All Good Things Must Come to an End

    One of the most important things I’ve learned is that it is better to know a little about a lot. Meaning, when I first entered this class, I didn’t know what to expect. I genuinely thought it was going to be a class based entirely around something like Game of Thrones and about a people that were incompetent and ignorant. While the book series is close in content by the violence and sexual innuendos, that is not all this time period has to offer. This era offers more than just violence and what Shrek tells us. There is magic, intellect and passion in this time period. Margery Kempe is a prime example of passion even if it is overdramatic. Magic is something that is relevant to the tales of this time, like in Beowulf and Bisclavret. All the texts we have read this semester have shown to me that imagination is a beautiful thing. As well as fiction. Reading imaginative, fun, and thrilling texts can take you to an alternate place and it puts the world into perspective. I’ve learned that women have come a long way, and God was a fearsome entity. Fear of the unknown had a lot of influence on the environment, and men had a masculinity complex. Popularity was earned by fame and fame was earned by defending a person’s treasures be it family, land, or valuable objects. Violence was just as intriguing then as it is today and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to get to know all of you and to hear your ideas. This class has been very insightful and invigorating. I hope you all have an exciting summer, keep reading!  

This is it

Alright Guys,

I'm late to the party, but I blog on Saturday's, so that's what I get. Well I honestly learned a lot in this class; through discussions and the blogs I've gained a new perspective on medieval times. It wasn't a dark time, it was a booming time with a lot of focus on religion and storytelling to make things interesting. My favorite part of this class was looking through the lais and stories similar to them and trying to understand why it was important for these things to be said or communicated. I learned that we (meaning progressive society with lots of technology) shouldn't be so willing to just accept why somethings are okay to discuss in medieval times but not today. We shouldn't be so willing to dismiss the value of what we can be taught about our society through one long since passed.

The Most Surprisng Thing I learned

As the semester draws to a close, I am finding it rather hard to think of something surprising that I learned. To an extent, I had a vague sense that the Medieval period had a lot of the issues that we discussed in class. For example, I knew to some extent that they held extremely anti-semitic views. As well as that women had some degree of agency. I had had previous classes kind of touch on these issues or I had encountered them myself in my own personal reading. I think what made this class interesting to me was bringing all of these ideas and thought processes together into one context and then broadening it out into many as well as applying it to the modern day. I guess I have to say what was most surprising was that these works of literature can still have so much power and influence today as they would have when they were more widely read or shared.

Coming to an End

Dear Bloggers,

With the school year and Medieval Literature coming to an end, I see that I have learned many new things about myself and this class. One thing I have learned is that I do not like to blog and I will stick to writing papers. Other than that I feel that this class has been really useful. The Middle Ages is not a time where people are stupidly running around with pitch forks and having no idea what is going on. It is a time where people are discovering their sexuality, learning about different people, and finding women to be the source of all evil. This class has taught me to not just take things for face value and look deeper. I honestly would have never guessed how many times we would have bring up penises in class, but it wasn't out of context. This class has given me a whole new perspective on the Middle Ages and that is something I will carry with me. It has taught me that I need to research and look into things before developing an arguable opinion because, before this class, all I really would have know about the Middle Ages would be from Monty Python. It has been a good semester!

Most Surprising Thing I've Learned

The most surprising/interesting thing I've learned while in this class has definitely been either how violent this time period was and also how this society viewed sex.
 I wrote a blog about all the different forms of torture that was common during the Medieval era, and there were so many insanely painful forms that I was in total and complete shock. There were ways of stretching people out enough to rip them in half, drowning women who were thought to be witches, having stakes driven through people's legs, etc. It was appalling to research this topic and to see all of the various websites that contained hundreds of ways that people were tortured.
Also I wrote a blog about sex and how intensely regulated it was during the Medieval period. There were restrictions on what time of day sex was permitted, what positions were acceptable, and who sex was acceptable to be between. The restrictions for the time of day stated that sex was only allowed during the night in complete darkness. Men were only allowed to be on top (missionary) unless they were fat, then it was acceptable for the women to be on top. There was absolutely no anal, oral, or other positions allowed ever. Sex was only allowed between a married man and woman for the strict purpose of procreation. Sex for fun was completely inappropriate.
This class has taught me a lot about Medieval times that I previously had bias towards. Medieval people weren't completely dirty and living in filth, they wore vibrant clothing, and there were times of good and happiness it wasn't all just bad and killing everyone.

Class overview

The most important thing that i learned in this class was how to pull key words out of texts to paint a vivid picture of what the story is mainly about. Another good thing that i learned and will be able to use in my business degree is to think more critically about the information in front of me. This will be key in being able to listen to everything and making a good decision based off all of the information taken in. lastly i learned how to right a paper based on poems and texts instead of just on numbers and vocabulary words.

This was a very interesting class that enlightened me on the middle ages, which is cool because i really enjoy learning about history. I would take another class like this just because it was very informative, and a different approach to learning than just a lecture. It was fun being able to hear how everyone has a different interpretation of how they see different key aspects of a story. Overall this class was fun, and had a good time in class even though I am not a morning person.

Nobody Can Top our Blog

When looking for another blog that was related to the middle ages I found this blog.

http://jekely.blogspot.com/

In this blog there are quite a few posts about the middle ages, it says that this blog is more centered around the art and its history in the middle ages. The post that I found most interesting would be the one about the Medieval treasure in a grave from the Mongol Invasion. There were many rings and other treasures that were found in this place. This blog post is mainly about the historical facts from mainly Hungary during the Middle Ages. It is a really interesting idea and topic, it also gives me some new and interesting information on the subject. It also talks about how this grave site was not the only place where they would find these things, and how they had archaeologists who would always be able to lead these things to find more treasures from the middle ages. I like this blog post cause it was more about actual physical things that were found that could be dated back to the middle ages rather than what we generally talk about on this blog which is more of the fictional things.

How Women and Men are Portrayed

When looking for a scholarly article about one of the texts i stumbled on one that went with a lot of the texts we read as a whole. The article that I read is titled Men and Women as Represented in Medieval Literature and Society. In this article there is a lot about how the women and men are thought to be portrayed, which is the men being heroic and the women being damsels in distress. In this article it is refuting that idea and saying what the stories are actually like. It also talks about how women are not usually given the main role of a story, they are generally the supporting roles to the medieval texts. Another reason it gives for having women in the stories was to recognize the men in the stories for their brave and heroic acts, even if they died which meant there would be people to mourn when they died as well. It also talks about how Grendel's mother is characterized differently since she is an outcast because she is a descendant of Cain. It says that she does not have to live up to these morals that the other women are living up to. 

