The Knightly World: Ideals and Reality

Module overview

The knight is one of the most emblematic figures of the Middle Ages, a rich and multifaceted character: from the warrior whose privileged social status was justified by the exercise of violence to the gentleman who embraced a sophisticated aristocratic court culture. In this module, we will examine what shaped the ethics of these knights, what influenced their conduct and their state of mind, paying particular attention to the gap between the ideals of the knights' code of conduct and the reality of their lives (1100-1500). This exploration of elite culture will focus not only on the harsh realities of the battlefield in local wars and in more distant lands where knights pursued the crusading ideals, but also on aristocratic displays in tournaments, ceremonies, (extravagant) banquets and acts of devotion. This module is also a journey into gender identity (virility) and the social order dominated by the image of the preudhomme ('worthy man'). To carry out this investigation, we will use a wide variety of sources and media such as treatises on chivalry, chronicles, Arthurian novels, biographies, legal proceedings, statutes of the orders of chivalry, contracts of brotherhood in arms, books of tournaments and, of course, a Round Table.

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Select and analyse critically relevant information for the study of a particular topic
Select relevant information and provide a critical analysis of it
Develop sound and well supported arguments
Analyse a (historical) concept in all its complexity

Cognitive Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Identify nature, aims and composition of contemporary sources both textual and iconographic
Structure your ideas and research findings into written assignments (essays and commentaries)
Engage with historical debates.
Analyse critically these primary sources: extract relevant information from them and comment upon this information perceptively (using secondary sources)
Use technical vocabulary relating to chivalry: chivalry, vassal, lord, nobility, feudalism, tournaments, jousts, indentures, brotherhood-in-arms, round tables, Arthurian romances, orders of chivalry, etc.

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

The aristocratic culture in the late Middle Ages
Key primary sources for the study of the chivalry
Medieval legacy to western societies: A system of values based on honour
The social, political, technologic and economic changes in the late Middle Ages
Order and Hierarchy in Medieval Society
The multiple facets of chivalry, as an order of knights, an ethos, a status and a concept

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

Weekly one-hour lecture and one-hour seminar
An additional session on Essay Writing
Field trip to Winchester
Individual tutorials (preparation for essay and feedback)

This module aims at giving you an in-depth knowledge and understanding of chivalry and the chivalric culture in the Late Middle Ages. The approach is thematic. Each week a new theme will be examined. A lecture will set the framework (question, sources, state of current knowledge) while the appending seminar will be focused on one or two primary sources linked with the weekly theme. It is therefore essential that you attend both lectures and seminars.

The trip to Winchester may include a visit to the cathedral, the Westgate, Sally Port and the Great Hall to see the round table. Visits to these buildings will help you think about the spaces and places associated with knights, chivalry and the aristocratic culture. Participation on this trip is not a formal requirement of the module, although you are strongly encouraged to do so.

This module, like all of the 15 credit History modules offered to second year students, will be research led and it will focus heavily on primary sources. You will study an individual source in depth each week. As such, this module will provide you with a sound preparation for the source- based work undertaken in year 3 during the Special Subject and the dissertation.

Study time
Type	Hours
Lecture	11
Follow-up work	45
Seminar	11
Completion of assessment task	16
Preparation for scheduled sessions	45
External visits	4
Revision	18
Total study time	150

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Keen, M (1984). Chivalry. New Haven and London.

Guard, T (2013). Chivalry, Kingship and Crusade: The English Experience in the fourteenth Century. Woodbridge.

Saul, N. (2011). For Honour and Fame. Chivalry in England, 106-1500. London.

Kaeuper, R. W (1999). Chivalry and Violence in Medieval Europe. Oxford.

Trim, D.J.B., ed (2003). The Chivalric Ethos and the Development of Military Professionalism. Leiden.

Stevenson, K (2006). Chivalry and knighthood in Scotland, 1424-1513. Woodbridge.

Barber, R. and Barker, J.R.V (1989). Tournaments, jousts, chivalry and pageants in the Middle Ages. Woodbridge.

Keen, M (1996). Nobles, knights, and men-at-arms in the Middle Ages. London.

Coss, P (1998). The Lady in Medieval England, 1000-1500. Trowbridge.

Vale, M.G.A (1981). War and chivalry: warfare and aristocratic culture in England, France and Burgundy at the end of the Middle Ages. London.

Loomis, R.S., ed (1959). Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages. Oxford.

Keen, M., (2002). Origins of the English gentleman: heraldry, chivalry and gentility in medieval England , c.1300-c.1500. Stroud.

Assessment

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Presentation

Assessment Type: Formative
Feedback: Feedback on presentation will be given verbally in the seminars and there will also be the possibility to discuss them in tutorials
Final Assessment: No
Group Work: No

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Essay	50%
Commentary	50%

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Resubmit assessments	100%

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.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Assessed written tasks	100%

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External