DOCSLIB.ORG

California State University, Northridge

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE SIR GAWAIN OF THE COURT OF KING ARTHUR: A STUDY IN THE METAMORPHOSIS OF A HERO A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors in English by Christian R. Andersen May, 1984 The thesis of Christian R. Andersen is approved: Dr. Mahlon C. Gaumer III Director Second Reader Received by: Dr. Arthur Lane Director, Committee on Honors Sir Gawain of the Court of King Arthur: A Study in the Metamorphosis of a Hero To readers of the Arthurian tales the mention of King Arthur brings to mind a myriad of other names such as Lancelot, Galahad, Perceval, Gareth, and Gawain; heroes whose exploits comprise the substance of the legend of Arthur. Much like the twelve peers of Charlemagne, the knights of King Arthur's court and heroic individuals whose legends are interwoven and crossed into a single tapestry by association with the ruler of a mighty realm. In fact, critics have speculated that the Arthurian saga is very simple in its essential form. Certainly it is the tales of the heroes who have been attached to the story of Arthur that form the bulk of :he legend familiar to the reader of 1 Malory. Of these ancillary heroes, there is little doubt that the most popular, especially in the hearts of the English, was he who is known as v~alwein, Gwalmachmai, Gauvain, or simply Gawain. In fact, there are more tales dealing with Gawain than with Arthur in English literature. As R.W. Ackerman points out, "in no fewer than seven of the 2 [English] romances is he [Gawain] indisputably the hero." Yet the importance of Gawain in the legends is not fully realized by those who read only Malory or the derivatives of his work. The name which appears foremost in their minds is that of Sir Lancelot du Lac, as one of the best 1 2 knights in Arthur's court, the most gallant servant to the king, and the secret lover of Guenevere. To many, the story of Lancelot and Guenevere is the quintessence of all the Arthurian tales. As his name indicates, Lancelot du Lac is a creation of the French romance writers who began to create their own versions of the Arthurian tales in the twelfth century under the patronage of such powerful people as Eleanor of Aquitaine and her daughter, Marie of Champagne. Thus Lancelot, as Arthur's knight and the Queen's lover, is a comparatively late addition to the story. Any student of the Arthurian cycle could, without difficulty, name romances in which Lancelot is not even mentioned, but he would find it difficult to recall one in which Gawain does not figure. Unlike the French romances that elevate Lancelot to the highest position at court, the English works proclaim Gawain as the finest knight in Arthur's realm; as R.W. 3 Ackerman puts it, he is the "perennial English favorite. " ·of course, Gawain's role as the mirror of chivalry is well known, but his part in the Arthurian story consists of more than that single role. Such works as a Of Arthour and Of Merlin written in the twelfth century but recording tales which are at least one hundred years older clearly assign the role of the Queen's special knight to Sir Gawain. He is always closely connected with Arthur by being his nephew 3 on his sister's side and thus Gawain is presented as an integral part of Arthur's life and court. Not until the fifteenth century does Gawain appear in English works in the reduced capacity that the French writers delegate to him. He appears in this capacity in the stanzaic Morte Arthur (c. 1400), the Jeaste of Syr Gawayne (between 1450-1500), and, of course, in Malory (printed by Caxton in 1485). Thus the figure of Sir Gawain presents a problem to the reader of the Arthurian legends. If Gawain appears as the best knight of Arthur's realm and special guardian to the Queen prior to the twelfth century, why does Chretien de Troyes assign these roles to Lancelot in the latter part of the twelfth century? Why does this change not take place in the English romances? Again, why does Gawain appear in the English romances as the knight par excellence but in the French tales (and hence in Malory) as at times trecherous and less than perfect? These changes in Gawain's portrayal are a direct result of his special role in the early legends, which arises out of his origin in Celtic lore, clashing with the new French literary convention of the twelfth century which required that the element of Courtly Love be added to the Arthurian legends and therefore that a lover must be created for the Queen. The English romances differ from the French because the need for this requirement was not felt by the English writers. 4 Gawain enters the Arthurian cycle from his origins as 4 a Celtic solar diety. Remnants of his origin are shown in one of the most striking features of Gawain, that of the waxing and waning of his strength as the day progresses. So distinctive is this element of Gawain that it finds its way into the French romance writings. Gautier de Doulens, one of the continuators of Chretien de Troyes Conte del Graal states that: Hardemens et Force Doublout Toustans puis le midis passot, Por voir, a monsignor Gauvain Tout en Devons estre certain: Quapt la clartes de jor faloit Icelle force tresaloit Et de meidi en avant 5 Li recriossoit tot autretant. vv . 1 91 3 9 -4 6 Malory gives another version of this strange power in Book IV of his Morte D'Arthur: "But sir Gawayune, fro hit was nine of the clock, wexed ever strenger and strenger, for by than hit earn to the howre of noone he had three times his 6 might encressed." Gawain's origin has been traced to the Ultonian Cycles of Ireland and more specifically to the character of Cuchulainn. In this cycle, Cuchulainn and Curoi are both gods of sun and lightning. Loomis sets up the hypothesis that Curoi and Cuchulainn are virtually manifestations of 7 each other and of their mutual father, Lug. Moreover, he points specifically to a story in which Cuchulainn takes over Curoi's power and defeats him. This story, or type-tale, is referred to as the Beheading Game and it is 5 to be repeated in the tales of Gawain up through the English romance writers. The first appearance of the Beheading Game is the Ultonian Cycle in a tale called the Feast of Bricriu. Elizabeth Brewer reproduces two separate versions of the Beheading Game found in this tale, each of which reflect aspects later to be found in the knight par excellence of Arthur's court. In the first version, the son of Great Fear, Terror, a wizard who could change his shape, makes a proposal to Loigaire, Conall, and Cuchulainn, who have been led by Yellow to see the wizard. "I have a covenant to make with you, and whoever fulfills it with me, he is to have the Champion's Portion .••• I have an axe, and the man into whose hand it shall be put is to cut off my head today, I to cut off his head tomorrow." Cornall and Loigaire both say they will not agree to such a covenant for they content that it would be impossible for them to live after being beheaded although the wizard might. However Cuchulainn solemnly pledges the others not to contest the Champion's Portion if it is to be given to him and when they agree, Terror puts his head on the stone after enchanting his own axe and giving it to Cuchulainn. Cuchulainn, however, does not use Terror's axe but rather swings at him with his own and gives the giant a blow that cuts off his head. Afterwards, Terror picks up his head and the unused axe and goes into the loch pressing them to 6 his breast. On the morrow Terror returns and "the axe with its edge reversed ••. draws down thrice on Cuchulainn's neck" without harm to Cuchulainn. Terror then awares the 8 Champion's Portion to Cuchulainn. The basic elements of the Beheading Game are found later in their fullest form in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Like Gawain in the much later tale of the Green Knight, Cuchulainn agrees to the covenant even though the others fear certain death. Similarly, Cuchulainn does not back down from his agreement and succeeds. Of course, it is obvious that, unlike Gawain, Cuchulainn decides to cheat just a bit by using his own axe even though the giant has stipulated that the covenant involves his own axe. Yet did not Gawain accept the Green Girdle from the knight's wife to protect him from harm? The difference between the two is that Cuchulainn engaged in trickery while Gawain takes advantage of what appears to be a fortuitous bit of luck, that is, that the girdle has the magic property of protecting its possessor from harm. Much more characteristic of the later tales of Gawain is the second Beheading Game found in the Feast of Bricriu. Curoi approaches the heroes of Ulster in the guise of a bachlach, or herdsman, and states that in his journeys in the East and the Isle of Gades, he has not found any man who would fulfill the rules of Fair Play for him. He then announces that whoever is able to strike off his head 7 tonight he will return the blow on the following night.
Recommended publications
  • Article Fairy Marriages in Tolkien’S Works GIOVANNI C