After reading this article I think that it is pretty spot on with what it has to say about women in these stories. Also what it says about the men in many of the stories. This article is something that would help a person get to thinking on what women and men were thought to do in the Medieval Literature times. It not only discusses what the roles of men and women have in the texts form Medieval Literature but also what people who do not really read much of it usually think about it. It is a great way to summarize most of the readings taht we have done over the semester, because it talks about a couple of the people that we have read about in class.

http://digitalcommons.apus.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1048&context=saberandscroll

Sumorlæcan Néawung

The title of this is supposed to mean Summer is Coming. I'm not completely certain but I tried to look it up.

This semester has been pretty interesting and I've enjoyed it a lot. Probably the most interesting thing that I have learned would have to be how to actually read the way some Medieval Literature has been written. When I first looked at how some of the texts were written I thought I would never be able to understand what they were saying. But after reading a few different pieces I started to pick up on how to actually read the texts and understand what they meant. Although I still do not know haw to read every single word I am able to now pick up what the main meaning of the text is. I can not actually pronounce how the words are written. I really thought this was an intresting class, and I'm glad that I chose to take it as an elective for my Literature class because it has helped me to get into the readings that I do and also really think about what is being written.

Endless Knowledge and Endless Thanks

Hello Everyone!

This semester has been a whirlwind, it seems like yesterday we were reading the blickling homilies. I will admit I was rather illiterate in medieval literature at the beginning of the semester; by no means do I consider myself an expert but I do believe if the time comes when I am standing face-to-face with a scholar of medieval literature I may be able to hold my own. We may not have had to memorize anything in this class, but I am prepared to astound a dinner party with my oration of the first 18 lines of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (thanks Dr. Mann). 

If I take anything away from this class it is that the Middle Ages were a vast period of time that is oftentimes overlooked. Individuals who lived during the middle ages are unseen for their contributions to literature or art or science. They are often overshadowed by the enlightenment and the renaissance. We should praise the individuals of the past for their contributions to culture, because trust me they contributed. 

The issues of the past are relevant today. For example, the use of violence throughout the different medieval texts. The same glorification of violence reigns true today. We are surrounded by violence in the news, in movies, in music: we are gradually being desensitized to it and yet this is nothing new it is a societal malady that has always existed. 

I would like to thank Dr. Mann for sharing her knowledge with us and encouraging us to open our minds and to analyze everything. Thank you for bringing enthusiasm to even the most difficult texts.

Thank you to my fellow classmates. I have so enjoyed getting to know you. You all are interesting, kind, genuine, and bright individuals. I have no doubt that your futures will be filled with abundant blessings and successes.

Goodbye dear friends, may the fourth be with you . . .

 

What I've Learned

Over the course of the last 16 weeks I have learned a lot of interesting aspects to Medieval Literature. I had an idea that I would be reading stories about knights in shining armor who come to women's rescue, but I didn't realize how many texts dealt with religion. Religion was a huge part of these author's lives and I wasn't expecting to be reading a whole lot about religion. I am not a very religious person so this concept was not only surprising to me, but I learned a lot of new concepts in regards to religion. I never thought I would get so annoyed by a saint like I did with Margery.

I also liked how we looked at stories from different theoretical perspectives. I especially liked how we deconstructed Beowulf from an environmental point of view. As I read the story I thought well if these monsters are killing men then sure Beowulf has a right to protect these people, but I didn't take into account that maybe these men were in their space and their noise invaded Grendel and his mother's privacy, which means the monsters had ever right to strike back at them. 

I also enjoyed learning about the Anglo Saxon culture because I believe it helped explain how these texts were written. We are usually seeing a male character who is honored with fame and riches for his excellent battle skills. What makes a man "a man" is how he shows it on the battle field and in return he will receive glory, honor, women, and treasure. 

Good Bye

Going through these sixteen weeks has for sure been interesting for me. I have learned many new things about medieval times. One of the most interesting things that I learned in this class was learning about how much woman differ to men in most of the stories that we read. I found it interesting that most of the stories that we read the main character was a man. When we read the few that had woman as the main character it made me want to read it more. In this time I learned that men are mostly the main character because women are thought of as to not be important. I am glad that I took this class and I found many things interesting every time I came to class. I hope that as we enter into finals week we all can stay calm, not stress, and remember why we are all here. We are almost done!! Thank you all for making our classes fun and interesting!

 

Happy Finals!

Wow. This semester was challenging and harsh. I have never stress ate so much in my life. However, I learned a lot. I learned that King Arthur was Welsh, not Anglo-Saxon. I learned that Medieval people had a very different and vibrant viewpoint on Christianity. I learned that there are professors that expect the world but don't expect a matching handbag. I had fun, pulled out all my hair, and worked my butt off. I think that my favorite part of this class was the reading. The class was focused on a specific time period but everything was so varied. I got to read about my favorite legends, and discuss them overly enthusiastically while annoying people. I liked that there were always things that everyone disagreed on but we almost always found something in common. All in all, this semester was challenging, and fun, and will probably be one of my favorite classes I have ever taken. Thank you Dr. Mann and my fellow classmates. It's been great.

What I Learned

I believe the most interesting thing that I learned in this class was the concept of sexuality in the Middle Ages, with regards to both men and women.

Homosexuality wasn't really acknowledged, at least, the difference between a man having sex with a man or a woman weren't considered entirely different nor put into different sexuality categories like they are today. Emphasis was placed on what we would define as 'hetero' relationships, but that was for child bearing purposes, not necessarily societal outcasting.

Homosexual sex and other non missionary sex was considered a 'waste of semen' and not for child bearing purposes, and was thus frowned upon, but not to any outrageous level.

Also, the idea of God and Jesus preferring 'pure virgins' was widely accepted and encouraged in this time period, discouraging any type of sex at all. There are many references in literature to purification: physically, sexually, and emotionally. The desire to be 'pure' for to earn Jesus and God's favor was widely preferred and idealized by many, and it is reflected in their literature. They took communion and refused many sexual encounters as a method to keep themselves 'pure'. Also, 'purity' was equally desired among men and women, and wasn't as one sided as it is today. Women were nearly if equal in being 'cleansed' of sexual encounters as men.

I learned a lot in terms of sexual identity, and I will carry this knowledge when I continue to read and analyze Middle English Literature.

