UNIVERSITY OF KENT – CODE OF PRACTICE FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE
MODULE SPECIFICATION TEMPLATE
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The title of the module Middle English Romance
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The Department which will be responsible for management of the module Centre
for Medieval & Early Modern Studies
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The Start Date of the Module January 2005
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The number of students expected to take the module Approx. 3-5
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Modules to be withdrawn on the introduction of this proposed module and
consultation with other relevant Departments and Faculties regarding the withdrawal
N/A
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The level of the module (eg Certificate [C], Intermediate [I], Honours [H] or
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The number of credits which the module represents 30 credits
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Which term(s) the module is to be taught in (or other teaching pattern) Autumn &
Postgraduate [M]) M
Spring
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Prerequisite and co-requisite modules ‘Palaeography and Manuscript,’
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The programmes of study to which the module contributes Taught MA in Medieval
& Early Modern Studies
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The intended subject specific learning outcomes and, as appropriate, their
relationship to programme learning outcomes
The module aims to:
Familiarize students with the genre of medieval secular literature known to
scholars as Middle English Romance.
Become acquainted with the literary styles, subject matter, and historical and
cultural contexts of medieval romance.
Examine critical responses, both medieval and modern, to romance.
Accustom students to reading varieties of Middle English.
Come to recognize the inherently interdisciplinary nature of the scholarship
required to understand pre-modern literatures.
Become acquainted with the history, and historical difference and specificity, of
medieval modes of cultural production.
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The intended generic learning outcomes and, as appropriate, their relationship to
programme learning outcomes
Students will:
Develop their capacity for rigorous critical analysis and close reading of medieval
narrative and poetic texts.
UNIVERSITY OF KENT – CODE OF PRACTICE FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE
Develop communication and presentation skills through seminar discussion and
written work.
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A synopsis of the curriculum
This course is dedicated to the study of a handful of anonymous late medieval
romances circulating in England, and our primary aim will be to assess the
cultural and historical contexts of their production, reception, and transmission.
Our historical ‘archive’ for this study may include samples of courtly romance,
chivalric romance, outlaw romance, and spiritual romance circulating between the
twelfth and fifteenth centuries. We are likely to consider classical antecedents
of the genre, and refer to contemporary developments on the Continent.
Topics covered on the module will likely include images of alien lands and
people; woman as sovereign quest objects; knighthood and chivalry generally;
historiography and the construction of the past; and chance and destiny. There
will be other, more general and practical questions to consider. Who wrote
these romances?
What is romance as opposed to history, epic, fable, or Breton
lai? What are the manuscript contexts of these romances? How did they come
to be written in English?
And what kind of readers or reading communities
formed the original audiences?
The particular inquiries we make will depend, to a large extent, on the interests
and initiatives of individual students.
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Indicative Reading List
Possible Primary Reading
Sir Launfal
The Tale of Gamelyn
King Horn
Sir Isumbras
Sir Degaré
The Awntyrs off Arthure
Sir Orfeo
Selected Bibliography
Aertsen, Henk and Alasdair A MacDonald (eds.). Companion to Middle
English Romance. Amsterdam, 1990.
Astell, Ann W. Political Allegory in Late Medieval England. Ithaca,
1999.
UNIVERSITY OF KENT – CODE OF PRACTICE FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE
Barnes, Geraldine. Counsel and Strategy in Middle English Romance.
Cambridge, 1993.
Crane, Susan. Insular Romance: Politics, Faith, and Culture in
Anglo-Norman and Middle English Literature, University of California Press,
London, 1986.
Dean, Christopher. Arthur of England: English attitudes to King
Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table in the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance. Toronto, 1987.
McGillivray, Murray: Memorisation in the Transmission of the Middle
English Romances. New York, 1990.
Meale, Carol M. (ed.). Readings in Medieval English Romance.
Cambridge, 1994.
Putter, Ad and Jane Gilbert, eds. The Spirit of Medieval English
Popular Romance. London: Pearson, 2000.
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Learning and Teaching Methods, including the nature and number of contact hours
and the total study hours which will be expected of students, and how these relate
to achievement of the intended learning outcomes
The course is taught by seminar with provision for close supervision of individual
students as necessary. There will be 26 hours total, divided between 2-hour
weekly seminars and individual tutorials. Alongside the primary texts, a selection
of secondary critical reading (drawn from books and periodicals) will be required
reading, and these will be provided in a booklet form.
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Total study hours 300.
Assessment methods and how these relate to testing achievement of the intended
learning outcomes
One 5-6000 (article-length) essay. An oral presentation is a required part of the
course, and should contribute to the essay, but is not assessed as an
independent piece of work. The final mark will rest on the quality of individual
research and its presentation in written form, and the test of high quality will be
whether work is up to publishable standard.
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Implications for learning resources, including staff, library, IT and space
Students will be required to consult specialist journals, and they will be
encouraged to use the Canterbury Cathedral Archives and Library.
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A statement confirming that, as far as can be reasonably anticipated, the
curriculum, learning and teaching methods and forms of assessment do not present
any non-justifiable disadvantage to students with disabilities Agreed. Cathedral
Library has a lift for wheelchair access.