ARTHURIAN ROMANCE

King Arthur lived in the 5th century, during the Anglo-Saxon invasions and many elements of his story
relate to Celtic mythology. He became king because was the only person able to pull a sword from a stone
and later the mysterious Lady of the Lake gave him another one: Excalibur. His story is related to that of the
Knights of the Rounding Table such as Lancelot, Percival and Gawain. This romances showed the idea of
courtly love linked to minstrels: this love developed outside the marriage and the woman was seen as
something unobtainable to rich while the lover was always ready to serve her. Another theme was to recover
the Holy Grail, the cup used by Jesus Christ to celebrate the Last Supper.
Many of the Arthurians tales appered during the Crusades (11th-13th): military campaigns of the Catholic
Church against the Muslim Ottoman Empire to gain access to the Holy Land. The most famous English
version of the Arthurian legend is Le Morte d’Arthur of Thomas Malory and also the French poet Chretien
de Troyes is famous for is five Arthurian romances.

LITERARY PRODUCTION OF GEOFFREY CHAUCER

His literary production is divided into 3 periods:
1. Early works, such as The Book of the Duchess, influenced by the French models;
2. middle period, influenced by Boccaccio and Dante and The House of Fame is influenced by Divine
Comedy;
3. last period with the writing of The Canterbury Tales, begun in 1387.