The End

Fellow bloggers,

This semester has flown by and cannot believe this is the final blog post. This class is not like any other class I have taken. I honestly learned so much, pretty much everything we talked about this semester was new material for me. Therefore this blog post will be dedicated to the most interesting topic in medieval lit. My favorite topic so far this semester was all the Marie de France poems. I am a little more familiar with her work and have always loved it, so those were the most intriguing to me. However, I loved the discussions that were in class. I loved the directions that Dr. Mann guided us in, we pulled out many interesting, wild, and out there themes from our readings. Examples of the most interesting ones were: heterosexual love triangles, swords=penis=power, and the theme of penetration with swords = penetration in sexual activity.

This has been a fun, but informational class and I am so happy that I got the chance to be apart of it! 

Short Story: The life and death of Sir Gowther and Margery Kempe

Hello Fellow Bloggers,

I wanted to do something a little more creative in this blog post. Yes, I know it's a tab longer than usual, but it's a fast read, I promise. I'm going to take a page out of Margaret Atwood's book and do a short story.

(A)Sir Gowther meets Margery Kempe. Gowther hates her, but she has a penchant for being good entertainment. Gowther grows quickly tired of her and kills her. Margery's husband, still being her husband is not too fond of the fact that his wife was just killed and gets revenge, killing Gowther.

(B) Sir Gowther meets Margery in passing at the market and runs into her again as he just begins his penitence. He listens to her screeching sobs as she fawns over his likeness to Jesus. This quickly irritates him and everyone in the market. One man says, "This young man has no tongue, weep not lady," to which Margery responds, "This creature finds this young man looks a lot like our sweet savior and God," *intense sobbing follows.* Because of all the sobbing, the crowd grows restless and attacks her in a very Julius Caesar way and kills her. In this process, Gowther also gets trampled in the mosh and dies.

(C) Sir Gowther has met Margery Kempe in passing multiple times, never before had there been an issue, but as Gowther is waiting for God to forgive him, war breaks out between the sultan and the king with whom he resides. While dressed in Black armor and fighting for the king, Gowther gets distracted, as many men do, by a woman weeping for the souls of them all in such a wailing pitch that it distracts Gowther. Both Gowther and Margery are slain because Gowther was distracted by Margery and Margery was on a battlefield, so I don't know why she didn't see it coming.

(D) Sir Gowther has achieved the White armor and Margery is coming into her sainthood, repenting for all their sins, they have never met before, but in this moment they do. Margery is making her way back from Jerusalem and Gowther is about to take over his father-in-law's kingdom, but he has made a trip home to rebuild some of the abbeys he destroyed. He meets Margery on the road and they chat for a long while. Gowther tells her his plan and she weeps tears of joy and makes a request of him. She wants to live a secluded saint's life and Gowther agrees to make accommodations for her. Unfortunately, Gowther and Margery are in the wrong place at the wrong time and both are taken out by arrows, because the hobbits want their shire back and have enlisted the help of Legolas and his army of elvish men. It all ends the same; in the end they are both killed in their pursuits of a holier life.

Both Gowther and Kempe wanted and achieved redemption in the eyes of the Lord. The question is who were they performing for? Did they do anything in the name of God or was it all in the name of their names? To bring themselves fame, no matter what is was for or the means it was achieved by, was their ultimate goal, did they win?

Arthurian Dystopian Story?

Greetings!

This post is going to be a little out there but bear with me. Part of the Arthur legend is that he will return when England needs him so I kept thinking about Arthur returning to a post-apocalyptic England. I don't know exactly how England would get into a situation where Arthur would just reappear but I do think it would be funny if Avalon just opened up and dropped Arthur (and maybe Lanval) right in the middle of Harrods.

Again, I do not have much details on this interesting story idea. Mainly because my brain just likes to skips to the parts it thinks would be most interesting. So there would have to be some way that Arthur hooks up with a group of people trying to save England but he is so confused as to if it really is still England that he kind of does not believe them.

I also really want him to start off by speaking his version of the English language and then have to switch to the modern version. This switch would come with a line something along the lines of, "This language feels weird in my mouth. Are you sure this is English?"

It's highly unlikely I would ever use this idea, so if anyone of you wants it have at it! I would love to see what could be done with this.

Double your fun

I meant to say this in class today, but don't feel shy about using the blog to work out issues with your paper. You're required to keep blogging through the end of the semester (two more weeks!), so you might as well make it useful for yourself.

Potential avenues:

1.  Drafting intro or certain paragraphs for comment
2.  Explaining stumbling blocks and crowdsourcing input
3.  Posting "scraps"--things you write that are interesting but only tangentially related to your argument and therefore they have to be cut
4.  A place for reflection on the writing process

You're all in this together; might as well act like it.

Happy writing!

The Divine Proportion

Here is a question for you, fellow medieval bloggers, when you read a text do you ever look for patterns? Common numbers, images, colors, symbols?

When we read Cleanness, did you notice anything peculiar about the way the text was set up? I know a handful of us were confused by the speaker of the first part  and how within one text there were stories within stories, which were all connected by a common theme.

In the article, Importance of Medieval Numerology and the Effects Upon Meaning in the Works of the Gawain- Poet, Cusimano explores the possible patterns of certain medieval works including Cleanness. Cusimano states that the text follows a common homiletic tradition which is the division of subject into three parts and unified by a common theme.

Cusimano also explains that this structure directly reflects the concept of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all within one divine creator. Three parts to a whole. (The Divine Proportion)

In Cleanness, we have the story of the flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Belshazzar. In each story we are shown how God deals with sin or uncleanness. These stories may all be different, however, they are unified with the common theme of the ways individuals can be spiritually unclean, much of which is evidenced through their actions.

By seeking out the possible patterns of a text you are actively pursuing much more than just the gist of the text. You will begin questioning why the text was written this way or that way, a curiosity will grow, and you will find yourself with opinions and beliefs that stretch far beyond, "eh I liked it."

Cusimano's article opened my eyes to literary numerology which answered questions I really wasn't aware I had, I can say for certain that in the future my mind will be more attune to the possible patterns within literary works.

If you would like to read the full article you can follow the link here: http://scholarworks.uno.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2203&context=td

The Concept of Feminine Ugliness in Medieval English Poetry

Since I have chosen to write my final paper about the portrayal of women in Medieval literature I figured I would look up some scholarly articles about this topic. I found this article that discusses the concept of feminine ugliness and I thought it was very interesting because this is a concept I plan to write about in my paper. Here are a few of the points that the authors make about how feminine ugliness was portrayed in Medieval poetry.

Ugliness-definition through contrast. In order for the authors to explain this concept they had to define what beauty was at the time. 

"Female hair had to be long and blonde; foreheads had to be smooth and moderate-sized; eyebrows had to be delicate; a chest had to be white; breasts had to be firm and little, and the like" (Curry 3). 