    Article Fairy Marriages in Tolkien’S Works GIOVANNI C

    article Fairy marriages in Tolkien’s works GIOVANNI C. COSTABILE Both in its Celtic and non-Celtic declinations, the motif the daughter of the King of Faerie, who bestows on him a of the fairy mistress has an ancient tradition stretching magical source of wealth, and will visit him whenever he throughout different areas, ages, genres, media and cul- wants, so long as he never tells anybody about her.5 Going tures. Tolkien was always fascinated by the motif, and used further back, the nymph Calypso, who keeps Odysseus on it throughout his works, conceiving the romances of Beren her island Ogygia on an attempt to make him her immortal and Lúthien, and Aragorn and Arwen. In this article I wish husband,6 can be taken as a further (and older) version of to point out some minor expressions of the same motif in the same motif. Tolkien’s major works, as well as to reflect on some over- But more pertinent is the idea of someone’s ancestor being looked aspects in the stories of those couples, in the light of considered as having married a fairy. Here we can turn to the often neglected influence of Celtic and romance cultures the legend of Sir Gawain, as Jessie Weston and John R. Hul- on Tolkien. The reader should also be aware that I am going bert interpret Gawain’s story in Sir Gawain and the Green to reference much outdated scholarship, that being my pre- Knight as a late, Christianised version of what once was a cise intent, though, at least since this sort of background fairy-mistress tale in which the hero had to prove his worth may conveniently help us in better understanding Tolkien’s through the undertaking of the Beheading Test in order to reading of both his theoretical and actual sources.
  • Arch : Northwestern University Institutional Repository

