Paper -a:
Thomas Malory's romance was published by William Caxton in 1485 among other writings that can be termed as crusade literature. It has been previously suggested that Morte Darthur made an integral part of the series, which purpose was to direct the energies of the restless English gentry from the unstable situation in England to the holier and altogether more wholesome war with the Saracens. The Morte appeared at the time when the threat from the east was once again a reality, and the capture of Constantinople in 1453 must have been present in the minds of Malory's audience. The paper examines the experiences of Malory's characters in their confrontations with 'Saracens' and 'Infydeles'.
Paper -b:
The sources for the First Crusade are full of what seem to be anecdotal reminiscences of individual feats and experiences. Often these involve crusaders of relatively modest origin rather than the leaders of the Crusade. Some recount heroism in battle; others describe more down-to-earth events such as a dispute over a donkey. Insofar as these have been examined they have often been seen as evidence of lost oral material. This paper explores the common features of these episodes. It offers some suggestions as to their origins and how they made their way into accounts of the Crusade. This offers some potentially more general insights into the process by which historical fact was transmuted into written history in the Middle Ages.
Paper -c:
Chaucer's Knight's Tale has generated a wide range of views on whether it glorifies or undermines chivalric warfare. Curiously, though, illustrated editions have invariably romanticized its depiction of love and war. This paper revisits the question of whether the tale is pro- or anti-war in light of new illustrations by artist and master engraver Charles Jones, which attempt to render its most shocking verbal images in visual form for the first time. Jones's illustrations help to reveal the depths of Chaucer's profound meditation on the horrors of war, a meditation that must have been deeply personal despite the narrative's intertextual nature. Jones's illustrations will accompany this paper presentation.
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