"Whiteness was the unquestionable norm. Apart from such idealizations, it was also customary to emphasize women's beauty with comparisons to beautiful things such as lilies, the rising sun, the nightly sky, or red roses" (Evans 233). 

The authors state that ugliness was the exact opposite of these features and that is how Medieval poetry perceived women who were ugly. They would be explained as the opposite of these features. 

This next one is my favorite! Ugliness- stigma of inadequacy. This is another way that authors portrayed women and their ugliness by showing their lack in certain feminine fields. 

"When it came to women, descriptions of beauty accorded with the medieval demand that a respectable damsel had to act as the "desirable object of conquest and love" and motherhood (Kasten 256), while highlighting her ugliness was to reveal her assumed shortcomings in these fields." 

So basically women who were seen  as beautiful in these texts were damsels in distress that needed a strong man to swoop in and save them and if a women didn't have those qualities she was seen as ugly. How about instead of seeing her as ugly she should be seen as a powerful woman who could do just fine on her own without needing a man to rescue her! 

My question to all of you is where have we seen this portrayal in the texts that we have read this semester? Were the women portrayed in the same light as the damsel in distress or were they portrayed in a different way? 

I found this article to be very interesting and it is worth taking a look at especially if your final paper will be about the portrayal of women in the texts that we have read this semester.

• Dominik Jesse 

, 2015, The Concept of Feminine Ugliness in Medieval English Poetry, München, GRIN Verlag, http://www.grin.com/de/e-book/305985/the-concept-of-feminine-ugliness-in-medieval-english-poetr

http://www.grin.com/de/e-book/305985/the-concept-of-feminine-ugliness-in-medieval-english-poetry



This is a depiction of Dame Ragnelle!



This is the typical depiction of what it mean to be a "beautiful women". We can see that she clearly has long hair, she is pale, and she is able to attract a man. 

New Dialogue between Kind Arthur & Lancelot

Dialogue between King Arthur & Lancelot. Lancelot is in charge of the King’s troops.

King: “Have many days have you searched for the holy grail?”

Lancelot: “Only a few days my king.”

King: “There was talk of a dragon over the black ridge. You and your men should go there first thing in the morning.”

Lancelot: “But why your majesty?”

King: “Because if the holy grail is suspected to be guarded then I would imagine it would be guarded by that monster. Now go and rally your men for the morning.”

Lancelot: Bows and turns to exit the throne room.

The reasons why I picked these characters to make dialogue between these two is because the subject they were discussing about I watched the 1975 Monty Python and the Holy Grail. King Arthur and Lancelot are both figures for medieval literature we hear about more than any other person. So naturally you would want these two to team up and go after something of great importance. Reading this in class also made me remember parts of this. They were best friends maybe even closer. Again I showed how close these two really were, but here Lancelot also show obedience.

Dialogue between King Arthur & Lancelot. Lancelot is in charge of the King’s troops.

King: “Have many days have you searched for the holy grail?”

Lancelot: “Only a few days my king.”

King: “There was talk of a dragon over the black ridge. You and your men should go there first thing in the morning.”

Lancelot: “But why your majesty?”

King: “Because if the holy grail is suspected to be guarded then I would imagine it would be guarded by that monster. Now go and rally your men for the morning.”

Lancelot: Bows and turns to exit the throne room.

https://www.google.com/search?q=monty+python+and+the+holy+grail+characters&rlz=1C1CHWA_enUS672US674&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=619&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjckurHwpTMAhVGOD4KHTUxC4cQ_AUICCgD&dpr=1.5#imgrc=fEgBTMrxPAuK_M%3A   

Who I would like to meet

Hello bloggers!

For my blog post this week, I would like to focus on who I would like to meet! The person I would like to meet is Merlin. Merlin is a very interesting character to me. I feel that I find him so interesting because he is so different than what I thought he was going to be. I find this to be ironic because this really embodies his character; Merlin never seems to be what everyone thinks he is. Growing up, I loved watching The Sword in the Stone. (The Disney version.) In the Disney version, he was this cooky old man that had magical powers and was obviously a good guy. The first picture below is what I thought he was and would be in the text. Below that picture is a much older picture of him. These are two very different images and I feel that they depict him differently in each. Unlike the Disney version, Merlin had his own agenda; that includes disguising a man so he can trick a woman into having sex with him. (Much different from Disney.) Although these details seems to make Merlin a less desirable character, I feel that they make him more interesting. These details make me want to know him and meet him. Overall, I feel that Merlin is a complicated character who I would love to meet.

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/5/56/Merlin_official.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120320065319

http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/images/mlw_0001_0003_0_img0132.jpg

Morte D'Arthur Character List

I remember hearing in class a few people saying that they had problems following the characters in Le Morte D'Arthur. I agree that there are a lot of people in these stories and it is hard to keep them straight. So below so made a bit of a chart of some of the more important characters in the story. 

If I could've met

If I could've met anyone in the texts I would love to have met King Arthur and documented everything going down throughout his life. I mean, yeah, he's fictional, but he had a very dramatic and exciting life. He had a magic sword, was possibly bisexual, and had a huge castle and lots of knights.

I've also read from other sources that a lot of his knights had superhero-like magical powers and that would've been cool to see.

There's just so much drama in his life, like his family, his knights, and his quests. The quest for the Holy Grail is an interesting one I would've liked to follow, as well as his journey to Avalon.

Also, it would be interesting to see how the mythology of the knights began, as history tells that knights were often simply warriors for hire that served a lord, and the nobleness and chivalry was as much of a myth as the story of Arthur.

I also could've went up to Arthur and said "Look, Mordred's...not a great dude. And you probably shouldn't listen to everything Gawain says and needs." Then, we could have more King Arthur adventures...at least for five more minutes before something else equally as terrible happens.

It would just overall be great to be a bystander in one of the most influential and famous founding myths in world history.

Views and Values of Knights throughout Morte d'Arthur

For this blog post I decided to get a scholarly article about the Knighthood throughout our most recent readings, Morte d'Arthur. The author of this post, Robert Kelly, describes the different points of view, from others, about knighthood and the 3 values of knighthood. Kelly states that there are three very different points of views of Knights during this time. "for the exercise of arms, as the ethical code of a governing class, and as an 'order' or vocation to the priests" (106). These views were all throughout the eras of Knights, all throughout the 15th century, and were a result of different situations that were happening. The author also stated different values of knighthood. "The Heroic Knight, who embodies the values of the 'first Christian Warriors', the Worshipful Knight, who embodies 'the more secular values of late medieval feudalism', and the True Knight, who embodies the 'values of the Christian feudalism of the High Middle Ages'"(106). 