    Arch : Northwestern University Institutional Repository

    NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Myth and the Modern Problem: Mythic Thinking in Twentieth-Century Britain A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Field of History By Matthew Kane Sterenberg EVANSTON, ILLINOIS December 2007 2 © Copyright by Matthew Kane Sterenberg 2007 All Rights Reserved 3 ABSTRACT Myth and the Modern Problem: Mythic Thinking in Twentieth-Century Britain Matthew Sterenberg This dissertation, “Myth and the Modern Problem: Mythic Thinking in Twentieth- Century Britain,” argues that a widespread phenomenon best described as “mythic thinking” emerged in the early twentieth century as way for a variety of thinkers and key cultural groups to frame and articulate their anxieties about, and their responses to, modernity. As such, can be understood in part as a response to what W.H. Auden described as “the modern problem”: a vacuum of meaning caused by the absence of inherited presuppositions and metanarratives that imposed coherence on the flow of experience. At the same time, the dissertation contends that— paradoxically—mythic thinkers’ response to, and critique of, modernity was itself a modern project insofar as it took place within, and depended upon, fundamental institutions, features, and tenets of modernity. Mythic thinking was defined by the belief that myths—timeless rather than time-bound explanatory narratives dealing with ultimate questions—were indispensable frameworks for interpreting experience, and essential tools for coping with and criticizing modernity. Throughout the period 1900 to 1980, it took the form of works of literature, art, philosophy, and theology designed to show that ancient myths had revelatory power for modern life, and that modernity sometimes required creation of new mythic narratives.
  • The Queer Fantasies of Normative Masculinity in Middle English Popular Romance

    The Queer Fantasies of Normative Masculinity in Middle English Popular Romance

    University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 2014 The Queer Fantasies of Normative Masculinity in Middle English Popular Romance Cathryn Irene Arno The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Arno, Cathryn Irene, "The Queer Fantasies of Normative Masculinity in Middle English Popular Romance" (2014). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 4167. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/4167 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE QUEER FANTASIES OF NORMATIVE MASCULINITY IN MIDDLE ENGLISH POPULAR ROMANCE By CATHRYN IRENE ARNO Bachelor of Arts, University of Montana, Missoula, 2008 Thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English Literature The University of Montana Missoula, MT December 2013 Approved by: Sandy Ross, Dean of The Graduate School Graduate School Dr. Ashby Kinch, Chair Department of English Dr. Elizabeth Hubble, Department of Women’s and Gender Studies Dr. John Hunt, Department of English © COPYRIGHT by Cathryn Irene Arno 2014 All Rights Reserved ii Arno, Cathryn, M.A., Fall 2013 English The Queer Fantasies of Normative Masculinity in Middle English Popular Romance Chairperson: Dr. Ashby Kinch This thesis examines how the authors, Geoffrey Chaucer and Thomas Chestre, manipulate the construct of late fourteenth-century normative masculinity by parodying the aristocratic ideology that hegemonically prescribed the proper performance of masculine normativity.
  • Frustrated Redemption: Patterns of Decay and Salvation in Medieval Modernist Literature

    Frustrated Redemption: Patterns of Decay and Salvation in Medieval Modernist Literature

    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Dissertations and Theses City College of New York 2013 Frustrated Redemption: Patterns of Decay and Salvation in Medieval Modernist Literature Shayla Frandsen CUNY City College of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/519 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Frustrated Redemption: Patterns of Decay and Salvation in Medieval and Modernist Literature Shayla Frandsen Thesis Advisor: Paul Oppenheimer Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts of the City College of the City University of New York Table of Contents Preface 1 The Legend of the Fisher King and the Search for the 5 Modern Grail in The Waste Land, Paris, and Parallax “My burden threatens to crush me”: The Transformative Power 57 of the Hero’s Quest in Parzival and Ezra Pound’s Hugh Selwyn Mauberley Hemingway, the Once and Future King, 101 and Salvation’s Second Coming Bibliography 133 Frandsen 1 Preface “The riddle of the Grail is still awaiting its solution,” Alexander Krappe writes, the “riddle” referring to attempts to discover the origin of this forever enigmatic object, whether Christian or Folkloric,1 yet “one thing is reasonably certain: the theme of the Frustrated Redemption” (18).2 Krappe explains that the common element of the frustrated redemption theme is “two protagonists: a youth in quest of adventures and a supernatural being .
  • Nobility in Middle English Romance

