appeal to men or women or both? Does female authorship have anything to do with your answer?

13. Freewrite individually (5 min) Then discuss with a partner or small group (5 min) Then discuss with the class (10 min)
Does this story make the Court of King Arthur out to be a group you would want to be a part of? Why or why not?

14. King Arthur
What do you know about King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table?
Where does your knowledge come from?
PS: I’d like to hear from people who don’t usually talk.

15. King Arthur Today

16. Arthur in Welsh Legend
"He fed black ravens on the rampart of a fortress Though he was no Arthur Among the powerful ones in battle In the front rank, Gwawrddur was a palisade –Y Gododin
My stepmother has declared to me that I shall never have a wife until I obtain Olwen, the daughter of Yspaddaden the Giant." "That will be easy for you," answered Culhwch's father. "Arthur is thy cousin. Go, therefore, unto Arthur, to cut thy hair, and ask this of him as a boon." –Culhwch and Olwen

17. Arthur in Welsh History
"516. The Battle of Badon, in which Arthur carried the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ for three days and three nights on his shoulders and the Britons were victors.
"537. The Battle of Camlann in which Arthur and Medraut fell, and there was devastation in Britain and in Ireland."
–Welsh Annals
"How Mordred was Slain by Arthur, and How by Him Arthur was Hurt to the Death"
by Arthur Rackham ( ). from: The Romance of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table. Abridged from Malory's Morte D'Arthur by Alfred W. Pollard. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1917.

18. Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1100-1155)
Geoffrey is credited with developing the Arthurian myth and creating British historiography.
History of the Kings of Britain c This is Geoffrey's pseudo-history about the Kings of Britain. Arthur plays an important role in Geoffrey's history: he is the son of a Briton who is tasked with fighting off the Saxons.

19. The "History" of Arthur after Geoffrey
Other chronicles:
Written in Latin
William of Malmesbury (c. 1125)
Henry of Huntingdon (c. 1129)
John Fordun (c. 1360)
Wace's Roman de Brut (1155)
First account in vernacular: French
First mention of Round Table
Layamon's Brut
First account of Arthur in English

20. Chrétien de Troyes and the Romance Tradition
Arthurian myth takes on much of the Romantic elements we are familiar with at the hands of Chretien de Troyes in the late 12th century in the court of Marie of Champagne.
Chretien takes the tales of England and adds in the famous elements: Lancelot, the Holy Grail, Percival, the relationship between Lancelot and Guinevere, and he turns Morgan le Fay into Arthur's sister.
Medieval romance isn't the same as modern romance. There is no happy ending!

21. The Meeting Of Sir Lancelot And Queen Guinevere, In 'The Romance Of Lancelot Du Lac” from Royal MS 20 D.iv, f.1r in the British Library
Text c.1300; miniature c
Originally written and illuminated in France, c. 1300, this manuscript had reached England by the second half of the century, when two miniatures and two initials containing the Bohun heraldic arms were painted in a style characteristic of books made for the Bohun family, who earls of Hereford and Essex for most of the 13th and 14th centuries. It is possible that it would have been kept at the family castle at Pleshey, near Chelmsford. This added miniature depicts the fateful moment when Sir Lancelot, one of the knights of the Round table first meets King Arthur's wife, Queen Guinevere: they fall in love, and have an affair that will ultimately lead to the downfall of Camelot. The initial contains the arms of England (left) and Bohun (right).

22. Galehaut presides over the First Kiss of Lancelot and Guinevere (left)
Galehaut presides over the First Kiss of Lancelot and Guinevere (left). Lady Malohaut, Senechal, and Laura of Carduel conversing "far from the others, very surprised to be left so alone," unaware of the scene between the lovers. From Le Roman de Lancelot du Lac. Northwestern France, early fourteenth century. M.805,f.67. The Pierpont Morgan Library/Art Resource, New York. Used with permission.
Galehaut was a king who surrendered to Arthur in battle, befriended Lancelot and Guinevere, even facilitating their first kiss.