My question for you, is that while seeing the descriptions of the Knights which do you believe the Knights, such as Gawain, Tristram, Lancelot, and the other Knights are perceived as? 

My reaction to this article, is it was very interlude risk and also helped myself with the reading while referring to the Knights. It also took me back to the reading of Sir Gowther, when he was the 3 different colors as being described as the 3 values of Knights. The black as being the Heroic Knight. The red as being the Worshipful knight and the white as being the True knight. Especially the while knight because know he was in his truest and newest form, for now he was pure. 

Kelly, Robert L. "Knighthood in the Morte                    

    d'Arthur." South Atlantic Modern      

    Language Association 53.3 (1988): 

    105-08. Print. 

Another Outlook on Beowulf

http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/leithart/2006/02/thoughts-on-beowulf

I chose to read an article on Beowulf. Peter J. Leithart is the author of this article. He believes so many things that I never thought about with in Beowulf. A few examples are the fact that Heorot was created for the enjoyment of man, but also in the likeness of Eden and that angers Grendel, Grendel as we know is upset because he is an outcast from the others who get to enjoy Heorot and all it has to offer. When Grendel dies however, his mother’s vengeance is extremely personal. The men killed her kin, and she will kill theirs. This read is extremely interesting and I suggest everyone read and see his outlook. It’s not so much how we discussed in class about Grendel’s anger for Heorot is not just because he is outcasted, but because of the noise they make, and all Grendel knew was what he was raised in, which was swampy-grossness. He gives a different but interesting spin. I’d like to know everyone’s thoughts on his outlook.

I found this picture extremely interesting.

https://www.google.com/search?q=images+of+beowulf+and+grendel&biw=1051&bih=501&tbm=isch&imgil=H8WN9Xj3uG5TqM%253A%253Bn4Xspw30SFw3iM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.awesomestories.com%25252Fasset%25252Fview%25252FGRENDEL-S-MOTHER-Beowulf&source=iu&pf=m&fir=H8WN9Xj3uG5TqM%253A%252Cn4Xspw30SFw3iM%252C_&usg=__bshcZkl1hoPZ4YE_1E9otcbV9MA%3D&ved=0ahUKEwj_xa-F14zMAhUkvIMKHbNSD6wQyjcIMQ&ei=c8oOV7_AKqT4jgSzpb3gCg#imgrc=H8WN9Xj3uG5TqM%3A

The Round Table

The Knights of the round table is a basic blue print to how forms of government, fraternities, and other organizations are structured. Each Knight at the round table had a specific job that they were suppose to take care of and report back to the table to let the others know what was going on. Governments and fraternities today operate on the same principles, which shows how much things have not changed over thousands of years. The round table is a good system since it allows for different minds to work together to be able to come to a decision based on a group instead of one person just making a decision. The round table is one of the first democratic styles of decision making, and ahead of its time.

My question to my fellow bloggers is how do you feel about this comparison, and does it make you think that the old say "if its ain't broke don't fix it" applies to the comparison?

Vindolanda

Greetings Medieval Classmates,

      Today's little history lesson comes from the early end of the Medieval period in the early 5th century. Follow me down the very straight Roman paved roads of England, towards Hadrian's Wall in the Northern part of the country. This is where we will find Vindolanda. Vindolanda is trading village that was frequented by many different types of people: Roman soldiers, French, Irish and Denmark tradesmen. Vindolanda was not just a regular pit stop or bump in the road; it was actually a thriving fort city.
      Because there was a lot of Roman influence over much of the structure and building of the fort, there was a lot of advanced technology at play. For example, there were pipes running underneath the fort allowing water to be brought in through the aqueduct system the Romans installed. Also found in Vindolanda, tablets that helped archaeologists learn what the people of Vindolanda ate shopped for. These tablets were made of fine wood that have grocery lists and things of the like imprinted on them. Vindolanda was considered a metropolis of action and from its size it's easy to why.
Hope you all enjoyed this little history lesson!




Vindolanda Knowledge: History 280, History of the British Isles with Dr. Welsh.

Picture: https://www.google.com/search?q=vindolanda&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=667&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjHtvOkl4PMAhWKbD4KHfkNCvYQ_AUIBygC#imgrc=HmcVNU7azueKbM%3A

I'd Most Want to Meet.....

Hello medieval bloggers,

I am a little late on my post, but Spring Break sort of messed up my schedule and I got a little confused, but better late than never.

I am doing my post this week on a character that I would like to meet. We have started to read stories from the Arthurian time period and after the in class presentation about King Arthur's court, I think the one person I would want to meet from that court is Queen Guinevere.



https://www.google.com/search?q=queen+guinevere&biw=1280&bih=923&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjF6pSm5f_LAhUW7GMKHZ65AfsQsAQIGw&dpr=1#imgrc=okGXCAz3mvCiTM%3A

Based off of the readings that we have done in class, it seems like she maybe wasn't the nicest person in King Arthur's court, but maybe we are getting a skewed version of her. I gathered a few facts about her from Encyclopedia.com and found out that she was a beautiful and noble queen, but her love for Sir Lancelot led to her downfall. The site also said that there was numerous fights between Lancelot and Arthur after Guinevere was accused on adultery. After Arthur dies she retrieves to a convent in attempt to reprehend her sins.

Whether or not these stories are true or myth, there is one thing this court has in common with our popular culture today. I don't know about you guys, but I am always interested in watching a good love triangle flourish and then see how it ends. These facts tell us that there was a love triangle between these three characters and it ultimately led to the demise of Arthur's Knightly Court. We can easily get mad at her for committing adultery, but at the same time Kings were able to have mistresses I'm sure. I am not sure if Arthur takes a mistress ever, but I am sure being king he gets a lot of offers.

There are numerous stories that depict her as being beautiful and noble, but there are other texts that make her seem manipulative, betraying, and adulteress. this is why she is a character I would like to meet because I am curious about the accuracy of these legends. She seems like an interesting character and I tend to show more of an interest in queens than I do kings. Don't get me wrong I like studying Kings and their reign, but I think its always nice to study the Queen as well because that is a side that we don't usually read about.

Wars of the Roses

As mentioned in class, our lovely writer of Morte de Arthur fought in the wars of the Roses, which was fought between the Lancasters and the Yorks.