    Nobility in Middle English Romance

    Nobility in Middle English Romance Marianne A. Fisher A dissertation submitted for the degree of PhD Cardiff University 2013 Summary of Thesis: Postgraduate Research Degrees Student ID Number: 0542351 Title: Miss Surname: Fisher First Names: Marianne Alice School: ENCAP Title of Degree: PhD (English Literature) Full Title of Thesis Nobility in Middle English Romance Student ID Number: 0542351 Summary of Thesis Medieval nobility was a compound and fluid concept, the complexity of which is clearly reflected in the Middle English romances. This dissertation examines fourteen short verse romances, grouped by story-type into three categories. They are: type 1: romances of lost heirs (Degaré, Chevelere Assigne, Sir Perceval of Galles, Lybeaus Desconus, and Octavian); type 2: romances about winning a bride (Floris and Blancheflour, The Erle of Tolous, Sir Eglamour of Artois, Sir Degrevant, and the Amis– Belisaunt plot from Amis and Amiloun); type 3: romances of impoverished knights (Amiloun’s story from Amis and Amiloun, Sir Isumbras, Sir Amadace, Sir Cleges, and Sir Launfal). The analysis is based on contextualized close reading, drawing on the theories of Pierre Bourdieu. The results show that Middle English romance has no standard criteria for defining nobility, but draws on the full range on contemporary opinion; understandings of nobility conflict both between and within texts. Ideological consistency is seldom a priority, and the genre apparently serves neither a single socio-political agenda, nor a single socio-political group. The dominant conception of nobility in each romance is determined by the story-type. Romance type 1 presents nobility as inherent in the blood, type 2 emphasizes prowess and force of will, and type 3 concentrates on virtue.
  • Repatriating Romance: Politics of Textual Transmission in Early Modern France

    Repatriating Romance: Politics of Textual Transmission in Early Modern France

    Repatriating Romance: Politics of Textual Transmission in Early Modern France By Linda Danielle Louie A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Romance Languages and Literatures and the Designated Emphasis in Renaissance and Early Modern Studies in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Timothy Hampton, Chair Professor Mairi McLaughlin Professor Victoria Kahn Fall 2017 Repatriating Romance: Politics of Textual Transmission in Early Modern France © 2018 by Linda Danielle Louie Abstract Repatriating Romance: Politics of Textual Transmission in Early Modern France by Linda Danielle Louie Doctor of Philosophy in Romance Languages and Literatures Designated Emphasis in Renaissance and Early Modern Studies University of California, Berkeley Professor Timothy Hampton, Chair This dissertation reveals the central role that transcultural literary exchange plays in the imagining of a continuous French literary history. The traditional narrative of French literary history describes the vernacular canon as built on the imitation of the ancients. However, this dissertation demonstrates that Early Modern French canon formation also depends, to a startling extent, on claims of inter-vernacular literary theft. Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a central preoccupation of French authors, translators, and literary theorists was the repatriation of the romance genre. Romance was portrayed as a cornerstone of French literary patrimony that Italian and Spanish authors had stolen. The repatriation of individual romance texts entailed a skillful co-opting of the language of humanist philology, alongside practices of translation and continuation usually associated with the medieval period. By looking at romance translation as part of a project of national canon formation, this dissertation sheds new light on the role that chivalric romance plays in national and international politics.
  • Scholars Retelling Romances 'N 15 of ~H Th,­ Ie H I, Phiilipa Hardman

