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University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Theses/Dissertations

Chivalry

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Medieval Studies

"Thou Art The Lorliest Lede That Ever I On Looked": Arthur And Kingship As Represented By The Alliterative Morte Arthure, Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, And The Awntyrs Off Arthur, Samuel Hardin Cox Dec 2017

"Thou Art The Lorliest Lede That Ever I On Looked": Arthur And Kingship As Represented By The Alliterative Morte Arthure, Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, And The Awntyrs Off Arthur, Samuel Hardin Cox

Masters Theses

King Arthur is one of the most well known mythical figures in the English language, and throughout his 1500-year literary tradition, poets have built an intricate and multifaceted mythos around this legendary character. Integral to Arthur’s various depictions is how each poet chooses to illustrate his kingship. These characteristics often overlap across poems, poets, and time periods. Yet, upon closer examination, subtle differences between those kingly depictions produce telling insights into the period in which the story was written. For this study, I have examined three separate Arthurian romances: The Alliterative Morte Arthure, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight …


Lords Of Retinue: Middle English Romance And Noblemen In Need, James Trevor Stewart May 2017

Lords Of Retinue: Middle English Romance And Noblemen In Need, James Trevor Stewart

Doctoral Dissertations

This study shows how medieval poets adapted the romance genre to address contemporary concerns about the regulation and exercise of noble power. Analyzing romances alongside chivalric chronicles, medieval didactic texts, and modern historical studies of the English nobility, this dissertation explores the ideals and practices of chivalry in medieval England from the reign of Edward I (1272-1307) through the deposition of Richard II (1399). Chapters on Guy of Warwick (c. 1300), Ywain and Gawain (mid-fourteenth century), and Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale (c. 1388) argue that Middle English poets promote ideals of both prowess and lordship in their narratives of chivalric heroism.