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.

The class reads 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 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.

In a separate document, students explain how they use 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?