    Scholars Retelling Romances 'N 15 of ~H Th,­ Ie H I, Phiilipa Hardman

    Scholars Retelling Romances 'n 15 Of ~h th,­ Ie h i, Phiilipa Hardman . ke niversity of Readtng II :0 le It would be a very interesting experiment to ask a group of scholars to write a short account of some striking passage from a medieval romance, which could then be compared with the original. It is my bile belief that a significant proportion of those accounts would be lia, coloured here and there by touches of humour which were not present 'or in the original romance texts, This is a phenomenon which I have frequently noticed in listening to scholarly papers, reading articles and SUS books of criticism; even in preparing my own lectures to students - and it was this last discovery that led me to try to investigate further. Why is it that one finds examples of intrusive humour, whether intentional or involuntary, in the retelling or summarizing of medieval romances by scholars, Gfitics, and other readers, right through from the revival of interest in the romances in the late eighteenth century up to the present day? What is the significance of the fact that appreciative and serious readers of romance can respond to the texts in this way? As a preliminary example, I shall examine three different versions of the story of Arthur's conception and birth. The first comes from Joseph Ritson's pioneering work of scholarship, Ancient Eng/eish Metrical Romoncees,l an edition of twelve Middle English verse romances, prefaced by a lengthy, scholarly dissertation on the function and status of minstrels, and furnished with comparative notes.
  • 'Rhetoric, Poetics and History: Machaut's Prise D'

    'Rhetoric, Poetics and History: Machaut's Prise D'

    Rhetoric, Poetics and History Machaut's Prise d 'Alixandre and the anonymous Geste des dues de Bouraoane Philip E. Bennett University ifEdinburah From among the records of a century which sawall the 'grans merveilles' and the 'biau fait d'armes' which fuelled the four books of Froissart's Chroniques,l a decision to concentrate on Machaut's account of the 'side show' of Pierre de Lusignan's crusade to Egypt (1365) and on a pseudo-epic poem giving a highly biased version of the Armagnac- Burgundian conflict of c. 1398- 1411, culminating in the shorr·lived Anglo-Burgundian victory at Saint-Cloud, requires a little explanation. The initial motivation for studying these comparatively littl e ~ known texts comes from the simple fact of their presenting history in verse at a time when historiography was increasingly dominated by the prose model established by the Grandes Chroniques de France, including early mises en prose oJchansons de geste, and consecrated by a series of great writers of hi story from Jean Ie Bel to Philippe de Com mines. To that extent this investigation extends one, on which I have been engaged for some time, into the way rhetoric shapes the intergeneric relationships of epic, romance and verse·chronicle in texts of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. For reasons that will become clear a continued comparison of La Geste des dues de Bourgogne with chansons de geste composed between ca IISO and ca 1250 remains pertinent. although putting it back in the cultural context of the early fifteenth century will, I hope, contribute to the revision of a major myth of 'Whiggish' literary history: that prose is the natural vehicle for narrative, especially historical and pseudo-historical narrative.
  • THE INTERACTION BETWEEN LANDSCAPE and MYTH in the NOVELS of JOHN COWPER POWYS by GWYNETH F. MILES MA Bryn Mawr College, 196?

    THE INTERACTION BETWEEN LANDSCAPE and MYTH in the NOVELS of JOHN COWPER POWYS by GWYNETH F. MILES MA Bryn Mawr College, 196?

    c . \ THE INTERACTION BETWEEN LANDSCAPE AND MYTH IN THE NOVELS OF JOHN COWPER POWYS by GWYNETH F. MILES M.A. Bryn Mawr College, 196? A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of English We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA September, 1973 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department The University of British Columbia Vancouver 8, Canada i Abstract Powys' novels are deeply rooted in a sense of place; much of their conflict develops through the effect of a particular locality upon the characters who live there or come there. This thesis demonstrates how Powys' sense of place is com• pounded of both a feeling for the physical landscape, and an awareness of the historical and mythical traditions which form its human past. Powys finds correspondences between the scenery and legends of a locality and the psychological states of his personae, and thus uses landscape and myth for symbolic purposes. The interaction of myth and landscape largely creates the characteristic atmosphere of the five novels studied here.
  • Celtic Motifs in the Provençal Arthurian Romance, Jaufre: the Grail Legend Before Perceval

    Celtic Motifs in the Provençal Arthurian Romance, Jaufre: the Grail Legend Before Perceval