As with all wars, its origins are complicated but this was a family war. Both sides made their claims for the throne descendants of the sons of Edward III. The man originally fought against in the beginning of the wars was Henry VI. He was married to a power-hungry French woman, his just as ambitious council mainly ruled for him and he was prone to fits of madness. Not the most stable king, a York rebellion set out to at least put his ambitious wife back in line after Henry temporarily returned to stability which lead to a victory for York but did not last for long. Eventually, the queen, Margaret of Anjou, gathered an army to prepare to attack the York's. The York's anticipate her and are able to depose Henry and install Edward IV as king.

Edward also comes with, what the English come to believe anyway, a very problematic wife, Elizabeth Woodville. Elizabeth is a problem for several reasons: 1) she's almost a commner/very low level gentry at best 2) she is ambitious 3) her mother was best friends with the previous queen, Margaret of Anjou 4) her mother was considered a witch 5) she herself was considered a witch. These last two reasons were the Lancastrian (as well as the Kingmaker's, Richard of Warwick and eventually York supporters) opinions for how she 1) managed to marry Edward and 2) how she managed to give herself and her family so much power.

Obviously this means another king must be deposed and order restored to the English court.

This is a task that takes a lot longer than removing Henry VI and ultimately ends up with the Kingmaker dead but Edward managing to live until the end of his reign. Fighting began again when Edward's brother, Richard III denied his young nephew and Edward's heir the throne ultimately leading to Lancastrian victory. This victory installs Henry Tudor, Henry VII, as King and brings peace by Elizabeth agreeing to marry her oldest child and daughter (also named Elizabeth) to Henry to bring both the families together to end the war.

The wars were named long after they had ended and were named for the color of the roses that represented each of the houses at war: 
York = White Rose
Lancaster = Red Rose

 Although, thinking about it now, it seems that the wars were partly due in part because the queens for both Henry VI and Richard IV were ambitious women who wanted to be involved with politics. Of course, in this time period women would not have been allowed to. Perhaps a very small part, but I would like to know what you all think about what the real causes of the wars were besides bad government and ambitious women.

(Source: Britannica)

Reaction to "The Ambiguity Of Wulf And Eadwacer"

     In Peter Baker's scholarly journal "The Ambiguity Of Wulf And Eadwacer," he discusses how critics have had difficulty in understanding the meaning of the story in the poem, "Wulf and Eadwacer." Baker writes that "Interpretations multiply and plain places are made rough; the reader, faced with deciding whether the poem is a riddle of a charm, a canine romance or the lament of a woman for her absent lover, may well wonder if he can be certain of anything about it." Baker also points out that Arnold Davidson stated that, "The very fact that the poem can be read in so many different ways suggests that it might be ambiguous and perhaps deliberately so."

     

     In his article, Baker points out that it is commonly accepted that the speaker of this poem is in fact a woman. The reason for this is that the speaker is concerned for Wulf's safety. While this doesn't ensure that the speaker is, the argument can be made that the speaker is concerned for him because they are lovers. A more factually grounded piece of evidence that lies in the text is that in line ten of the poem, the nominative feminine Old English word "reotugu" is used. Baker goes on to say that most critics agree that the speaker is a captive in a foreign land. Wulf is her lover and an outlaw, and Eadwacer is her tyrant husband. Baker concludes however, that it is more likely that Wulf is her husband. He thinks that Wulf has been outlawed by the speakers people and she, because she is the wife of an outlaw, has been sent to live on an island where Eadwacer watches over her and has made love to her. Regardless of Baker's interpretation, the poem is still ambiguous. Baker thinks that this ambiguity is more artistic than it is puzzling and that it justifies the poems reputation as an old English masterpiece. 

     I took a great interest in this article because I experienced my own struggles in trying to interpret this text when I was writing about it for my midterm paper. There is much that is clearly undefined even in only reading the text as it is provided in our textbook. Despite this however, outside of our textbook there is an even larger debate over what the text is in fact saying, let alone what it means. Considering that this text was written in Middle English, the text needs to be translated into Present Day English for us to understand it. Because of the nature of how languages change over time, many of the words from Middle English no longer exist in today's English and many of the words that do remain now mean something entirely different than what they used to. I was really interested to read that the original Middle English version of the poem contained the feminine nominative word "reotugu" because there was no evidence in the text that we read. I was wondering if the speaker was a man or a woman while I was writing my midterm paper, but was unable to find any concrete evidence for either sex. By understanding this, the theory of Wulf and the speaker being star crossed lovers makes a lot of sense. 

     Baker's article opened up my understanding of the poem entirely. It's incredible how scholarly discussion furthers all of the parties involved in the conversations understanding of what is going on in a text. If I hadn't taken the time to read Baker's article, my perspective of what is going on in this poem would be much more limited. I'm sure that other scholars helped him understand what was going on in this text before he was able to assert his own detailed interpretation.

Source: Baker, Peter S. "The Ambiguity Of 'Wulf And Eadwacer'." Studies In Philology 78.5 (1981): 39-51. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 6 Apr. 2016.

Review of The Medieval Bestiary: Animals in the Middle Ages

Occasionally, when reading medieval texts, I find myself feeling out of the loop in respect to the intended medieval audience. There is always some symbol representing some concept or idea in which a modern audience may not be attune.

If you have noticed, quite a few of the texts we have read use animals as symbols to represent something like traits. From Marie de France to Chaucer: animals are key literary tools. So when you close read and come across a reference to an animal the website, The Medieval Bestiary, is your friend.

All you have to do is type in the animal and search. You can find medieval illustrations, allegories, morals, traits, and other places in medieval literature that the animal is referenced.

Examples:

Marie de France references an eagle in her lai, Lanval in regards to the character, the mysterious lady of the woods. According to The Medieval Bestiary an eagle can represent Christ and rejuvenation or it can represent an evil spirit and a ravisher of souls.

Retrieved from The Medieval Bestiary. British Library.

Does that change how you view Lanval's lady love?



















In Sir Gowther, Gowther's punishment is to only eat the food that was first in the mouth of a dog. In medieval culture dogs were considered to be faithful creatures who could heal wounds by licking them. This symbolizes "the wounds of sin being healed through confession."

Retrieved from The Medieval Bestiary. Kongelige Bibliotek.

 How can we relate this back to Gowther?




In the near future we will be reading the Nun's Priest's Tale. Chaucer loved his animals, in this tale there is a rooster and a fox. I highly recommend you utilize this website while reading.

A "Lovely" Wedding Night for Sir Gawain

So here is kind of what I pictured Dame Ragnelle to look like when we were reading.

