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Home > Humanities Program > Student Projects > HUM 270-001

King Arthur (HUM 270-001) Mock Epistolary Project
 

King Arthur (HUM 270-001) Mock Epistolary Project

Students in Dr. Christopher Berard’s course, ‘King Arthur: Monarch of the Medieval Imagination’, fabricate medieval documents as a final assignment to showcase their understanding of the content of the course. In the fall 2024 semester, the class read selections from the Lancelot-Grail Cycle, or Vulgate Cycle, of Old French prose Arthurian romances (c. 1210–30). The Vulgate Cycle is the most comprehensive and canonical version of the Arthurian legend ever written. It dates from the age of Aquinas, has been called the Summa Arthuriana, and has influenced the literary output of Dante Alighieri and C. S. Lewis. The assignment is to compose an Arthurian-themed mock letter. The submission may take the form of a public document (a royal charter) or a private document (a personal letter). The context, parties, purpose, and theme of the document must derive from the assigned readings and topics covered in class. In addition to the creative fiction component, students have volunteered to add an artistic (calligraphic) component to their work, namely through use of faux parchment, imitation of medieval chancery scripts, and inclusion of a heraldic-themed, authenticating seal. After completing the document, students are to answer the following questions to explain how they used the medieval epistolary form to communicate meaning: 1) Quis? (Who?): Who is the principal (actor) behind the document? Who is the addressee (destinatarius) of the document? 2) Quid? (What?): What was done by the principal (actor) in the document? 3) Quomodo? (How?): How did the required formal conventions feature in the beginning (protocol), middle (corpus), and end (eschatocol) of the document? 4) Quibus Auxiliis? (Who assisted in the action?): Who else, if anyone, was involved in the creation and implementation of the document? 5) Cur? (Why?): What is the purpose of the document? 6) Ubi? (Where?): Where was the document written? 7) Quando? (When?): When was the document written?
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  • Professor Christopher Berard and the Knights of the Seminar Table by Michael Hagan

    Professor Christopher Berard and the Knights of the Seminar Table

    Michael Hagan

    From https://news.providence.edu/king-arthur-course/

    A new course offered by Christopher Berard, Ph.D. ’07, adjunct professor of humanities, introduced students to selections in translation from the massive Lancelot-Grail Cycle of Old French prose Arthurian romances (c. 1210–30), the most comprehensive and canonical version of the Arthurian legend ever written.

    The 1.5-credit course, King Arthur: Monarch of the Medieval Imagination, culminated in a creative writing project in which students composed a mock letter according to the formal conventions of medieval epistolary documents such as public acts and private letters. Each student assumed the persona of one Arthurian character, addressed the document to another Arthurian character, and made a major plot point and overarching theme from the Lancelot-Grail Cycle the focus of the document.

  • Arthurian Mock Epistolary by Alexander J. Lamoureux

    Arthurian Mock Epistolary

    Alexander J. Lamoureux

    Arthur’s letter to Rion

 
 
 

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