Liege Lord - The term allegiance is related to the term liege. You served/pledged allegiance to the person above you on hierarchy. Basis for feudal system.
Now Heroic warfare =chivalry; standards of conduct especially when dealing w/ someone on your same level. Rules for chivalry applied only to people in certain classes who behaved as they were supposed to-stayed in their place. When you fight monsters, you fight to destroy them (as in Beowulf). What about when you fight your brother? Complex rules for warfare between Christian. The enemy is my brother. Edward the Black Prince (1330-1376) & Bertrand du Guesclin, the Eagle of Brittany, had sworn an oath of friendship @ a holy mass. Edward captured Bertrand. Negotiated ransom. Bertrand wanted to pay 100,000 florins, Edward refused. Wanted to pay less. Bertrand refused to pay less than 70,000. Set free to raise money. The first installment, 30,000, came from Joan of Kent--the wife of Edward! (Aho 87-89). Yet the same Black Prince at the siege of Limoges (1370) killed 3,000 unarmed men, women, & children. WHY? Lower class. The rules were different for the aristocracy. Certain developments in Catholicism caused changes in ideas; began to see God as part of nature, not just transcendent. In story, Mordred and Arthur pick a day to fight. In chivalric code, war was play-engaged in for its own sake. Following rules was as important as winning.
Arthur was an ideal who was always part of a mythic past. This is not so much a reflection of how people were as how they wanted to be.
-Another difference, in Epic-have supernatural god influence. What happens is the will of gods.
-In this feudal system story, we have more of a "fairyland" influence. Examples:
235 Arthur doesn't want to know about the affair. He would hate to lose Lancelot. Good knights are hard to find.
241 "And much more am I sorrier for my good knights' loss than for the loss of my fair queen; for queens I might have enough, but such a fellowship of good knights shall never be together in no company."
Who warns Lancelot not to go to the queen?___________________
Who led the knights who caught Lancelot & Guinevere? __________________
Why can't Lancelot fight them at first? __________________________
What does he do so he can fight?______________________________
What is the result of the fight?_______________________________
What is the sentence against Guinevere?________________
Who tries to carry it out?___________________
What happens when they try to carry
out
the sentence?___________________
King Arthur has a dream the night before the final battle - He is riding high on the Wheel of Fortune, but is cast down in a pit of snakes. Fortune was fickle & could "turn" on you. If you depend on it, it will let you down.
Gawain shows up in a vision. He may be dead, but he's still surrounded by pretty women, that is, fair ladies. What's he advise Arthur to do to avoid death?____________________
Does Arthur take his advise? _________________________
Who helps Arthur as he dies? ________________________
What is Arthur's dying request? _______________________
How many times does it take to fulfill the request? _______________________
What is the translation for "Hic iacet Arthurus, rex quondam, rexque futurus" ?
Malory identifies 2 traditional ends for Arthur. What are they? (Hint - they are similar to the possible ends for Elvis.)