    72-4627 ROOT, Martha James, 1939- CELTIC MOTIFS IN THE PROVENCAL ARTHURIAN ROMANCE, JAUFRE: THE GRAIL LEGEND BEFORE PERCEVAL. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1971 Language and Literature, modern University Microfilms, A XERQ\ Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan CELTIC MOTIFS IN THE PROVENCAL ARTHURIAN ROMANCE, JAUFRE; THE GRAIL LEGEND BEFORE PERCEVAL DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Martha James Root, A.B., M.A. The Ohio State University 1971 Approved hy Department of Romance Languages' PLEASE NOTE: Some Pages have in d is tin c t print. Filmed as received. UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS ACI®OWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my appreciation to my adviser, Mrs. Eleanor Bulatkin, to my parents, grandmother, and husband and to Anne Tilton and Janet Zimmerman. ii VITA November 22, 1 9 3 9 ........... Born - East Chicago, Indiana 1 9 6 1 ....................... A.B., Miami University, Oxford, Ohio I96 I-I965 ................... Teaching Assistant, Department of Romance Languages, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 196^ . M.A., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1965-1966 ................... Lecturer, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: French Literature Minor Fields: Spanish Literature Provencal Literature iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii VITA iii INTRODUCTION X Manuscript Editions Metric Form, Dialect, Localization Date of Composition Purpose of Dissertation Celtic Motifs The Qp.es ting Hero J aufre Chapter I. ARTHUR'S ADVENTURES 28 The Red Beast The Giant Bird II. THE KNIGHT JAUFRE 63 III. THE WOUND, THE WASTING AND THE LAMENT 68 IV.
  • Fairies, Kingship, and the British Past in Walter Map's De Nugis Curialium and Sir Orfeo

    Fairies, Kingship, and the British Past in Walter Map's De Nugis Curialium and Sir Orfeo

    UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Fairies, Kingship, and the British Past in Walter Map's De Nugis Curialium and Sir Orfeo Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8zh4b6x4 Author Schwieterman, Patrick Joseph Publication Date 2010 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Fairies, Kingship, and the British Past in Walter Map’s De Nugis Curialium and Sir Orfeo by Patrick Joseph Schwieterman A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Maura Nolan, Chair Professor Jennifer Miller Professor John Lindow Fall 2010 Fairies, Kingship, and the British Past in Walter Map’s De Nugis Curialium and Sir Orfeo © 2010 by Patrick Joseph Schwieterman Abstract Fairies, Kingship, and the British Past in Walter Map’s De Nugis Curialium and Sir Orfeo by Patrick Joseph Schwieterman Doctor of Philosophy in English University of California, Berkeley Professor Maura Nolan, Chair My dissertation focuses on two fairy narratives from medieval Britain: the tale of Herla in Walter Map’s twelfth-century De Nugis Curialium, and the early fourteenth-century romance Sir Orfeo. I contend that in both texts, fairies become intimately associated with conceptions of the ancient British past, and, more narrowly, with the idea of a specifically insular kingship that seeks its legitimization within that past. In Chapter One, I argue that Map’s longer version of the Herla narrative is his own synthesis of traditional materials, intended to highlight the continuity of a notion of British kingship that includes the pygmy king, Herla and Henry II.
  • Filosofická Fakulta

    Filosofická Fakulta

    Univerzita Karlova v Praze Filozofická fakulta Bakalářská práce 2010 Šárka Homolková Univerzita Karlova v Praze Filozofická Fakulta Ústav anglofonních literatur a kultur Bakalářská práce Šárka Homolková Vývoj a styl ossianovského mýtu The Development and Style of the Ossianic Myth Praha 2010 Prof.PhDr. Martin Procházka, Csc. Prohlašuji, že jsem tuto bakalářskou práci vypracovala samostatně a pouze na základě uvedených pramenů a literatury. (I declare that the following BA thesis is my work for which I used only the sources and literature mentioned.) ………………………… V Praze dne ......... Souhlasím se zapůjčením bakalářské práce ke studijním účelům. I have no objection to the BA thesis being borrowed and used for study purposes. …………………. I would like to thank my supervisor Prof.PhDr. Martin Procházka, Csc. for introducing me to James Macpherson and the Ossianic thematic and for his advice, ideas and help with my thesis. I also would like to thank Mary Jones for her effort in making various Celtic works, which I used in my thesis and which I would not be able to obtain otherwise, accessible. TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………… 6 - 9 2. Irish Versions of the Fenian Narratives ………………………………………...10 - 33 2.1. Earliest Development of the Fenian Tales and Their First Written Forms …………………………………………………………………………11 - 13 2.1.1. The Tales of the Elders of Ireland ………………………………………...13 - 15 2.2. The Development of the Ossianic Stories after the Norman Invasion ………………………………………………………………………. 16 - 20 2.2.1. The Pursuit of Diarmaid and Gráinne …………………………………...20 - 22 2.2.2. Duanaire Finn …………………………………………………………….22 - 26 2.3. Translations from Irish ……………………………………………………...26 - 27 2.4. Comparison of the Early and Late Irish Forms of the Fenian Narratives … 27 - 33 3.