Module overview
Today, chivalry is readily associated with gentle(manly) behaviour, and more specifically with sportsmanship, gallantry and courtesy. While indisputably there has always been a ‘civilising’ component to chivalry, it is fascinating to see how our modern society has shifted the focus away from what once formed its core elements: war and violence. This module investigates the roots and development of a martial ethos, which came to be fully assimilated by the aristocracy between the 11th and the 15th century, and infused its culture.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Demonstrate your ability to communicate effectively in the context of a written assessment
- Engage critically with primary sources
- Gather information and organise it into an accurate and coherent essay
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- The multiple facets of chivalry, as an order of knights, an ethos, a status and a concept
- Late medieval political, economic and social changes which impacted on chivalry
- Court culture in the late middle ages
- King Arthur's myth and Arthurian Romances
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Engage with the concept of laws and ethics of war
- Discuss confidently the didactic, normative, prescriptive nature of medieval chivalric treatises or romances and the idealistic nature of so-called chivalric chronicles and make a critical use of these primary sources
- Communicate accurately and clearly a range of knowledge and critical reflection in response to exam questions and essay topics
- Reflect on different definitions of honour
- Make well-supported judgments about the value of particular interpretations of the evidence.
Syllabus
Chivalry was mainly secular but it also embraced religious beliefs and crusading ideals. Chivalry dictated behaviours at war, but it also shaped court culture, drawing on Arthurian myth and romances and giving rise to elaborate forms of pageantry in tournaments, banquets, chivalric orders and ceremonies. Chivalry influenced as well the life, death and remembrance of the humble knight as it inspired good kingship.
These are among the main themes that we will be investigating in this module, using a wide variety of sources such as chivalric treatises, chronicles, romances, manuscript illuminations, and also material culture (including the Winchester Round Table).
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
Two lectures and one seminar per week
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Seminar | 12 |
| Lecture | 22 |
| Fieldwork | 4 |
| Guided independent study | 262 |
| Total study time | 300 |
Resources & Reading list
Textbooks
Saul, N. (2011). For Honour and Fame: Chivalry in England, 1066-1500. London.
Keen, M. (1984). Chivalry. Yale.
Kaeuper, R.W. (2016). Medieval Chivalry. Cambridge.
Assessment
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Written assignment | 40% |
| Essay | 60% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Written assignment | 40% |
| Essay | 60% |
Repeat
An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Written assignment | 40% |
| Essay | 60% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External