The Quest for Chivalry
Welcome to the quest for chivalry.
You will assume the identity of one of the famous knights in medieval Britain: The legendary King Arthur, Sir Gawain the Great, Sir Bedivere the Bold. /
It is your quest (or mission) to find out if your character demonstrates chivalry. / How can you judge if a character or person is chivalrous?
/ The Quest
Your Quest is to find examples of true chivalry. You will become a famous knight of the round table and you will search to find examples of true chivalry in your character.
You will have 8 lessons to complete your quest.
In order to complete your quest you will complete the following 3 steps:
Step One:
(two lessons, in pairs) /
  • 1. Preparation for the Journey.
  • Learn the Historical Background of Knights and the Feudal System in England
  • Choose a famous knight to be your identity for the Quest.
  • Do Internet research into your character and write a report.

Step Two:
(four lessons, in pairs) /
  • 2. The Journey: A Quest for Chivalry
  • Find the elements of true chivalry on the Internet
  • Read Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory and complete the study questions (in class)
  • Read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and complete the study questions (in class)

Step Three:
(two lessons, individually) /
  • 3. Present Your Findings to the Table Round
  • Write an analysis of your character which gives examples of how your character showed chivalry or fell short of the ideals of chivalry.

1. Preparation for the Journey:

First, you need to learn a little about the historical background of knights and the Feudal System in England. Read the following information. Look up all the words you don't know.

Knights and the Feudal System

This text is also the text for your first Alquin test of this term.
In 1066 the people from Normandy (in France) conquered England. They defeated the Anglo-Saxons at the Battle of Hastings.The Normans really changed English life. That’s because they introduced a social, economic, and political system - called feudalism.The system had been used in France by the Normans from the time they first settled there in about 900AD. It was a simple, but effective system, where all land was owned by the King. One quarter was kept by the King as his personal property, some was given to the church and the rest was leased out under strict controls.

The King

The King was in complete control under the Feudal System. He owned all the land in the country and decided who he would lease land to. He therefore only allowed those men he could trust to lease land from him. However, before they were given any land they had to swear an oath to remain faithful to the King at all times. The men who leased land from the King were known as Barons, they were wealthy, powerful and had complete control of the land they leased from the King.

Barons

Barons leased land from the King. This land was known as a manor. Barons were known as the Lord of the Manor and were in complete control of this land. They established their own system of justice, minted their own money and set their own taxes. In return for the land they had been given by the King, the Barons had to serve on the royal council, pay rent and provide the King with Knights for military service when he demanded it. They also had to provide lodging and food for the King and his court when they travelled around the country. The Barons kept as much of their land as they wished for their own use, then divided the rest among their Knights. Barons were very rich.

Knights

Knights were given land by a Baron in return for military service when demanded by the King. They also had to protect the Baron and his family, as well as the Manor, from attack. The Knights kept as much of the land as they wished for their own personal use and distributed the rest to villeins (serfs). The knights tried to live according to the code of chivalry. Although not as rich as the Barons, Knights were quite wealthy.

Villeins

Villeins, sometimes known as serfs, were given land by Knights. They had to provide the Knight with free labour, food and service whenever it was demanded. Villeins had no rights. They were not allowed to leave the Manor and had to ask their Lord's permission before they could marry. Villeins were poor.

Chivalry

The idea of chivalry played an important role in the literature of the Medieval Period. Mix chivalry with such magical elements as giants, wizards, sorcerers, and dragons, and you get a form of literature called the romance.Filled with fantasy, adventure, and courtly love, romances were one of the most popular literary forms of the period.

Assignment 1
Answer these questions in English (copy the questions in a Word document and add your answers):
1.Find out who was the Norman leader of the French invasion in 1066. What was his
name and how was he called after 1066?
2.On what condition did the King lease land to the Barons?
3.Mention 3 things the Barons had to do in return for the land.
4.What was the main task of the knights?
5. Give an English definition of Chivalry.
6.How did the serfs manage to make a living?
7.What is a Romance?

Next, you must choose one of the famous knights to be your identity for the Quest. You will be doing research on this knight and looking at his actions in the stories you read. Choose one of the following three knights:

King Arthur (Artur) /
Gawain (Gawayne) / Bedivere (Beldivire)

Assignment 2

Now that you have chosen a character it is time to do Internet research to write a short report about your character. Your report will be a summary of your character (3 paragraphs/100 words each). You will gather the information for this report from at least three different sources on the Internet.Do not copy - paste, but make your own text!