      I made her more into a cartoon character than an actual real person. I put her in undergarments cause that was probably the best way that I could think to do it. Let me know what you think of it and if there's anything you think I could make a little better because I don't think shes perfect but, I think that I got all the qualities that we discussed in class. I also found a picture of food that I could lay behind her since she was able to eat more than any other man.

Greed in Middle Ages vs Now

According to Laura Stokes from greed was different in the middle ages. In the middle ages it was alright for people to be rich as long as they were not being selfish about it. Being selfish was considered to be wrong. In this article Laura explains that people having "acceptable greed" has changed in the last 500 years.  


 http://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/august/greed-middle-ages-080212.html



Now on wall street, self promoting behavior is displayed all the time. If people were like this in the middle ages they might have been killed for behaving in that manor. Today being greedy is almost normal. people are constantly wanting to have the best, and receive more money than the person next to them.  People today I believe are more boastful. People today want to show off what they have. I think that people wanted to do this in the middle ages but do not because of fear of  consequences. 

"The heart of the arguments of the people I'm researching," she explained, "are socially indigenous value sets – not from an outside institution" (Laura Stokes 2008).

And, while quite different, "these value sets are present in today's society," said Stokes. Despite a heavy emphasis on greed in modern business culture, we still value social responsibility. As Stokes pointed out, "We admire most our great philanthropists who can balance both" (Laura Stokes).

I found these quotes interesting. I mostly liked the second quote because she explains that indigenous value sets still take place today. I also like that she said we value social responsibility because i believe this to be true today. For example we like the people that can be rich and yet responsible about it. We like these people because they are rich yet know how to balance having money and social responsibility.  Let me know what you think about this news journal I found.

Peasants revolt

          When one thinks of medieval heroes I would think that Robin Hood, or King Arthur would come to mind. However few who are not well versed in medieval history would think of Wat Taylor and Jack Straw. These were two of the men who lead the Peasants revolt in 1381.
          The gist of the story is that the Black Plague killed a whole lot of people. Because of all the peasant deaths many Lords were short on laborers and so they started encouraging peasants to move from their village to seek a better paying job with them. Well it was illegal for peasants to move without their current Lord's permission. She because of the competing between Lords to get the now sparse peasants a bunch of strict laws were made and enforced. These were called the Statute of Laborours.
          In addition to that a new poll tax was introduced, and that was absolutely the last straw. So Taylor and Straw and 60,000 men marched on London with a petition to be free basically. They wanted to be able to provide food for their families, make a living wage, and build homes.
          It really did not go as planned. King Richard II was 14, but he agreed to talk to them, however he could not get to them in a timely manor, so everyone started rioting. When Wat actually met the King, he was killed, and the rest of the leaders were killed too. Their demands were not met.
        I do not know if Taylor and Straw could be considered heroes. They started out with such noble goals, but in the end turned into criminals. They used violence because they were too impatient to see peace work it's magic. I wonder if their demands would have been met if they had not turned violent. We see this kind of thing far too often even in our modern world. Perhaps we should learn a lesson from the Peasant's Revolt.
Source
http://www.medieval-life-and-times.info/medieval-history/the-peasants-revolt.htm

Pilgrimages to Jerusalem during the Middle Ages

Jerusalem was the city where Jesus died, resurrected, and ascended into heaven, thus it became a city to visit for Christian, especially European Christians. During the Middle Ages, such a pilgrimage was expensive and lengthy. Many of these pilgrimages were by boat and often treacherous because boats often got lost and/or shipwrecked. There were many poems even written about how treacherous and often terrible the journey itself (Such as The Pilgrims Sea-Voyage and Sea-Sickness).

One interesting fact is that once travelers reached Palestine, the supervision was transferred into the Franciscans of the Monastery of Mount Zion, and it was the only Catholic organisation that was allowed by the Islamic rulers at the time.

There were many reasons to take the dangerous voyage to Jerusalem. Many reasons were to see the holy land and see the place where Jesus died for Christian's sins, as well as for the adventure and curiosity to see a city that so many considered holy and righteous in and of itself. Also, non-saint souls, according to Medieval Christianity, stay in Purgatory for a period of time before ascending into heaven. Pilgrimage to Jerusalem was said to shorten the time in Purgatory for the souls of the dead and for those who took the journey.

Some were sent to Jerusalem as punishment. They were sent to seek penance, but only for severe crimes, so it wasn't common.

Social status and prestige was another (probably less holy) reason. Those who accomplished the journey and returned were held in higher regard socially. Knights were often encouraged to go to show off their knight-hood and encourage them into crusades. Nobles were most often pilgrims because of the cost of the journey, most of whom being men. Women were considered the 'more sinful of sexes' and 'inherently sinful' (there was long debate in the Catholic church whether women even possessed souls to ascend to heaven). They were allowed so long as they were quiet, but most were quiet anyway because the journey was so difficult anyway.

Sources:

http://memo.hum.uu.nl/jerusalem/pages/pilgrimage.html

https://edelmulcahy.wordpress.com/

Drawing of Dame Ragnell

I decided to take up Dr. Mann's offer of a drawing of our hideous maiden Dame Ragnell. I am no artist but I tried to accurately depict the traits of her that we discussed in class. Hope you all enjoy it! 

U.S. Politics Is Returning to the Middle Ages

As many of you know Donald Trump is running in the 2016 presidential race. In the beginning of the article the author states that Trump provides viewers with showmanship and theatrics, which relates to the plays and spectacles that we just learned about in the town of York. While we were studying the Crucifixion, Dr. Mann showed us an example of how this story would have been played out on the streets by actors in order to entertain the audience. Is Trump possibly doing the same by using theatrics to win voters?

Trump also stated, "All I know is this: We're living in Medieval times." "We're living in an unbelievably dangerous and horrible world." 

Gini Graham Scott explored Trump's statement and attempted to answer the question of, "Is the violence and economic inequality that pervades the world today analogous to the peasant uprisings and rampant warfare many associate with the Middle Ages?" 

In her new book, "The New Middle Ages," Scott compares our country's widespread economic inequality to what was seen hundreds of years ago in Europe. She studied numerous television shows that dealt with the middle ages, the Tudors, and monarchies and noticed how the wealthy lifestyle was being portrayed in regards to the lives that peasants were living at that time. An example that Scott used to explain this inequality is the Kardashian family. We all know that this family is very wealthy and we even get to see how they live because they have an entire show on the E network. The people living these lavish lifestyles seem to be running the conversations we have and with full access to the Internet, we are able to see how different these people live from others who don't have as much money as the Kardashian family does. 

