The Text
Le Morte d'Arthur in Middle English
This University of Michigan site provides the complete text of Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur as it was originally type-set by William Caxton in Middle English.
Assignments
1. Translate William Caxton's "Preface" to Le Morte d'Arthur into modern English.
2. Select a
favorite passage (should be at least 1-2 pages long) from Baines' translation
of the original text and discuss how the language used in the translation
corresponds to the original Middle English passage. What modifications
or liberties does Baines take with the text that you like or dislike?
Explain how you might have translated the text differently. Illustrate
your arguments with quotations from the Middle English text and from the
Baines translation.
Biography
The Life of Sir Thomas Malory (ca. 1405-1471)
A good starting place for basic biographical information on the life of Sir Thomas Malory, printer William Caxton, and many of the legendary characters who populate Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. In addition to biographical information, this site offers connections to essays and information which track the historical roots of the events in Malory's book.
Assignments
1. Compose a biographical timeline of Malory's life. Try to identify at least one significant event from each year of his life.
2. Write a synopsis
of either the Cotroneo or the Levin essay found within this site.
History and Legends of King Arthur Camelot & Knights of the Round Table
These links offer a broad range of topics related to the characters, themes, settings, and history of Le Morte d'Arthur. Specifically, these sources provide extensive historical and archeological information about King Arthur, Camelot, and Legends of the Knights of the Round Table. The Camelot Project offers extensive images, bibliographies and fully printed texts of poems and short prose works inspired by the legends.
Legends - Malory's Le Morte Darthur
Assignments
1. Visit The Camelot Project and read one section of Tennyson's "The Idylls of the King". In a detailed essay, compare and contrast Tennyson's treatment of the events to Malory's version in Le Morte d'Arthur. Describe specifically the differences in the language and how such differences affect tone, mood, and meaning.
2. Paint or draw one of the characters, objects, or settings described by Malory in Le Morte d'Arthur. When you finish your own drawing, visit the artist's menu of The Camelot Project and try to find a painting or sketch of the same character or scene that you attempted to draw. Write an essay describing what you tried to achieve in your illustration and contrast your objectives and techniques to those used by other artists.
3. Who was the historical King Arthur? Prepare a detailed power point presentation that explains the various theories historians and archeologists have proposed about the man who spawned the stories about the Knights of the Round Table and Camelot.
4. Research the history
and archeology of Camelot and prepare and expansive power point presentation
which discusses the various sites that modern archeologists have proposed
as possible locations for the historical Camelot.
Medieval Cathedrals & Abbeys
Visit the following sites for information and extensive photographs of the types of religious structures of the middle ages as well as some of those mentioned by Malory in Le Morte d'Arthur.
Medieval English Churches & Cathedrals
Assignments
1. Prepare a detailed power point presentation which explores the history, structure, and legacy of Glastonbury Abbey. Discuss the various reasons why Glastonbury Abbey has become such an important historical site for people studying the historical King Arthur and other aspects of Arthurian legends.
2. View as many images and photographs of the medieval abbeys and cathedrals as you can find at these and other web sites. Absorb and document as much information as you can about these buildings and their histories. Try to imagine what these buildings must have meant to people in the middle ages--particularly to knights and other members of the courts of Europe. In an elaborate power point presentation, discuss and speculate on what these monuments of religious life have to tell us about the religious attitudes of people during the middle ages. Also discuss how these principles are also reflected in the words and deeds of characters in Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur.
3. Prepare an exhaustive power point presentation which discusses the structure and artwork of medieval cathedrals. How were they designed and in what ways did the architecture of the buildings symbolically underscore or announce important principles of medieval Christianity?
4. Prepare a precise
and detail oriented power point presentation which describes the architectural
techniques that were used and developed/invented in the process of constructing
medieval cathedrals.
Castles
Spend some time visiting these sites to give yourself a much better sense of the courtly life and the logistics of medieval warfare. The first site on the list provides some of the best images of medieval castles offered anywhere on the net.
Assignments
1. Prepare a dazzling, in-depth power point presentation which describes the inner, day to day workings of a typical medieval castle. How were they designed? What kinds of rooms, buildings and interior structures did they contain and why? How were they set up to handle day to day tasks such as cooking, eating, cleaning, bathing, using the bathroom, entertaining, heating & cooling, etc.?
2. Prepare a detailed power point presentation which explores how medieval castles in Wales and England traditionally constructed. What kinds of materials were used? Where did building materials come from? Who were the builders and architects? What special difficulties did they face? What types of tools and machines were used in building a castle? How long did it take for a castle to be completed?
3. Prepare a stunningly elaborate power point presentation which discusses the various ways in which medieval castles were designed for purposes of defense and warfare. How did they provide defense against an attack and how were they set up to help a king repel an attacking enemy? What special problems would an attacking army encounter in trying to lay siege to a well fortified castle? In what passages from Le Morte d' Arthur can readers see these defense systems in operation?
4. Design and draw your own medieval castle and describe/discuss how your design plans would provide a castle effective in repelling attacks as well as being comfortable and elegant for the people living at court.
5. Malory's Le Morte
d'Arthur says little about about the lives of medieval women.
Prepare an in-depth power point presentation which explains what the lives
of medieval women must have been like in reality. Make sure your
presentation contrasts the images of women provided by the romance traditions
against the images given to us by historians.
Medieval Weapons & Warfare
These sites provide excellent information and images regarding the armor, strategies, and warfare techniques of medieval knights.
Knighthood, Chivalry & Tournaments
Assignments
1. Prepare a detailed, visually spectacular power point presentation which describes and illustrates all of the garments, pieces of armor, and weapons that a typical knight would wear into battle. Describe the purpose or purposes of each item and explain where readers can see these items in operation in Le Morte d'Arthur.
2. Explain how the code or principles of chivalry helped to govern combat and warfare during the middle ages. Cite examples from Le Morte d'Arthur where Knights of the Round Table either follow the code or violate it. What are the outcomes for knights who behave properly and for those who violate the code?
3. Prepare a dramatic, detailed power point presentation which analyzes the purposes of jousting and tournaments in the middle ages. Describe and illustrate in your report how these events were to be conducted and what they were supposed to determine for the men and/or women who participated in them.
4. Prepare a dazzling
power point presentation which describes and discusses some of the typical
field strategies used in medieval warfare. Which strategies seem
to have been the most common? the most successful? least successful?
Where can readers see some of these strategies in effect within the pages
of Le Morte d'Arthur?
The Holy Grail
Use these sites to familiarize yourself with the various legends and realities that have evolved from the worlds quest to understand and attain the Holy Grail.
Assignments
1. Prepare a stunning power point presentation which traces the origins and migrations of the holy grail.
2. Prepare a thorough
power point presentation which illustrates the symbolic value of the holy
grail and what it means to Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
Why is this one object so important and valuable to them that they are
willing to sacrifice the fellowship of the Round Table and even their lives
in a quest to find it?