Character Report Directions

Your report will be a summary of your character (3 paragraphs/65 words each). You will gather the information for this report from at least three different sources on the Internet.
Follow these directions closely and look at the example below.

1. Go to a web search engine such as to do your initial search. Remember that there are alternate spellings for most of the characters so you can do more than one search.

2. When you find information on the internet you will need to be able to present the exact URL. The URL is the complete web address and looks something like this:

3. You may find it easiest to highlight the information you would like to use in your report and then copy and paste itinto a Word Document. Don't forget to also paste the URL address as well.

4. Now that you have the information researched it is time to write your report. You need to read through the information and put it into your own words.

5. Immediately after you have rewritten something you got off of a particular website you paste the URL in parenthesis like this:
(

6. Example: (This is an example of how I applied the above steps to find some information for a report on Sir Gareth and rewrite it in my own words)

Here is the information I copied and pasted off of the Internet into the Microsoft Word document:
Sir Gareth is one of the most gentle, good knights of the Round Table. Malory is very fond of him, and gives him one of the happiest, most complete and neatly ended tales in the Morte Darthur. He spends much time elaborating on how gentle, modest and patient a knight he turns out to be, but also how valorous and strong.
Gareth represents the youthful ideals of the Round Table--strength, uprightness, devotedness, gentleness, courtesy. Everyone in the Arthurian legend loves Gareth (except, of course, Mordred and Kay). Gareth comes to Camelot pretending to be weak, leaning on two men, asking for food and work. His great white hands hint at a noble birth--"his disguise only renders his aristocratic qualities more shining," says Vida Scudder (219). Arthur's court is always amazed at Gareth's deeds and at the many strong knights that continuously show up at the Round Table with tales of
Here is the URL where I got the information on the Internet and pasted in the Microsoft Word document:

Here is how I will rewrite the information for one paragraph of my report. I will include the URL in parenthesis: (the blue text is the hyperlink)
Note: I changed the information above from present tense (ott) to past tense (ovt).
Sir Gareth was well-known in Camelot as one of the most gentle knights, and he represented the ideals of the Round Table- strength , uprightness, devotedness, gentleness, and courtesy. When he first came to Camelot he disguised himself as a weak man in search of food and work. He was known for his modesty and patience as well as his bravery and strength.()

7.When you are finished with your three paragraphs and have included the URL's names: save your document someplace where you can find it easily.

8. Print it out and hand it to your teacher.

2a. The Journey: A Quest for Chivalry

Assignment 3
The first step in your journey is to research the Internet to find the elements of true chivalry. You will find that there are many definitions of chivalry in your research. You will need to come up with 7 principles of chivalry that you think are most important. Once you have selected these seven principles you will write down these seven principles, print them out and hand them to your teacher. /

Directions for Researching a Definition of Chivalry

Follow these steps:

1. Use the following links to do your research. You don't have to use every one of these links, but you need to look long enough that you are able to find at least 7 principles of chivalry that you think are important and occur in more than one definition of chivalry.

Note: You will find many other sites on the Internet related to the term chivalry but most of them will be the context of Medieval Reenactment Societies and Fantasy Games.

  • CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA Chivalry
  • The Code of Chivalry and Courtly Love
  • Chivalry
  • Dictionary.com-chivalry
  • EncycloZine Chivalry
  • Orders of Chivalry
  • Knighthood and Chivalry
  • The Code of Chivalry
  • Chivalry2
  • Chivalry-meaning
  • Medieval Chivalry-Introduction
  • Chivalry3
  • Code of Chivalry
  • What is Chivalry
  • A Code of Chivalry

2. Open up a Microsoft Word Document and list at least 7 principles of chivalry which you think are important. You can organize your information in a numbered list like the one below.