Through social media, television, and the news we can clearly see how "the other half" lives in our world. They have lavish lifestyles, drive expensive cars, live in mansions, and they have people who work for them. While the other half of society may have to use public transportation to get place to place or may not be so fortunate to have a roof over their head. I took this article and related it to "The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle." In order to win Sir Gromer's challenge King Arthur must find out what women desire most. When he decides to give up he encounters Dame Ragnelle and because she isn't beautiful, King Arthur has his nephew marry her so he can win Gromer's challenge. This example clearly shows that the king used his power over his nephew in order to get his way. 

My question for everyone is, Do you think our society's economic equality match those of the middle ages? Why or why not? I am very curious to hear your thoughts! The link to the full article is provided below. 




Scott said she studied Tudor history to help show how lavish lifestyle was for the royals in the middle ages. Here is Hampton Court Palace where King Henry the eighth liked to spend most of his time!



http://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2015/11/19/us-politics-is-returning-to-the-middle-ages

Medieval influences on fairytales?

As I was reading “The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle,” I became extremely interested in the Dame and her story and how I recognized some of the traits she portrays and things that are described in the story and related them to some fairytale’s we have in today’s society. The way she is described as something extremely unattractive yet, she has all the insight the King needs to survive if he gets Sir Gawain to marry her, kind of like how Ursula the sea witch from Ariel says if Ariel gives Ursula her voice, she will make her human. Dame Ragnelle gets married to Sir Gawain and when they do their ‘marriage activities,’ she becomes beautiful. Sort of like how in Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs, the prince has to kiss Snow White to wake her from the sleep she is cursed into. The fact that Dame Ragnelle would stay beautiful for him from dusk until dawn forever, because he gave her the CHOICE to choose when she wanted to be beautiful, is a very uncommon thing to do during this time because women didn’t have much choice of anything. Even though, he originally married her because he was loyal to the King and wanted nothing more than to have his king survive, it turned into something more beautiful than that. This sounded to me like Beauty and the Beast when Belle goes to rescue her father from the jail and bamb Belle gets locked away in the castle with the Beast! Here comes the invention of my most favorite fairytale.

 I feel as if there is a lesson to be learned from the Dame and one basic life lesson/saying that I’m sure everyone has heard is “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” I feel as if this was a lesson, as the reader, we were to take away from the story. Does that saying really date that far back? This is also something we see in the Disney tale of Beauty and the Beast! Say What? Except, in Beauty and the Beast, clearly the Beast is the male figure. We rarely see women portrayed as the “ugly one”.

What exactly is her goal in this story? Is it as innocent as giving the king his answer to survive? Or, is it as selfish as to getting the curse lifted that her evil step mother placed on her? Some of these aspects we also see in Snow White and Cinderella! Snow White is cursed by eating an apple, and Cinderella is turned into her stepmother and stepsister’s slave practically and marries the prince; turning her from a maid into royalty—rags to riches type thing, (Ragnelle even has the word rag in it, coincidence? I think not) similar to how Sir Gawain’s actions change Dame Ragnelle into something more beautiful than he ever imagined possible.  It’s like Walt Disney took some of the characters from the Medieval writings and created different versions of them! I thought it was a farfetched idea that maybe, just maybe these fairytales’ we see today didn’t always have a happy ending. Anyone else have thoughts on that? Tell me guys, how far out of the box did I go?

Lanval: What is he doing with his life?

          In class on Thursday (March 10th) there was a lot of talk about the maiden that Lanval falls in love with, but there was not a whole lot of talk about the man himself. There really did not seem to be much in the way of interest about Lanval, but looking closer at him, he is the Ideal Man. Not only is he desired by a beautiful, wealthy woman, making him the envy of men, but he is also the ideal man for women as well. Lanval knew that his lady did not want him to speak about her and while he did slip up, he was only complimenting her beauty. Lanval stays loyal to his lady and turns down the queen. Even while imprisoned he remains loyal to his lady.
        While there was a lot of discussion about Lanval's mistress, he was glossed over, but why? Lanval is loyal, supposedly good looking and he is not poor, but he is not interesting. I found it quite interesting that there was not a lot of talk about him because he didn't have any lasting drama. The king, queen and the maiden all were embroiled in their own schemes and plans that Lanval was forgotten because all he could do was sit in jail. The idea that the perfect man was not quite enough to even keep Marie de France's focus is also interesting. Lanval is supposed to be the knight in shining armor, but he is the one that needs saved; he needs other people's drama and turmoil to make himself exist.

No wonder the king left him out of the gifting hour.

Enjoy these comic strips as much as I did.

Images found at: http://litbrick.com/comic.php?date=2010-05-06

Reaction to Lanval

One of the things I enjoy about the Marie de France stories is that they are very character driven. On my initial read I actually liked Lanval as a character and did not get this sense of naivety that others were suggesting but I did get a huge sense of neglect. However, I never really saw that naivety but I did see a lot of loneliness in his character and that lead me to imagine him as a better person for several reasons. Lanval was described as having great skills, beauty and courage but also for his generosity. This is quite the opposite characteristic that we’ve seen of most of the men in the readings so far. Most of the men so far have been braggarts and very interested in improving their own lives standing. Then there is Lanval who is generous, which would mean he is humble. He does not even ask the king for rewards, which does make him sad but he never asks which suggests there is a part of him that believes he does not outright worthy enough to receive rewards. He would prefer them freely given by those who do see him worthy (namely Arthur who forgets about him) which is exactly what he gets with the maiden.

Which I think is where the argument that he is naive comes from. Logically, if a maiden just appears from nowhere knowing things impossible for her to know and asking for secrets to be kept said maiden shouldn't be trusted. However, Lanval is a lonely character; I honestly don't think he would have known better as he had no one else that really cared for him throughout the entire story. Even when he misspoke to the queen, he did it to defend himself and even at that he had to be provoked into defending himself. He might be naive, but it seems to have more to do with not having anyone to guide him in the right direction rather than just an overall character trait.

The Anchoress

Since we only briefly talked about being an anchoress in class, I wanted to do some more research on who exactly they were and why they chose to live in such conditions rather than in religious communities.

I found out that anchoress’ lived in extreme poverty and usually ate only vegetarian food. Since their lives are devoted to God, similar to a nun or monk, most of their day is spent praying and giving advice to people who come seeking it. These women were seen to the public as people who gave advice and were willing to pray for and with the people who came to see them.

Since arranged marriages were such a large part of the cultural norm at this point, I believe many people chose to be anchoress’ to avoid marrying someone who was being forced upon them. 

This is the picture I found online of the rooms the anchoress live in.

Does anyone else have any ideas of why these people would want to live here instead of in abbeys or monasteries?