The conquest of England by the Normans in 1066 and the Hundred Years War in
the fourteenth to the fifteenth centuries marked the beginning and end of an
extraordinarily close and ever-shifting relationship between the inhabitants
of the Isle of Britain and those of the lands across the English Channel in
present-day France. This class will probe the issue of borders and alliances,
political, familial, and cultural, by examining in their political and social
contexts the legends that crossed and re-crossed the channel -- those of Tristan
and Iseut, King Arthur, Guenevere and Lancelot, and Lanval. We will examine
the dissemination and translation of these texts as integral to border crossings
and cultural alliances.
No special academic background is required of students other than the Area
A English Reading and Composition Requirement.
French majors and minors may count French 137X as an elective. English majors
may count English 119 as an elective or French 137X towards completion of Option
2 of the Foreign Language Requirement; English minors may count English 119
as the required "pre-1700" course or as an elective.
This course satisfies the Writing Requirement and area G of UCSB's General Education Program.