Seven Principles of the Code of Chivalry
1. / A knight must show mercy towards anyone who asks him for mercy.
2. / ......
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

3. Name and save your document someplace where you can find it easily.

4. Print this document and hand it in with your teacher.

2b. The Journey: Reading

Now it is time to read some real tales of knights and chivalry. You will read the fragments in class. You will start by reading a selection from Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory and answering some questions about chivalry from the story. You can find this portion of the story on the following link:

Morte d'Arthur
/

Assignment 4Questions for Morte D'Arthur

You must answer these questions in complete sentences. Copy the questions and add your answers in a Word document.

1. What was the warning that King Arthur received in a dream? Why do you think he chooses to not heed the warning?

2. Who are the ladies that are with Sir Gawain and why are they there?

3. What does the evil Mordred do once his father, Arthur, has thrust a spear through his body? How does this show chivalry?

4. Explain how Sir Lucan dies and what principle of chivalry he demonstrates in his death.

5. Why do you think it took Sir Bedivere three times to finally obey King Arthur's command to throw the sword in the lake?

6. List at least three magical events that happened in this story.

7. How does Sir Bedivere show his devotion to King Arthur?

8. Did King Arthur die? What happened to him at the end of the story?

Now it is time to readSir Gawain and the Green Knight and answer some questions about chivalry in this story. You will read this text in class. You can find this portion of the story on the following links:
Text 1 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Text 2 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight /

Assignment 5Questions for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

You must answer these questions in complete sentences. Copy the questions and add your answers in a Word document.

1. Why is it that Sir Gawain takes the challenge of the Green Knight instead of King Arthur or one of the other famous knights?

2. What are the two parts of the "game" the Green Knight proposes?

3. Why does Gawain endure such a difficult journey to try to find the Green Chapel?

4. What do Sir Gawain and the Lord of the Castle agree to exchange? Does Sir Gawain keep his promise?

5. How is the lady tempting Sir Gawain? How does he resist the temptation without being rude?

6. What does Sir Gawain do that causes the Green Knight to question his bravery?

7. Why does the Green Knight only scratch Sir Gawain with his ax? What do the three swings of the ax symbolize?

8. Why is Sir Gawain upset with himself at the end of the story?

Essay

3. Report Your Findings to the Table Round:

You are now ready to write an essay about the question whether or not your character showed chivalry in the stories you've read. This was the purpose of your entire quest.
/

Writing an Analysis of Your Character

1. Brainstorm examples of when your character showed or did not show specific principles of chivalry.

2 Now choose three specific examples of your character demonstrating or not demonstrating chivalry. You will have to write five paragraphs: an introduction, three example paragraphs, and a conclusion.

3. Fill in the following outline to organize the information for your essay (Print this scheme and write down your notes):

This is your 1st paragraph
/ Introduction
/
  • Write a background/definition of chivalry:

  • Write a brief background/description of your character:

  • Tell whether you will be proving if your character does or does not demonstrate chivalry:

This is your 2nd paragraph
/ Example 1
/
  • State one of the principles of chivalry your character does/doesn't have:

  • Give a specific example of your character's actions in one of the two stories you've read:
  • Tell which story your example comes from:

  • Explain how the character's actions do/do not demonstrate this specific principle:

This is your 3rd paragraph
/ Example 2
/
  • State one of the principles of chivalry your character does/doesn't have:

  • Give a specific example of your character's actions in one of the two stories you've read:
  • Tell which story your example comes from:

Explain how the character's actions do/do not demonstrate this specific principle:
This is your 4th paragraph
/ Example 3
/
  • State one of the principles of chivalry your character does/doesn't have:

  • Give a specific example of your character's actions in one of the two stories you've read:
  • Tell which story your example comes from:

  • Explain how the character's actions do/do not demonstrate this specific principle:

This is your 5th paragraph
/ Conclusion
/
  • Summarize why your character does or does not demonstrate chivalry:

4. Now start typing your essay and think of the following:

5. Make sure that you only use examples from the stories we've read in class.

6. Make sure your three examples are clear and easy to understand.

7. Make sure your introduction and conclusion both clearly state whether your character has chivalry or not.

8. Type up a first draft of your paper using Microsoft Word. Don't forget to save it often so that you don't lose anything you've typed.

9. Proofread your paper (you might show it to your classmate as well) for errors and revise it to make it clearer and more interesting.

10. Type the corrections to your paper. Don't forget to save it often so that you don't lose anything you've typed.

11. Now you're ready you print your essay and hand it in with your teacher.